- Hi scotty, i have a 1999 Mazda protege 1.6L. The previous car owner had no idea how to car for a car, from rusty falling apart oil filter, to way too small car battery. I have done a lot to this car to get it to where it is now. I seen on your videos that some older cars need to be warm up before driving if not they may give a little problems in the transmission area. Even it wouldn't warm up the overdrive light would start to flash on and off. After looking it up more i gear it might be speed sensor or a cylionaid. I was trying to figure out which one but i don't how would i know or go about this. Also where would the sensor be?
I'm surprised your Protege has an O/D Off switch and light, usually those are only in automatic transmission trucks like my '99 Ranger. They save wear on the transmission towing heavy stuff at speed.
The fact the light is flashing does mean there is a problem in the transmission, and it should be stored. A higher level scan tool would be able to access the code. Speed sensors will most likely be in each wheel hub. There may be one on the transmission's output shafts as well. Shift solenoids are internal to the transmission, attached to the valve body. Those can be messy, since the valve body is on the bottom of the transmission, behind the pan, and they require new gaskets on the pan.
The valve body itself also has a gasket sealing it to the transmission. If that has a hole in it, it can cause a while host of oddities, the valve body is the "brain" of th tranny and does all of the fluid routing to change the gears.
Before you tear anything apart, take a look at the transmission fluid if you have a dipstick. If it's brown or smells burned and looks like varnish, the transmission internals are damaged.
