TheRx7ist

Here's the story:

I had already been struggling with a low power situation for a while and had replaced the coils with LS2 coils hoping that it was an ignition issue. I knew it wasn't a converter issue, as I had already had it replaced under warranty a few months prior. After installing the LS2 coils, I still had the issue, but feared it may have been something I did wrong during installing them, so I removed them and reinstalled new OEM coils. Unfortunately, although making the misfire better, it didn't completely solve the problem so I knew a trip to the dealer would be in my near future.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago and while driving around, the car stalls on me and will not restart. After trying for about an hour, I finally got the car to start and limped it back to my house, running like ****....luckily avoiding a tow charge to tow it 1/2 mile to my house. The next day I was able to start it and drive it to the dealership almost 40 miles away, but I knew the motor was blown.

The dealership called a couple days later to tell me the motor was in fact blown and asked for proof of services performed so they could put through a warranty claim. I was lucky to have all the records I needed and the warranty work was approved by mazda. Yesterday though, things finally got a little sticky with the dealership.

They called me up and said that my clutch really needs to be replaced. I asked them what the deal was, and they stated that normally, the clutch job would cost 12 or 13 hours of labor plus the part, but that they would do it for 2 hours of labor @ 105/ hour since the motor was already out.....for a total cost of 800 dollars. At first that sounded cool to me except for the fact that they would be throwing in a stock clutch. I plan to eventually turbo the car, so I asked whether or not they'd throw in something other than the stock clutch. The service writer told me they'd only put in OEM, so I told her not to bother and to just put in the old clutch.

Twenty minutes later the actual mechanic who was working on the car called me up to advise me to change the clutch and to come see it for myself to help make up my mind. He also said that they could throw in whatever clutch I wanted, I would just have to sign that there was no warranty on the clutch or workmanship involved in installing it, and pay 2 hours of labor. I did go see the clutch and left the dealership with the intent of finding an aftermarket clutch quickly and having it shipped in for the dealership to install.

Clutches that I found online start at about 300 and go up from there. The clutch the dealer was trying to sell me was apparently 600 bucks. For 600 bucks I can get a much better than stock clutch. So obviously they're trying to rob me on the price of the clutch, but then I realized they were actually trying to double jack me.

I called them back up and spoke to the service writer. I asked her this question

ME:"If you put back in my old clutch, how much will that cost"

Service Writer: "nothing"

ME:"OK so if I order a clutch from you guys, how much will that be in total"

Service writer: "800 in total"

ME:"and that breaks down to 2 hours of labor @105/hr, and 600 for the clutch?"

Service Writer: "Yes"

ME:"where does the labor come from? I don't understand why you're charging 2 hours of labor"

Service writer:"Well they have to get paid something for doing the labor"

ME:"But there is no labor involved. Whether you put on the old clutch, or pull a new one from a box, you still need to do the same work"

This paused her for a second and she put me on hold so she could talk to her manager. She came back after a couple of minutes and told me 2 hours labor is what it is......I told her to just put the old clutch back in and I'd worry about it from there.

This just reaffirms most people's suspicions that most dealers are crooks. I could have taken the beating on the part itself, but I can't justify just giving them 200 extra bucks for fabricated labor.

This is my fifth rotary, and this motor only has 55k worth of well maintained miles on it. You'd think that you'd get some reciprocity for being a loyal mazda customer for more than 20 years, and putting up with dealing with a 30,000$ dollar car blowing it's motor at 55k. But nope, the dealer just can't help but try to get they're greedy hands on my money with a fabricated labor charge.

What are your thoughts?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Logic isn't the norm

I wouldn't see why they needed to charge you either....

For that manner...unless you drive like a tool the clutch is likely still OK anyway

Wingznut

iTrader: (1)

Well, to be fair, that just reaffirms that THAT dealership sucks.

I used to be both a technician and a service writer at a couple of dealerships... And I would have never treated a customer that way. But then again, while I would like to say that I was an excellent tech, I was never the service writer the management wanted me to be. I just couldn't sell people stuff that I didn't feel they really needed.

So... I guess, you are right.

TheRx7ist

BTW, for anyone interested, this dealership is Mazda of Westchester in White Plains NY.

ShinkaEvo

iTrader: (3)

There's a reason why it's called stealership....

Jake33

iTrader: (2)

thats shitty...my steering went out, luckily i had warranty from the dealership i bought my car from so it covered the $2300 part/labor. a week after what do you know, steering fails again and i have to pay for full labor ($600)...i love my car and rotary but damn. sometimes i think im better off with something else

Digger1911

Mr. Service Writer, If the old clutch assembly needs to be transfered
to the replacement engine anyway, Why is there more labor to put new parts
in??How does $400 dollars sound?

tablesRX8

It goes hand in hand with them not knowing what they are working on either, one mechanic thought my car was front wheel drive WHILE driving it, and another told me to check my power steering fluid when i was diagnosing my steering issue. I hate letting anyone work on any of my cars, especially dealerships. The only things ive had done at a dealer is coolant flush and my clutch pedal replaced, the latter i had no choice because i had limped my car there when it broke halfway to school. Never feels the same afterwords

maureenw002

I wouldn't see why they needed to charge you either.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

you don't understand why they're charging u 2 hours to put a new clutch on?

me neither, well, it probably takes them 2 hours to open the new box for the clutch and pressure plate ?

oh btw, stock clutch does not suck. even if u turbo all u need is really a Stage 1 Clutch. Exedy will work just fine.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

that's because they never fixed it in the first place.

the only thing u probably need was the wiring/power steering harness, which cost 100 something bux.

most dealership are loaded with morons, idiots who can't even read FSM, or just can't fix ****. hell they can pay me 20 bux and hour and Im sure I can do a better job than most of these asswipes working at dealership.

Jake33

iTrader: (2)

exactly! i was so pissed dude. greedy little *****. im never taking my car to them again. and theyve lost all my friends' business as well (the same service dept works on VW's as well, alot of my friends have them so i always tell them hey man, dont waste your time or money and just take it somewhere else or do it yourself)

monchie

I would never bring my car to the dealership unless its for a recall or warranty issues.

TheRx7ist

So, I picked up the car today....Blown left front speaker, Coolant leak from passenger side of engine bay, and what I think is a relatively choppy idle. I called the dealership 15 minutes after driving away when I noticed the speaker was blown. I can't wait to see how they're going to handle that.

I only noticed the rough idle and coolant leak when I got home. I have a feeling this dealership story is going to get worse before it gets better.

MissAnneThropy

Eek! What? Were they f*cking joy riding in it or something? The last time I took my 8 to the dealer, they tried to convince me that there was nothing wrong with it, because the check engine light hadn't come on. Seriously. (She was misfiring during idle...pretty obvious stuff here) Then, when I finally got my car back from those dipshits, it was minus about 1/2 tank of gas.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

a healthy engine(and everything else) should give you smooth idle, even after your battery has been disconnected (LTFT and STFT gone).

but a bit of rough idle is to be expected, only for the first 2-3 drive cycle tho.

coolant leak ? Bring it back and bitch, make sure you speak loud enough so everyone else in the waiting area can hear it.

TheRx7ist

50 miles on the new motor I got a flashing check engine light that went solid. When I hooked it up to a code reader we have at work, I get 0300B, random multiple misfires. I also had the company mechanic look under the car to see if we could find where the coolant smell was coming from. We didn't find any apparent coolant leaks, but we did find the oil cooler line mounted to the rear plate to be leaking slightly.

I brought it back to the dealership yesterday, we'll see what happens today. BTW, they basically told me to go scratch on the blown speaker.......

EightCostsMoney

iTrader: (2)

I had something like that happen to me at a dealership. I was getting a bad rattle on the steering and drone that increased with speed. I had some road rash on the wheel it was coming from so they automatically assumed I need a new wheel. I went to a junk yard a bought another one. I dropped the car off and they switched wheels. When the car was picked up, it was still doing it. They then told me it was the wheel I got form the junk yard.

I made them switch the wheel from another Eight they had in the shop and did a road test with the service manager. Guess what? It was the same issue. This time they ordered a wheel bearing for the vibrating wheel. I took them a week to get it done. When I picked up the car it had the same issue. Apparently they replaced the wrong wheel bearing. So it sat in the service bay for another week. This time they got the right one. At least they let me keep the wheel bearing they replaced for free first time and gave me a discount on the new one.

Still I was the one who did the trouble shooting for them.

Aseras

When the tech called you were supposed to give him $20-$40 and a new clutch and then go back and tell the service writer you told him to use the old clutch.

HexRX

Took my car to the stealership on Wednesday for a tranny issue (can't down shift into second.) I got it back today and they told me that I should never down shift into second unless I am going under 20 and must double clutch to do so.. is this true lol?

1.3_LittersOfFurry

iTrader: (4)

No...

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

HAH! Well, although double clutching is better. you don't need to do it.

another service writer who has no idea wtf he/she is talking about ...

HexRX

Thought so, well was she at least right with the "Never go into second above 20 mph..."? I will search also >…<

Ernest63

BTW, for anyone interested, this dealership is Mazda of Westchester in White Plains NY

TheRx7ist

The screwing from the dealer continues. After picking my car up last monday and finding a blown speaker, leaking oil line and a check engine light I immediately returned it on tuesday morning. All week I hear nothing. I finally call them Friday, and they tell me the service writer and the mechanic are both out right now, and that they would call me back. Four hours later, I call back frustrated after not receiving their call back. The service girl apologizes and tells me, the car is in the bay and won't be done today, she has no further information. I question her as to why the car was dropped of tuesday, yet is only being looked at on friday, she gives me nothing.

Monday comes, and I get no call.........ok.

Tuesday, I call them back and get the same story, service girl and mechanic are away and she has no answers. She promises me that the main service girl who has been handling my car will call me back as soon as possible. I told her that the exact same thing happened friday, and that no one ever called me back....she assures me someone will call me back to discuss the car. No one ever calls me, and as I'm nearing the end of my work day, and happen to be close to the dealership, I call them again.

I finally get the service writer that's been handling my car and she puts me on hold for almost ten minutes so she can talk to the mechanic. BTW, This dealership is a total of about 5000 square feet, the service writers could shoot the mechanics with rubber bands from their desks, so what takes so long to find the mechanic?

She finally comes back to the phone and tells me she "thinks it might be a fuel pump" 410 for the part and 4 hours of labor at 105/hr.......and that's when I've decided I had had enough. I told her there's no way I'm going to pay 4 hours of labor for a guess, and that I wanted to pick my car up immediately. I asked her if it was drivable nd she said it was. Seeing as how I was close to the dealership, I literally showed up 90 seconds after the phone call.

I get the keys, and then tell the service writer, that I feel like they have fucked me from day 1, my car had been there for weeks, often times ignored in lieu of other people's cars. I blasted the **** out of the dealership, and told them I'd be complaining to MNAO, for whatever that's worth.

When I did get in to the car, check engine light still on of course, and 37 miles on the odometer, which i feel is high given that they are in a city basically, how do you rack up 37 miles testing the new motor?

Wednesday, I attempted to remove the fuel pump to clean the sock, I would have had it out in about 25 minutes, except the tool I was using let loose, and snapped the top outlet off of the fuel pump. I bought a new pump, installed it yesterday, and guess what, I still have a code....so is the dealer just guessing for 800 bucks? because I can guess much cheaper.

The car currently feels good, although it has a somewhat choppy idle. I plan on trying to clean the ESS today and see if that's the issue.