Ok this has not been the greatest day thus far, but I think you all will enjoy this story. First off I take my car out for a nice bath because he was FILTHY from all the snow and salt on the ground from the recent snow here in the DC / Baltimore area. So I go hit up my favorite car wash to get a quick clean and then go about my merry little way. Once I leave the carwash my CEL comes on and I’m like WTF? This has never happened before. At first I think it’s not much so I go and drive around the block to get some gas and give the car a little time to see if the code clears. After I get my gas and pull off I see that the CEL is still on, so I give my rep at Rosenthal Mazda a ring to see if he has some time to check out my car. When I talked to him he said that he could check it out tomorrow because they were swamped with people (no problem there). So I decide I will just take it to them in the AM when no one is there but then something bad happened… When I got on to the highway at about 8k RPM my car bucks until I bring it down to about 6k. At this point I’m FREAKING the hell out so I decided to call Rich Morton ( Who has just as many high marks in here as Rosenthal) to see if they have some time to see what the hell is going on with my car. They said they could but it would be a good while before they got to it but me being the impatient person that I am I thought I would call Fitzgerald Mazda in Annapolis (first mistake). I call down there and talk to a really nice guy and told him the problem so he tells me to bring it on in but it would be about an hour before they got to it.

So I drive the 35 miles to Annapolis and let them have a look. So about 45 minutes later the tech comes in and starts talking to the rep about my car (I guess he didn’t know it was my car) and I was standing right behind him and he’s like “well the problem is he has aftermarket parts on there”. “So I butt in and is like are you talking about my car?” and he gets silent and walks off so I’m left talking to the rep. So he’s like yeah you don’t have the stock air filter on there and the car is getting TOO MUCH AIR. So I’m like “it’s the Mazdaspeed intake from MAZDA what are you talking about”. So he says the “tech says that’s no Mazda intake, it’s some aftermarket intake”… (Mistake #2 – I should have left at that point realizing they don’t know what the fuck they are talking about even though the intake is BRANDED WITH MAZDASPEED ON IT)

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o195/jrfilmmaker/DSC00502.jpg
so I’m like “Dude look in the damn Mazda catalog, I got the thing from my usual parts dealer who is a mazdaspeed dealer. Then he hits me with this “The tech says it’s not MS because it looks like it was welded”…WTF? Is he talking about this VERY OBVIOUS MACHINED WELD FROM THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE INTAKE? http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o195/jrfilmmaker/DSC00504.jpg

so I insist they look in the MS catalog that EVERY DEALER HAS. So whip out the catalog and is like “That does not look like your intake (now remember the MS intake has the mazdaspeed logo on the damn thing http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o195/jrfilmmaker/DSC00503.jpg

At this point he remains unconvinced but there is another rep there at the counter (the only one in the house with brain power apparently) and decides to go look under the hood and comes back and is like “Yeah that looks like mazdaspeed it even has the logo on there”. The other guy is still unconvinced and goes and has another look under the hood. He is still like “Well it looks aftermarket because that’s not what’s in the catalog (now mind you they use a generic picture in the catalog and I even referred them to Rosenthal’s site Finishlineperformance.com) and saw the same picture there. Finally someone in the house realizes that the PICS ARE ALL GENERIC. So wait this gets better!!!

He then proceeds to try and backup the argument that the car is getting too much air because the PIPE IS TOO BIG. Ok at this point I’m about to lose it… because I’m thinking “you do realize that the car pulls some serious CFM at full throttle right not to mention it’s a MAZDA PRODUCT MADE FOR MY CAR!!!!!”. I wonder if anyone there even knows what mazdaspeed parts are. The ironic part is that they have a “MAZDASPEED SIGN” on the door signifying that they sell MS parts. Oh yeah I forgot to mention the code they said they pulled was “P0107 Intake Sensor Circuit is too high” See invoice pic below.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o195/jrfilmmaker/Editedinvoice.jpg
So anyway I kindly remind him that

1.) The intake has been on the car for more than 3 months with NO problems and
2.) It just started happening today.
3.) Its an MS part
4.) The pipe sizing is correct. Oh yeah he says I am supposed to have a 2 1/2 pipe... You go figure that one out :Eyecrazy:

So now I decide I want a REAL MAZDA TECH and decided to call my rep at Rosenthal again. I didn’t get my usual guy but I got another woman there who knows me and my car and told her what they said about the intake being “Not Mazda” and even she was like “What the hell”? So I decide I’m just going to drive to VA and take the car to them because they know it like the back of their hands. On the way to my car my mechanic friend calls me and I told him about what was going on. He mentioned to me that maybe the intake filter got wet and froze some, and wasn’t getting enough air (which when I thought about it made sense because its 28 degrees outside). So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decide to DRIVE THE HELL out of my car now that it was in a garage drying for the last hour and a half. The moment I start the car NO MORE CEL… I’m like this is odd…maybe they cleared the code. So since they say my car is getting too much air we are going to keep this thing at the redline all the way home. Instead of going my usual way home (about 35 miles) I changed plans and took an extended trip around the capital beltway, and then up Interstate 95 home (about 60 miles+). I may have burned well over a ¼ tank of gas running it at WOT all the way home, I didn’t once get a CEL. So much for their theory of the car getting too much air…damn idiots…

So I decided not to take it to Rosenthal right away since the code went away, so I will just have them check it when I go in on Saturday for my fluids change / oil change. So all and all today I learned a few things…

1.) Any Mazda tech that cannot tell a real MS product from an aftermarket one needs to be fired
2.) Fitzgerald Mazda is a flippin joke
3.) Any Mazda dealer that sells mazdaspeed products but has never actually seen MS Parts needs to lose their certification
4.) NO ONE outside of Rosenthal shall EVER touch my car again.
5.) Be a little more careful when washing my car.

You know after of all this I am still back at square one… My car is dirty again from all the driving so I need to wash it again…uggg… http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o195/jrfilmmaker/DSC00506.jpg

Oh by the way... Happy Presidents Day Everyone! :patriot:

Edit:
I just looked up the code that the put down on the invoice... The code and the description DONT MATCH!!!!!!!! Look at the invoice again and see what they put... "P0107 Intake Sensor Circuit is too high" but when I searched that code in here I found this...

"P0107 BARO sensor circuit low input ON 1 CCM ´ (See DTC P0107 )"

Another strike against stupid under trained techs!

By the way all the codes can be found here in this sticky http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=26291&highlight=P0107

Dopes. lol. I wonder sometimes if they just give out tech certs sometimes. glad urs went away! I have one for a loose gas cap. I've refueled twice since it came on. oh well, I'll just reset it myself and see if it comes back on.

-Steakboy

wow, +1 for dealers!

You definately beat me for dealer of the day award

all I got from my dealer today was a ride with a tech saying "if there is no noise currently we can't fix it" (I brought it in for the rattling behind the instrument panel....the one that there is a TSB for...nice.)

Your car looks great right now!

wow, +1 for dealers!

You definately beat me for dealer of the day award

all I got from my dealer today was a ride with a tech saying "if there is no noise currently we can't fix it" (I brought it in for the rattling behind the instrument panel....the one that there is a TSB for...nice.)

Your car looks great right now!

LOL they didnt even look hahahaha.

You know what burns me up the most about these techs though... they are the types of lazy mechanics that you hear about that do nothing but look for codes and then when they get it, they dont do the proper test procedure. If they had at the very least solved why the CEL was comming on, it would not have been so bad arguing with the idiots about the MS intake. By the way thanks for the compliment on the car :)

LOL they didnt even look hahahaha.

You know what burns me up the most about these techs though... they are the types of lazy mechanics that you hear about that do nothing but look for codes and then when they get it, they dont do the proper test procedure. If they had at the very least solved why the CEL was comming on, it would not have been so bad arguing with the idiots about the MS intake. By the way thanks for the compliment on the car :)

Unfortunately these days a lot of "technicians" (And I use that term loosely) do nothing but check codes and replace the nearest part that the code best fits to. Fewer and fewer REAL techs exist that are actually willing, and have the mental capacity, to actually THINK about what's going on with a car and solve the problem while relying on the computer only for a direction to look.

LOL they didnt even look hahahaha.

You know what burns me up the most about these techs though... they are the types of lazy mechanics that you hear about that do nothing but look for codes and then when they get it, they dont do the proper test procedure. If they had at the very least solved why the CEL was comming on, it would not have been so bad arguing with the idiots about the MS intake. By the way thanks for the compliment on the car :)
Totally agree. No code, no problem. No sound, nothing to even look in the book about...customer complaints don't matter. If there is a code, well, it must be due to the aftermarket intake. you see, the one in the photo isn't installed in a vehicle. That is what makes it mazdaspeed and really gets the cold air moving! Since yours is installed it can't possibly be the Mazdaspeed one.

The sad part is there are some incredible techs out there. They are just few and far between.

Unfortunately these days a lot of "technicians" (And I use that term loosely) do nothing but check codes and replace the nearest part that the code best fits to. Fewer and fewer REAL techs exist that are actually willing, and have the mental capacity, to actually THINK about what's going on with a car and solve the problem while relying on the computer only for a direction to look.

And its going to be crap that costs mazda customers. I swear if I didnt have rosenthal as my technicians I dont think I would ever buy another mazda. Its a shame that that make such an awsome car but dont train the techs well enough to fix them

this is a lesson that should be learned quickly for any car dealer. In this age of google and car forums, the customer is going to know more and more everyday. The dealer that has employees as knowledgable as the average common forum member will greatly increase how the public perceives them.

And its going to be crap that costs mazda customers. I swear if I didnt have rosenthal as my technicians I dont think I would ever buy another mazda. Its a shame that that make such an awsome car but dont train the techs well enough to fix them

I concur. Though I'd have to say they'd lose more customers from the base who actually know something about their cars. The ones who don't know jack don't know any better keep coming back.

Reminds me of something an instructor of mine had to say. He made the point that the only reason the "throw parts at the area of code techs" have their jobs is that they generate money for the company by selling parts that aren't actually broken. It may eventually fix the problem but at the expense of the customer.

this is a lesson that should be learned quickly for any car dealer. In this age of google and car forums, the customer is going to know more and more everyday. The dealer that has employees as knowledgable as the average common forum member will greatly increase how the public perceives them.


You have to pay to get good people, dealership owners are notorious cheap bastages who would rather pay a dozen idiots for less than the one person who could do all their jobs singlehandedly

Sounds like what happened to me when I first had a clogged CAT. those bastard said it was because of my Intake (CEL of Air System Problem, Car was sluggish like crazy)

I was like wtf and finally the CAT burn out and another CEL came up, went to another Dealer and replaced it without question.

If I were u, I think I will make a call the MNAO and tell them exactly what is going on, just make it sound like u're really pissed or something, might not be much but hey, at least they know something like this has happened.

Sounds like what happened to me when I first had a clogged CAT. those bastard said it was because of my Intake (CEL of Air System Problem, Car was sluggish like crazy)

I was like wtf and finally the CAT burn out and another CEL came up, went to another Dealer and replaced it without question.

If I were u, I think I will make a call the MNAO and tell them exactly what is going on, just make it sound like u're really pissed or something, might not be much but hey, at least they know something like this has happened.

Oh trust me I am going to let them know. I am waiting on that wonderful survey e-mail i get asking how my experience was. They are not going to like anything I have to say about that dealer AT ALL!

You know I wonder if I dig hard enough to the bottom of a cracker jack box I wonder if I can get my mazda cert that way. It seems thats what all the techs are doing because the surely know NOTHING about a rotary!

I just looked up the code that the put down on the invoice... The code and the description DONT MATCH!!!!!!!! Look at the invoice again and see what they put... "P0107 Intake Sensor Circuit is too high" but when I searched that code in here I found this...

"P0107 BARO sensor circuit low input ON 1 CCM ´ (See DTC P0107 )"

Another strike against stupid under trained techs!

By the way all the codes can be found here in this sticky http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=26291&highlight=P0107

hahha reading this i was like "hmm intake sensor circuit? thats not what it says there is no "intake sensor" cel its like IAT or MAF or something" knew what they had printed wasnt right. thanks for the shortcut to the cel thread:D:

hahha reading this i was like "hmm intake sensor circuit? thats not what it says there is no "intake sensor" cel its like IAT or MAF or something" knew what they had printed wasnt right. thanks for the shortcut to the cel thread:D:

No problem :)

Geeezus, I cannot BELIEVE this! They're a certified MS dealership?! I think this clinches the fact that the Greater Baltimore area does not have any decent Mazda dealerships. This story actually tops my experience with Shaefer & Strominger Mazda recently: They removed the brake pads to paint my rotors and afterwards I had a horrible metallic screeching sound when in reverse. After their "Master technician" looked at it TWICE, they told me basically that their pads "are just noisy" and all the Mazdas have this problem. I knew better and checked it myself (which I should have done in the first place),... and in about 5 seconds I realized that someone must have bent the dust shield towards the rotor, and it was scraping against it. Their Master tech could not figure this out.

I had every intention of telling MNAO about my experience, but I have not had the chance yet. They did replace my front pads -- which I knew would not fix the problem -- but I wasn't going to stop them from giving me free parts. :)

Sorry you had to endure such incompentence with what should have been an easy service visit.

:banghead:

Dealers...

So you still havent told us how many idoits it takes to spot a MS intake :rollingla
Goes back to what everyone here knows and some of us are starting to realize, that the dealers (save for the rare rare hell ultra rare good dealer) all suck!! I found out recently that when I had a CEL for my baby they handed the car to a hourly tech to look at and he had it for two days and couldnt figure out what was wrong. At the end of the day he asked a full time tech and he took my car for a spin and knew right away what was wrong (A clogged CAT!). The Hourly Tech just ran the codes replaced the part and the car then had misfire issues and was lost after that aparently.

This is why most people after their warrenties expire go to the local mechanic and not the dealers. A Local Mechanic (the good ones that is) realize if they treat ya right and help you prevent something bad happening you'll come back time and again for anything and will spread the word of that fact.

:banghead:

Dealers...You're funny, Tommy.

Everyone knows you are the exception to the rule.

So you still havent told us how many idoits it takes to spot a MS intake :rollingla All of them.

I e-mailed Mazda after this whole ordeal and they got back to me today. The guy was pretty str8 forward in letting me know that there isn't TOO much they can do because each dealer is independently owned but my complaints were heard and they read this thread which was satisfying to know. I'm not going to let that joke of a dealership spoil me on Mazda though because I love my 8 and the folks at Rosenthal more than make up for the short comings of the fools in Annapolis. Hopefully Mazda will eventually start punishing dealerships in some way for "lapses" in customer service like that. With a little training I think that whole situation could have been avoided. Thats just my .02, oh if you live in MD... remember to STAY FAR AWAY from Fitzgerald Mazda on west street!