Car almost beat me

Right after I posted the last entry I went out to the GTX to drive home, and the driver door was frozen shut. After trying to get it loose, I tried the passenger door. It too was frozen shut. Again it refused to budge. After going back and forth trying to get them open, I tried the hatch, and it opened easily. My parcel shelf has been wired for speakers, so I can't remove it. So, I dropped the back seats and crawled into the back, under the shelf, into the back seat. I righted the back seats, and moved both the front seats to allow easier access to the driver's seat. Once in the front, I started the car, managed to shoulder the driver door open and used my scraper to clear snow and ice and drove home.

Drove it again two days later. No problems getting in and starting it, but when I turned the defroster on, it started snowing in the car. Not having AC, it was sucking outside air into the car. Once the engine warmed up, the hot air prevented it from snowing. Still, a weird effect. When it first started, I checked to see if the moon roof had opened or leaked.

La Machine!

The weather report was for snow Thursday morning and more Friday. I wanted to make sure I had the GTX back to take advantage of the snow. I arranged to pick it up on Tuesday, and after filling it up, and an uneventful drive home (even the seat felt more comfortable than I remember). I pre-staged it for snow. Today we had 7 inches of light, fluffy snow. The GTX didn't miss a beat and felt wonderful doing four wheel drifts.
The front windshield had a little fog that I couldn't get rid of, but I didn't try high fan with heat, only cold. I noticed a tunnel under the snow on the roof at the back of the sunroof, but didn't detect any leaking inside. I also noticed the dome light was working, for the second time ever; will check that again tonight.

It's waiting for me, covered in ice, with small icicles hanging from the front bumper. I'm looking forward to the trip home!

update 11/7

We're stuck. At this point I'm told we need to remove the transmission (again) to proceed, and I'm not willing to pony up another $600 to do that. I told them to put it back together. Hopefully I still have an open AWD system.

Update, still stuck

They still can't get the center diff out to check the motor. He said they got it 3/4 the way, but don't want to force it as Mazda doesn't carry that part anymore. He's gonna check with the tech today, but thinks that they need to crack open the transmission to go further, and that's $600, and much more than I wanted to pay. He said we'll talk tomorrow once he talks to the tech.

Update 10/25

Center diff lock still stuck. Brad believes the unlocking screw accessed behind the bolt HAS been turned / unlocked,but the motor is still stuck.  He hit it with penetrating oil last Friday and will see if that helps get it loose Wednesday or Thursday.

Center Diff Dis-assembly instructions

From the GTX Yahoo group:

Posted by: "Bob Martin"

Thu Oct 6, 2011 7:07 am (PDT)

Remove 12 mm locking bolt from transmission (this one takes a couple of long
extensions to get to from above). It is hard to see. It is right next to the
diff lock sensor.
Disconnect two wiring harness connectors for diff lock motor (easiest to do
from the engine compartment but can be done from underneath).
Remove passenger side front tire. Remove the pasenger side splash shield.
Thse two steps might be skipped if you are using a hoist but you can see a
lot better if you do them.
Remove 17 mm bolt from end of diff lock motor.
Loosen three 12 mm bolts holding diff lock motor in place. Tap motor a
little to loosen it up and remove any preload from the shaft.
Insert flat blade screwdriver (you may have to grind down the sides to get
it to go in) into hole exposed by removal of 17 mm bolt. Turn diff lock
actuating rod 90 degrees clockwise (or, was that counter-clockwise? I can
never remember).
Remove three 12 mm bolts and remove diff lock motor.

You can bench test the diff lock by pulling out the rod and seeing if the
diff locks. If not, you have an internal transmission problem.

After cleaning and regreasing the diff lock motor (which solves 90% of diff
lock issues), be sure to put it in the unlocked position before reassmebly
and make sure the rod is pushed in.

Good luck,

Bob

10/18/11 update

Maybe an update. Still no actual progress. Was told they tried to remove the motor, maybe yesterday, and failed. Tech is going to read up and maybe try again.

Unplugged radio, so the center diff has 12v, but no movement of the motor. Took the 17mm bolts off and turned the screw, but motor wouldn't budge. I assumed they followed the directions I send them to disassemble the Center Diff.