# 2002 Mazda Protege- Bizarre Transmission Trouble **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [August 25, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983 "2015-08-25T02:13:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebombero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@joebombero](https://community.cartalk.com/u/joebombero)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/1 "2015-08-25T02:13:26Z")
Help! Car has almost 300,000 miles. Transmission fluid full and clean (recently flushed). Car drives great- however when starting cold I put into drive and nothing. I will put it into Low- then 2- then back to Drive and slowly starts to creep. I will need to rev motor a bit to get it going. Reverse works normally. Once it is warm it drives great. I can stop and shop for an hour or eat lunch and get back in the car and it drives normally. I sometimes even forget about the transmission problem. Now here is whats weird. I have an oil leak so I check oil and occasionally add a quart. One time I added quart when it was cold and I noticed the transmission immediately drove like normal. Why? Recently coming back from a hotel I had trouble driving- Overdrive light blinking (indicating transmission fault code). Car just did not want to go and once it was moving never drove normally- seemed very rough. I had to rev it to keep it going- tranny never seemed locked in. I stopped and checked oil- very low. I topped off oil (engine oil- not transmission oil) and car drove like normal all the way home and no more fault code. Have checked it with computer- no transmission fault codes stored. One shop says I need new transmission seals- $1200! Nobody has a clue why adding engine oil would affect the slipping transmission when cold. Everyone says it has to be completely unrelated but my wife was with me when I added oil coming back from the hotel. She knows I am not crazy or hallucinating. Adding oil changed the car from “we may have to junk it and buy a new one now” to “hey! It drives great! This is definitely a problem we can put on the back burner”. Any ideas at all? ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/2 "2015-08-25T02:22:17Z")
All the right fluids in all the wrong places, my guess, did the trans filter get changed? ---
**Author:** ![joebombero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@joebombero](https://community.cartalk.com/u/joebombero)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/3 "2015-08-25T02:23:50Z")
Yes- just took it to the local garage and they double checked the fluids before searching for error codes (none found). Not sure about Transmission filter- could that contribute to the problem? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/4 "2015-08-25T02:39:59Z")
I’m wondering if the “recent flush” is what did it and lodged some debris. Some of us don’t like flushes, just dropping the pan and changing the filter-unless there are problems. But 300K, no way would I pull the trans apart without overhauling it at the same time. You can try that Berrymans stuff to see if that will help but otherwise . . . ---
**Author:** ![knfenimore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc348/32.png) [@knfenimore](https://community.cartalk.com/u/knfenimore)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/5 "2015-08-25T04:02:40Z")
Sounds like the tranny is shot. I would try Berryman’s too. 300k miles is a bunch. I wouldn’t sink money into it. ---
**Author:** ![joebombero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@joebombero](https://community.cartalk.com/u/joebombero)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/6 "2015-08-25T04:33:35Z")
What’s Berrymans? ---
**Author:** ![joebombero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@joebombero](https://community.cartalk.com/u/joebombero)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/7 "2015-08-25T04:36:37Z")
Power Steering Sealer! Found it! I will try it and let you know if it worked! Thanks ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/8 "2015-08-25T04:59:50Z")
Hey gang! This OP should not put power steering sealer in the transmission should he? ---
**Author:** ![SteveCBT](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/stevecbt/32/3192_2.png) [@SteveCBT](https://community.cartalk.com/u/SteveCBT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/9 "2015-08-25T05:34:08Z")
This is an off label use for Berrymans, with a high mileage transmission it is worth a try. It softens the seals and helps keep the pressure up. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/10 "2015-08-25T05:52:02Z")
Never used it but I thought there was a Berrymans 12 or something for transmissions. I believe there are several Berrymans products. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/11 "2015-08-25T07:49:35Z")
Maybe stopping the car and adding some engine oil takes enough time for something in the transmission to heat up enough via heat transfer to work better. ---
**Author:** ![joebombero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@joebombero](https://community.cartalk.com/u/joebombero)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2002-mazda-protege-bizarre-transmission-trouble/90983/12 "2015-08-25T09:08:46Z")
I found it- Transmission Fluid Sealer- added it following instructions. Will update if it is working- thanks all