Hate to say it but the dealer even though they deal with Audi and Porsche dont give a damn 'bout your car or you. Now unless you specificly said "No I definatly need this car tomorrow for... X reason I'll come back later" then I take that back. But seriously if your car threw the CEL and they said "..'eh come back later when it happens again and we'll give you a loaner." that's just iresponsible and shows they dont wish to do warrenty work at all, most likely since Mazda doesnt pay out as much as Audi or Porsche I assume.

Again I aparently was getting this code because it was drawing to much ampage or was it voltage forget 'cause the CAT was clogged up solid. Yours might be doing it now 'cause as far as we know a piece of your CAT crumbled next to some sensor that is causing the power drainage. If your able to physicaly take the CAT down and look at it yourself I'd do it (if you have a friend with a bay or good friends with a local mechanic ) The CAT is under warrenty for 100k due to federal reg's so unless you have more than that in mileage they shouldnt be charging you a dime.

 

I only have 10,000 miles on the car, which seems to be a bit early for cat failure, especially when I try to red-line frequently.

Thanks for the advice. I don't mean to Hijack Cavius' thread, but I will make sure you all know how it turns out.

I have a garage, ramps, jacks and stands and decent tools. I just HATE removing exhaust parts. If I do get around to it, what should I be looking for?

 

Dont worry 'bout any hi-jack, better than creating another thread for something that has been or is being discussed.

Pretty much from the few pictures I've seen, if the CAT is clogged you'll know it haha. Thing just looks well packed tight.

CAT's clogging on our cars even with 10k miles isnt a common thing but it is known to happen. Some people I've heard are on their 3rd CAT. Definatly keep us updated again.

 

I have a situation I'd like you guys' input on.

Car came back from body shop with solid CEL. They said they only moved it in and out of the garage for work and let the car warm up before shutting it off. I drove around a few sessions to see if it would go away, and it didn't.

Today, the dealer says light is for a 'random missfire stored in system.' They could not replicate the missfire and I haven't noticed any driving issues. They cleared it for me and let me go, but before doing so, began blaming my grounding kit for possibly causing the problem. The tech said because the kit joins all the ground points together, it could cause backfeed to mess with 'electronic sensors' and burn the 'transmission solenoid.'

What the **** is he talking about?

 

Its called bullshit .....

 

+1!

 

Well, the CEL came back on yesterday. Back to the dealer I go, when they can set me up with a loaner.

 

If its the same code definatly mention the CAT as a possible reason as to why. They may blow it off (Like I was), but mention as I said earlier my experince and how it was the CAT and your only trying to make their job easier by saving them time doing pointless test's. And as one Tech from my dealer suggested just ask to talk to their Rotary Tech personaly.

 

UPDATE:
They are going to order a new Secomdary Air pump. It was making a lot of noise, but not moving much air. Hopefully that will be the end of it.

 

Sweeet.. hopefully thats it for your problem.

 

Just got the car back. They replaced the air pump and a leaking gasket on my oil filler neck. I think their diagnosis was correct. Now that the pump has been replaced, I can see what they meant by "making a lot of noise". My car used to have a loud hum for the first minute or so on cold-starts. That noise is completely gone. It must have been the air pump.

 

Is your power back though? But glad your car is fixed to bad they seemed to hassle you the first time around.

 

As I had said before, I wasn't sure I had any powerloss. The car has always seemed strong, but if there had been a clogged cat issue since I had bought it, maybe I hadn't picked up on it. I think all is well.

Now I am just waiting for the snow to melt so we can all go screaming through the adirondacks.