Problems with my dealership yet again! What are my options?!
 

Ughhh God this car is giving me nightmares. Ive owned it for 3 years and I still never drove it to its full potential. My wallet is getting sexually assaulted. So here is my story in short:

1- Got a reman engine installed 2 weeks ago under EXTENDED warranty I purchased.
2- Drove it for about 1100km and I noticed the car was boggling and hesitation and had trouble accelerating.
3- Took it back to the dealer and told them my new engine has no power
4- They call me at the end of the day telling me my "intake system" was bad and is covered under warranty but not the CAT which failed the exhaust test. They couldnt even tell me what part of the intake system.... My rep doesnt even know what he's talking about.

So they want 2189$ plus 1 hour labor for a new CAT. It is not covered under an extended warranty I purchased at the mazda dealership I bought the car from. I dont understand. the 8 year/160000km applied for the CAT as well, so why wont my extended warranty not cover the CAT? Plus, the reason why the CAT failed is because my old engine was misfiring a lot and took it to the grave. Its a cause to effect relation here...

I have an AP midpipe in my shed, but im scared to put it on because it was on my old engine which used to misfire. Would the AP dual resonated midpipe go bad from misfires? I would rather a converter to be honest cause of the smoke and smell from running catless. Im stuck in traffic a lot and the fumes make me dizzy.

So would mazda canada help me on this? Do I have a case? Could my midpipe be clogged as well since it was on my old engine? Or do midpipes not clog/melt? Im guessing its the only temporary solution I have.

cheers to all who try to help, I need some arguments.

$2200 for a new cat..or $0 for more power and a nice sound...hmmm...i sure know what I would do

thats not the point. I want a new cat cause then I will void the remainder of my warranty on the new engine until it ends in october.

Plus, the dealership is 100km from my house (60 miles) I dont want to drive the car back on a partially clogged cat. Im just ruining the engine while doing so.

You can buy a used cat from someone on the forums for ~$400. Just put the midpipe on for now, that will give you some time and you can look for a cat if you really want one.

Just buy a brand new 200 cell cat, chuck that in, problem solved. This should not void your warranty.

First off, is the warranty that you bought directly through Mazda, or is it through a third party? If it's through Mazda, call up the Mazda contact information in your owners manual, and ask them if the convertor is covered or not, and if they say its covered, tell them your dealership is trying to make you pay for it.

If it is through a third party company, call them up and ask them if it is covered or not. Better yet, ask them to send you a complete copy of the inclusions and exclusions of your policy.

We can't tell you if you are covered or not.
You're going to have to find this out for yourself.

BC.

well after being on the phone with mazda here is what they said.

My 8year/100mile warranty was expired when my engine was replaced. I was covered under an extended warranty that didnt come from mazda. (although i bought it from the mazda dealer...) My argument was that a bad engine made my cat go bad. This process probably took a year to complete. They dont understand that my old engine slowly killed my cat. Tough to argue that with them. Anyways, so im on my own.

It would be absurd if I purchased a 2200$ cat plus taxes on a 2004 rx8 thats worth 7000 at most. Midpipe will be going back on for now.

Question: My midpipe suffered quite a few misfires from my old engine. Its the AP midpipe. Is it possible it can be clogged/melted as well? Or will I just have to put it on and test it. It gets expensive to pay a mechanic to do it everytime.

Maybe after all these years I will finally experience the rx8 at its full potential.

Arguing that the cat killed the engine isn't going to get you anywhere. Even if you could conclusively prove it, very very very few warranties (as in, none I have ever heard of) will cover a warrantied parts failure that failed due to a failure of a non-warrantied part.

The AP midpipe is dual resonated, it doesn't have packing that can clog. Your misfires probably killed the cat, but they won't/can't kill your midpipe.

excellent! Thats what I needed to know. I guess Ill be contributing to global warming for a while.

Ill see if my dealer will install my complete exhaust line which I highly doubt they will. We dont have emissions law in Canada yet.

How bad could it be to drive a few days on a partially clogged cat? The car still has power but it feels like im driving a mazda 3

I wouldn't drive it until the midpipe is swapped on. Too much chance for further damage and isn't worth it.

In the US, it is a heavy fine and possible jail time for a mechanic to remove the cat from someone's car and install a non-cat pipe in it's place. Even if the specific location doesn't have any emissions laws. I'd say just do it yourself. Save the money on labor.

how come they want $2200 for the cat? i just bought one, and list price is $1385.19 US. i would assume they are charging you installation (its 5 bolts... so call it an hour, $100), and you need a $12 gasket, they are still almost $700 high...

im in canada, we dont have cheap parts like you guys over here. Thats why I buy everything from the USA.

Example: Every year, regardless of mileage I buy coils, plugs and wires.
Here is my dealer quote:

plugs: 180
coils: 580 (145 each)
wires: 120

total cost: 880$ plus 15% tax plus 1.5 hour labor comes to 1157$

My cost on ebay: 4 oem mazda coils, ngk plugs, ngk wires = 340$ shipped to my door and installed by me. saving of about 800$

Sometimes I wish I was living in the USA where any type of car is accessible. I want an EVO 8 or 9 but there are like 4 total in Canada.

I'm also from Montreal, I'm curious which dealer your working with?

If you want to sell that mid pipe in the near future shoot me a pm. I am on Vancouver Island in B.C. This will help you out with $$$ a little.

Im working with ALBI in mascouche. Biggest mazda dealer in north america. Bought 3 cars there, never had a problem with them, service is excellent. Unfortunately my cat converter aint covered. Nothing I can do and its not their fault. Everything else was super smooth. I get loaner cars every time. This time i got a mazda 3