New owner today! 4quick questions

Bought a 2006 "Tourinng" with 10,000 miles, picked up today. Playing with it
in the driveway, came across a couple of things I hope you might be able to
answer.

1. The second key remote works intermittenlty. Do the batteries go dead
and can they be replaced easily?

2. The two rear speakers do not work. When changing the radio fade to
rear, there is no sound. On the touring model, I was told it was six
speakers and I only get four up front. Is this normal? Is it just the four
up front or is it six? It's the two that appear to be in the rear in the
middle.

3. The two truck lights do not come on. Would they put lights in for no
reason?

4. With the top down, when I was testing the car, when you pull the latch
to put up the top, it would be a noticeable click and it would pop up a
little. So much so, I could reach over my shoulder and lift it up. Now
when I pull the level, no pop and I have to pull the level while also
pulling up the top. What's normal?

I called the local Mazda service and gave them to vin for a search and he
said there were no problems or repairs and that the warrantly expires March
2010 or 50,000 miles. Are these warrantly items? Thanks!!

"WendyC88" > wrote:

> I called the local Mazda service and gave them to vin for a search
> and he said there were no problems or repairs and that the
> warrantly expires March 2010 or 50,000 miles. Are these warrantly
> items?

Should be, take it in and get it fixed.


--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://improve-usenet.org

The dreaded latch issue seems to be back.

Yes, they should be warranty items, with the possible exception of the rear
speakers. It may turn out that the salesman lied.
The latches also rely on an over center action. Some latches (NBs) were made
improperly, and either did not have the over center action, or with just a
little wear, lost it. The latch plastic rectangular push button has a
little tit sticking out that wears. When latch button wear is combined with
a loss of the over center action, the latches may not latch, or even pop
partially open with vibration. The only warranty solution is to replace the
latches with ones that have the over center locking action. There are also
"mods" that can help if the latches are out of warranty. The mods are
listed/mentioned in the Miata.net forums and possibly the garage section. An
examination of the latches on my 99 showed that the plastic button part of
the issue was due to factory misdrilling of holes in the latch that support
a rod holding the button plus normal wear on the button tit. The loss of
over center action also seemed to be due to poor parts tolerance control.
Replacement latches (out of warranty in my case) finally solved the problem.

"XS11E" > wrote in message
. 236...
> "WendyC88" > wrote:
>
>> I called the local Mazda service and gave them to vin for a search
>> and he said there were no problems or repairs and that the
>> warrantly expires March 2010 or 50,000 miles. Are these warrantly
>> items?
>
> Should be, take it in and get it fixed.
>
>
> --
> XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
> The Usenet Improvement Project:
> http://improve-usenet.org

Chuck wrote:
> The dreaded latch issue seems to be back.
>
> Yes, they should be warranty items, with the possible exception of the rear
> speakers. It may turn out that the salesman lied.
> The latches also rely on an over center action. Some latches (NBs) were made
> improperly, and either did not have the over center action, or with just a
> little wear, lost it. The latch plastic rectangular push button has a
> little tit sticking out that wears. When latch button wear is combined with
> a loss of the over center action, the latches may not latch, or even pop
> partially open with vibration. The only warranty solution is to replace the
> latches with ones that have the over center locking action. There are also
> "mods" that can help if the latches are out of warranty. The mods are
> listed/mentioned in the Miata.net forums and possibly the garage section. An
> examination of the latches on my 99 showed that the plastic button part of
> the issue was due to factory misdrilling of holes in the latch that support
> a rod holding the button plus normal wear on the button tit. The loss of
> over center action also seemed to be due to poor parts tolerance control.
> Replacement latches (out of warranty in my case) finally solved the problem.

Does the 2006+ use two latches or only one? I have only operated the
PRHT on the new model so far.

Just curious,

Pat

"pws" > wrote in message
...
> Chuck wrote:
>> The dreaded latch issue seems to be back.
>>
>> Yes, they should be warranty items, with the possible exception of the
>> rear speakers. It may turn out that the salesman lied.
>> The latches also rely on an over center action. Some latches (NBs) were
>> made improperly, and either did not have the over center action, or with
>> just a little wear, lost it. The latch plastic rectangular push button
>> has a little tit sticking out that wears. When latch button wear is
>> combined with a loss of the over center action, the latches may not
>> latch, or even pop partially open with vibration. The only warranty
>> solution is to replace the latches with ones that have the over center
>> locking action. There are also "mods" that can help if the latches are
>> out of warranty. The mods are listed/mentioned in the Miata.net forums
>> and possibly the garage section. An examination of the latches on my 99
>> showed that the plastic button part of the issue was due to factory
>> misdrilling of holes in the latch that support a rod holding the button
>> plus normal wear on the button tit. The loss of over center action also
>> seemed to be due to poor parts tolerance control. Replacement latches
>> (out of warranty in my case) finally solved the problem.
>
> Does the 2006+ use two latches or only one? I have only operated the PRHT
> on the new model so far.
>
> Just curious,
>
> Pat

A single latch

"Chuck" > wrote in message
...
> The dreaded latch issue seems to be back.
>
> Yes, they should be warranty items, with the possible exception of the
> rear speakers. It may turn out that the salesman lied.
> The latches also rely on an over center action. Some latches (NBs) were
> made improperly, and either did not have the over center action, or with
> just a little wear, lost it. The latch plastic rectangular push button
> has a little tit sticking out that wears. When latch button wear is
> combined with a loss of the over center action, the latches may not latch,
> or even pop partially open with vibration. The only warranty solution is
> to replace the latches with ones that have the over center locking action.
> There are also "mods" that can help if the latches are out of warranty.
> The mods are listed/mentioned in the Miata.net forums and possibly the
> garage section. An examination of the latches on my 99 showed that the
> plastic button part of the issue was due to factory misdrilling of holes
> in the latch that support a rod holding the button plus normal wear on the
> button tit. The loss of over center action also seemed to be due to poor
> parts tolerance control. Replacement latches (out of warranty in my case)
> finally solved the problem.
>
> "XS11E" > wrote in message
> . 236...
>> "WendyC88" > wrote:
>>
>>> I called the local Mazda service and gave them to vin for a search
>>> and he said there were no problems or repairs and that the
>>> warrantly expires March 2010 or 50,000 miles. Are these warrantly
>>> items?
>>
>> Should be, take it in and get it fixed.
>>
>>
>> --
>> XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
>> The Usenet Improvement Project:
>> http://improve-usenet.org
>
>

Leid about speakers or touring model? I did a VIN check with carfax, it is
a touring model. It has the 17" wheels, run flat tires and other trim
associated with the touring model as well. Madas own 06 brochures call for 6
speakers as standard, so I guess I am a little confused. Just making sure
there were not six speakers hidden around up front and the rear is one big
7th like it talks about on the grand touring. Thanks agn!

WendyC88 wrote:
> Bought a 2006 "Tourinng" with 10,000 miles, picked up today. Playing with it
> in the driveway, came across a couple of things I hope you might be able to
> answer.
>
> 1. The second key remote works intermittenlty. Do the batteries go dead
> and can they be replaced easily?

Yes, the battery can go bad. Replacing the battery is described in the
user's manual and it is not difficult. It could also be a programming
problem with the remote and it certainly wouldn't hurt to have the dealer
re-do the mating dance to ensure that the car and key(s) are well acquainted.

> 2. The two rear speakers do not work. When changing the radio fade to
> rear, there is no sound. On the touring model, I was told it was six
> speakers and I only get four up front. Is this normal? Is it just the four
> up front or is it six? It's the two that appear to be in the rear in the
> middle.

Don't know about that. I have the Sport which has no rear speakers.

>
> 3. The two truck lights do not come on. Would they put lights in for no
> reason?

I take it you mean the trunk light(s)? There is a switch inside the trunk
which controls the operation -- off, switched, always on. I didn't know
that there were two lights though -- my Sport only has the one.

> 4. With the top down, when I was testing the car, when you pull the latch
> to put up the top, it would be a noticeable click and it would pop up a
> little. So much so, I could reach over my shoulder and lift it up. Now
> when I pull the level, no pop and I have to pull the level while also
> pulling up the top. What's normal?

AFAIK There is no spring or mechanism which pops up the top from the down
and stowed position -- it is basically the tension in the fabric which will
make it pop up. If the fabric is extremely hot and has been down for some
time the top just lays there waiting. If it is cold or has not been down
for a long time it will usually pop up a bit when you pull the latch.

> I called the local Mazda service and gave them to vin for a search and he
> said there were no problems or repairs and that the warrantly expires March
> 2010 or 50,000 miles. Are these warrantly items? Thanks!!
>

It certainly can't hurt to ask for repairs on anything that is broken. But
reading the manual would be a good idea just so you have an idea what you
should be expecting. You might also want to look up all the service
bulletins for your model and ensure that they have been taken care of. At
the very least I know of two noise-related bulletins as well as a safety
bulletin about a bad bolt for the driver's airbag. The latter was in the
Spring of 2006 and delayed the delivery of my new MX-5 for several days
until they sorted out what needed to be done.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

* WendyC88 wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:

> 3. The two truck lights do not come on. Would they put lights in for
> no reason?
>

Are those the ones INSIDE the trunk or the ones on the TRUNK Cover? The
ones on the cover are the license plate lights, that one had me confused
until recently also.

--
David

SINNER wrote:
> * WendyC88 wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:
>
>> 3. The two truck lights do not come on. Would they put lights in for
>> no reason?
>>
>
> Are those the ones INSIDE the trunk or the ones on the TRUNK Cover? The
> ones on the cover are the license plate lights, that one had me confused
> until recently also.
>

Hadn't thought of that possibility. That would explain why I only find one
light _inside_ my trunk -- and that one with a very self-explanatory switch
in plain sight (or feel, anyway). Good catch.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

* John McGaw wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:

> SINNER wrote:
>> * WendyC88 wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:
>>
>>> 3. The two truck lights do not come on. Would they put lights in
>>> for no reason?
>>>
>>
>> Are those the ones INSIDE the trunk or the ones on the TRUNK Cover?
>> The ones on the cover are the license plate lights, that one had me
>> confused until recently also.
>>
>
> Hadn't thought of that possibility. That would explain why I only find
> one light _inside_ my trunk -- and that one with a very
> self-explanatory switch in plain sight (or feel, anyway). Good catch.
>

I have had the car for just over a year and everytime I opened the trunk
I wondered the same thing, just never asked (I felt I might feel silly at
the answer). It just dawned on me a couple of days ago and then I saw
this post

I still feel silly, but at least I am not alone

--
David