Hey guys,

I'm wondering if anyone here can offer me some suggestions. My car is an 04 AT GT that I bought new in 04. Never had any major problems (except for warm start issues) until last month when my car stalled at idle. Three weeks later, it stalled again at a traffic light and twice more a few days after. I brought my car back to the dealership thinking it might have to do something with the 8yr/100K mile warranty. At first, the dealership said that my intake valve was stuck and they said it would cost $700 to fix it. Then after some testing, they said that my coolant thermostat is stuck too, and it will cost me another $400. If that doesn't do the trick, I was told that they will have to replace the engine. Well guess what? I need a new engine. My question is, do I still have to pay for the intake and thermostat issues since it didn't solve the problem with my car stalling? Those problems I would have went somewhere else to fix for a lot cheaper by a mechanic shop I know of where one of the mechanics owned 5 rotaries in his lifetime and claims that he rebuilt a few engines himself. Can I at least negotiate to just pay for the parts, because the labor wasn't necessary, and if anything, just pay the diagnostic fee? Thanks for the feedback in advanced guys. Also, I'm prepared for all the AT sucks and should have bought an MT comments. As long as I can weed through them and find any useful info, I'll be happy. Thanks. :o)

 

Get all of your info together and I mean all. Names dates what service guy said and cost. Call Mazda NA 800#in your book and plead your case and if you had most of your work done at the dealer you should have a good chance.

 

If the mechanic replaces something that doesn't fix the problem with the car, why should the customer have to pay for it? Are they attempting to charge you for those parts?

How many times did you have to go to the shop in between the intake valve, the coolant thermostat, and the decision that you needed a new engine?

 

Old Rotor: I am looking for all my receipts now. I might have to go back to certain places to make up some old receipts for me.

Shadowbot: All of this was found out in the first trip. I haven't paid them anything yet. I had another dealer back a couple years ago try to charge me $1,300 for new motor mounts. He claimed that Warranty wouldn't cover it. I called MNAO and they said yes, motor mounts are covered. I had them fax me a copy of the warranty documentation, and showed the dealer. They called me up the next day and said that Mazda will fix it under Warranty. I think that they just wanted to get paid twice. Once from me, and then again from the warranty claim.

 

If it was all done in the same trip I would say hell no. Why should you have to pay to replace 2 working parts? Tell em to put your old ones back in if they want to.

 

Its total bs in the first place.

intake valve stuck? that doesnt cause the engine to stall under light. I guess they're talking about the SSV? it take about 2 hour to take the surround stuff apart, clean, and put it back together.Thats if I am taking my time. but again, it has nothing to do with engine stalling.

Thermostat ? that wont cause the engine to stall at all. not to mention, 400 bux to replace Thermostat ? a thermostat brand new from Mazda cost around 20-25 bux. and the gasket wow I give it 5 bux. so how much did they charge u for labor again ? first time I swap my thermostat took me a bit over an hour. Second time swapping it with Mazmart Thermostat took me under an hour. 3rd time swap it back out around same time.

This dealership and their techs are full of ****. Post its name up in the good dealership/bad dealership section and here. just to let everybody know they cant fix ****.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I feel like I have some arguements now. Total parts and labor for intake valve and thermostat replacement is $1,100. The engine will be replaced by warranty. I don't know if the dealer will charge me yet, but I have a feeling they will, so that is why I posted here first. Basically to know what to say in the event that they charge me. I would rather have them put back my old parts and fix them elsewhere for cheaper.

 

Ok, so my engine has been replaced under warranty. Now, the dealer says I owe $1,100. Do I really have to pay for these fixes? The dealer says it was part of the diagnosis, and only the engine was replaced under warranty. Any tips for me. Thanks.

 

Tell them to put your old parts back in because "fixing them" didnt fix your problem.
Call up MNAO and see what they say about it.
Keep us updated im curious to see how this plays out.

 

typical dealer trying to make you replace stuff. why dont they just say oh your car is messed up, we have a new car for you, heres 23k bill you have to pay.
and you probably signed your name before they replaced them so theres nothing really to say about other than pay the money.
shouldve asked before they do anything to it.

 

usually the dealer will tell you to change things, ignition coils, spark plugs, starter motor, even engine decarb, (to rule them out) but if those things don't fix the problem and it comes out it's the engine.... they are free of charge (at least free of labor).

You could search on here, and see all the people that had their engines replaced; they all had to change something (and they never had to pay for those parts). But I've never heard of changing the SSV, or the Thermostat in order to see if the engine will pass.

You have a strong case here, I wouldn't leave it the way it is and pay them without calling MNAO.

 

I called MNAO, and they said that the parts where changed due to the check engine light. I only went to the dealership to claim the warranty fix, but they insisted that they had to try the other fixes first. MNAO said I would have to negotiate with the dealer on this one. I'm picking it up tomorrow morning, so I'll let you guys know what happens. It's at Royal Mazda in San Francisco BTW.