I just created an account and can’t find an option to start my own topic to ask a question. Perhaps I don’t have a permission yet…
So I’m trying to hijack this 11 years old thread. Hopefully it offends nobody or brakes no rules.
I have 2020 Mazda 6 with an automatic transmission. Yesterday, when maneuvering from a park place on a steep hill I’ve been distracted by something and lost my focus for a few moments. At that time the gear shifter was in reverse. When I was able to continue my maneuver, I was about to move forward, which was down the hill. I released the brake pedal and left the car to roll down. I forgot about the gear still being in reverse. The vehicle went down by the force of gravity, but not the full force, as I was slightly braking all the time because I had to drive slowly through a corridor. After moving around 10 meters (30 feet), I’ve heard a bang like if I hit something. The engine has stalled. Only then I noticed the gear shifter still in R.
I switched the gear to P and was able to restart the engine. Then I drove around 20km (12 miles). During the driving I haven’t noticed anything wrong with the car. Reverse driving works fine too.
Still, I wonder if I did something that can bite me later, for example in the middle of a road trip, far away from home. If it’s better to have the car checked (and drive really lightly until then) or if I should just continue to drive normally and only in case I notice something wrong it’s worth to take it to an expert.
This site does have a bit of a learning cure as to posting and replying. No harm done using an old thread.
As to your transmission, I don’t really know, but suspect th electronic controls protected it. There are more knowledge folks on this site that may provide more definitive answers.
Click “maintenance/repairs” above left, then look for a “new topic” link at the top right. If you don’t see that link, then you are probably right, you may not have gained top-post permission yet.
If you were rolling downhill you had weight shifted forward and rear tires may have been dragging or binding somehow and tires may have just hopped or thumped? Applying brakes and going forward could lead to axle binding? Did you say it was fwd or awd?
This is one of those situations where it would cost you far too much to pay someone to “check it out”, and probably get a useless result that ended with a comment, “Just drive it and pay attention to what happens and when. Keep an eye on the fluid level.” So I’ll say it for free here.
Thinking about it retrospectively, it wasn’t moving as freely as normally, there’s been some resistance. It just hasn’t alerted me instantly as there is a rough road surface and I’ve been applying brakes all the time. Otherwise I didn’t notice anything unusual until the bang sound from the front part. Then the engine stalled and engine and battery controls lighted up. Afterwards I shifted the lever to P, turned off the ignition and restarted the engine. The controls haven’t illuminated again.
From my experience, about the only way anyone can really check for damage in an automatic transmission is to remove it from the vehicle and take it apart. The only other way is to remove the transmission pan and look for shavings or broken parts.
Regular fluid and filter changes is about all you can do. If something breaks inside the transmission, you’re probably going to become aware of it pretty quickly.
Thank you all for your comments. Now I see why it doesn’t make sense to have it checked. Also, today I have driven another 30 miles and seen no issues.
So as I understand it, this isn’t kind of an event when it could be said something like “no real harm done, cars are built to withstand such things” or “part X is likely to be damaged”. It’s just “drive and see if something is wrong…”