So.. I guess I have bad luck with Mazda service?
 

Hello peoples

A few months back I posted a thread about how Mazda was refusing to fix a slight grind into my fourth gear. Mazda did not fix it, so after two weeks of arguing I took the car back with no repairs because I did not have the money to fix it. My car had 38,650 miles. Should have been under warranty. So I put the 8 away and try not to drive it cause it grinds only into fourth gear...

I leave to college with my 8 at home, so I get back for the holidays, and decide to take it for a spin. Grind is still there but nothing else is wrong. So my father calls Mazda to take a look at it again and they agree. So thy hold the car for two weeks, give us a Mazda 3 loaner. They call my father last Wensday to pick up the car, he went while I went to work and calls me and tells me not the car does go into 4th, 5th, 6th and reverse gears. Mazda now wants $3,800 for a new clutch. They are claiming corporate refuses to reimburse Mazda service. I told them my car has 43,000 miles how can they refuse? The car didn't sit too long my dad drove her here and there. Something serious must of happened while it was in there care. So now I just got off the phone with Mazda and they told me corporate has fully declined to fix my car.

So I'm backed into a corner. Can someone please help me on what to do? cause the semester is beginning, and I'm not dorming so I'll NEED a car and i cant afford 4k. :dunno:

Sucks, man - sorry. The transmission/clutch by most accounts here are not exactly great to begin with, and have been an issue for others, too. At 43k it's not really uncommon for a clutch repair/replacement to NOT be covered by warranty. It will fall under the "normal wear" tag, and you have to pay.

Call MNAO and confirm that it is a corporate decision, and not a case of a "stealership" at work. If they confirm it's a corp. call, then it's all you.

At which point you should take the car to a normal (and probably more competent) auto shop and pay 1/3 of that to have a new clutch done - probably even less. $3,800 for a new clutch is obscene.


Edit: definitely less - I am guessing, and maybe the 8 is a PITA to swap the clutch so it's more expensive (time consuming) - but it should be less than a grand.

wait wait wait

You cant go into 4th 5th and 6th gear after your drop ur car off at dealership ?

Isnt that their fault then ?

what kind of clutch cost 3800 ? I assume that you're talking about replacing the whole transmission right?

Anyway, you can get a rebuild tranny or a used one from Paul @ Mazart for probably 1/2 to 1/3 the cost. A brand new good clutch with all the bearings and seals for maybe 350 bux shipped.

Sometimes, if u gone to a bad dealership and they want to rip u off, they jsut make shit up and tell Mazda so they can decline ur warranty so u have to pay them. Dont fall into that shit. post the name of the dealership u've been to.

^true - if they're talking about a new transmission then it should be covered under warranty.

Hmm
 

When they were testing the car's 4th gear grind...they essentially fucked the rest of your transmission. Period.

insist on a new free transmission i have freinds who got them with and with out the extended warrenty

It's Ramsey Mazda in NJ, but they sound like they really want to fix it but can't because of not being reimbursed by corporate and what not. They're claiming it's a piece of metal and that was in my transmission and because I didn't pay to have it fixed the first time i'm at fault even though it didn't go into gears at the dealership when we went to pick it up. I argued with the lady and she said it can happen at any time blah blah. Shes even telling me to get a lawyer and go after corporate Mazda. My car is still at Mazda cause my dad knew if he took poessesion of the car we'd be at fault. so it has stayed at the dealer since so they can't pin anything on us. Its all one big headache.:banghead:

And as I recall they said I do need a new tranny. It'll be the 3rd time my clutch was replaced in under 45,000 miles.

Fix it yourself. I've seen used trans. for under $1000.

I dont think that helps at all...

i had my tranny initially declined at ramsey too.....i started a thread on it and got mnao involved....with allot of bitching they replaced the entire thing under warantee.....they tried to say it was me and the clutch caused it but i still have the original clutch in my new trans......ramsey likes to dick people over if you dont brawl with them

IMHO

If the car went into the dealership only grinding in 4th gear, and came back from the dealer unable to shift into 4th, 5th, 6th, and reverse, then you can make the case that the dealer broke it, and owes you at least a new transmission under warranty. While they are at it, they may as well put a new clutch in, but since it's a wear item you'll probably need to eat the cost of the part itself. It should cost nothing to put the clutch in, since they'll have the thing apart to replace the transmission anyways.

when you talk to MANO, You want to say it was grinding into 4th when you took it in, and when you got it back 4th to reverse didn't work at all, and that you felt the dealer was trying to hide the cause from you. Be polite about it. Say you're willing to pay for a new clutch but clearly the transmission should be under warranty, or be replaced because the dealer killed it, not you. BE NICE TO MANO! no swearing, no threats. You want to be the nice innocent consumer blindsided by the money grubbing ways of the local stealership. Not Mr.asshole who thinks hes owed something.

I'm always polite no matter what. No point in getting upset. You guys suggest to have a lawyer look it over?

didnt we have a poll about this topic and the majority of the members voted to return that rx8 and look for another one???if so.......we told you so:banghead:

Ramsey Mazda has been *known* on this broad to jerk people around. especially when it comes to major replacements like Tranny or Engine. Their Sales departments are nice, but the service department is where they hide their butcher knifes ...

if what you said is *true*, you know, about your tranny grind on 4th, dropped it there and end up with anything after 4th grinds. then its 100% their fault.

What do they mean a piece of metal in the tranny and you didnt fix it the first time ? You guys (points at ramsey) said couldnt find a problem in the first time. Is that my fault ?

Just like last time when my clutch bracket broke, they tried to blame it on me, but I was like, dude, last time (the time b4 it broke), I ALREADY said that there is an issue with the clutch bracket, and guess what, the invoice saids *No problems found*. So they have to eat all the cost.

Sometimes I dont really understand Mazda(or any major corporate auto companies), why cant they just use some *higher* quality parts in the first place ? I know everybody gets a bunch of *bad build* from time to time. but this Mazda dealership crap is just getting my nerves now. Im really sick of going to dealership. They're freaking slow, cuz they know that they WILL get business, so that also means, they dont really CARE about honesty, and quality.

You should speak with Mazda about it, said that the dealership lied (obviously they did) and this is ridiculous. Use the Lawyer thing as ur last weapon.

Thanks NYC, good advice. I'll have the Ramsey service guys look at this thread and tell them straight that I don't believe that corporate rejected and if corporate did decline for real than i'll tell ramsey to push them to fix it. I have sentimental value with my 8 cause of a friend who recently passed, so I don't really wanna have to get rid of it cause of dealers or corporate jerks trying to save a few dollars.

Seems like my previous response is not here for what ever reason.

What I was saying is that this is the reason Mazda is rated the worst among all car manufactures for customer service according to JD power. It is also the reason this will probably be my first and last Mazda.

I think your final course of action is to get the repair done and drag them to small claims court to enforce the warranty and get your money back.

Until Mazda stops treating their people like crap they will continue to lose market share. Supposedly they are concerned about there poor ranking for customer service yet these actions show they really don't care.

Call MNAO first. The more info you have the better. If MNAO says they didn't refuse to cover it under warranty then the dealer is flat out lying. Report them, then go somewhere else. Life is too short, and the 8 is too fun to deal with asshats that will try to screw you at every turn.

You should call MNAO, dont let your father. because YOU are the one that knows the whole game. not your father.

Tell them you suspect the dealer is lying and giving you shit, cuz it has a pretty bad rating on the internet (which is true).

and like Raptor saids, MNAO wonder why their cars dont sell like hot cakes, I mean its nice and stuff. Hell yeah, their Customer service is like crap.

I have an 04 6mt and the dealer replaced my tranny. All it took were me and 20 of my friends and a little info that if they could honor the expensive warentee on my car and I will continue to be a loyal mazda customer with no problems or we were going to destroy the shop. i dotn recommend that to anyone ... but they have to have your permission before doing any work that will not be covered. even 1 penny. it is not your problem if after the fact they can not be re-embursed. In fairness you would have to pay for the parts but not the labor. and a clutch is one 3 hours labor ... and a gears go for 200 ish each ... so ... umm yeah ... 4k? i dont know about that math.

also i found out later that they were not an official mazda dealer....

to the OP, you are not alone.

Dude, do you watch Judge Judy, or what? Small claims the dealership. Easy. Fast. Efficient.

Surely Mazda gave a reason or a rationale of not fixing the tranny....?

I dont watch Judge Judy, she doesnt even know what WoW is !!!! :)

Judge Adam, Judge Alex, Judge .... :)

So this is the deal. The district manager of Mazda looked at my transmission and said because of harshe driving the car's transmission has been defected. How ever, the car BEFORE i bought it, had a new transmission installed with the previous owner. Then again one month after I had purchased the car. So obviously this car has some type of problem Mazda doesn't want us to know. I just got off the phone with MNAO, and a rude rep who was called first when it was rejected by the district manager, has told me that they have fully declined to fix my car. They said the district manager has ''looked'' at my tarnsmission and decided not to fix it, so he/she called Mzda corporate and told them they will not be covering it. I was very polite with them, and got the information on who the lawyer has to write too.

So now my lawyer will be getting involved. Ten minutes after I got off the phone with corporate I talked with the dealership and just as we began speaking corporate called her and told her they rejected my car and they'll ''see me in court'' as a quote on quote. The dealer now wants my car out of there posession so we'll have to tow it if anything and take a few pics of the odometer.

Oh brother, what a head ache. Any suggestions guys, you guys are the only ones I trust at this point.

This transmission is a *known* weak point in the car. I guess Mazda really dont want any more new customers.

How many ppl had problem with their 2nd gear ? How many people had problem with the tranny grind just for no reason. It could be less than 1 % of the whole Rx-8 community, but hey, a tranny not suppose to break like this isnt it ?

My Clutch bracket broke and the Mazda *tech line* tried to blame it on a *possible worn clutch* ~~~ how stupid can that be ? My GF is looking for a car, she likes Mazda3, but I told her what I've been thru, try NOT to get anything from Mazda.

She is looking for another car right now, probably Civic, Yeah I know what you're thinking, but at least they got MUCH HIGHER rating than Mazda.

Take your car back first. From now on you shouldnt talk too much about the case unless your lawyer says OK.

Prepare all the documents that you have to proof that you *did proper maintenance*.

The *Mazda think you abused the Tranny* thing is just personal opinion and they have to get ALOT of people into the court in order to proof their point

People who have/had problems with their RX-8 Transmission can stand up and tell the court that they have the issue as well. Just to proof that the tranny suck in the first place.

If anybody getting sue or wants to sue Mazda for their Clutch Bracket weakness, Im all for it, I can travel to anywhere just to stand in court. I already sent my thing to NHTSA, maybe I should ask my lawyer friend see if a class action is possible.

sorry man. that is a royal PITA.


Get estimates on the cost of replacing the transmission from a reputable local shop. Get estimates on the costs for lawyers / lawsuits (including what kind of time requirement such a case might entail) and decide what you want to do.

Talk to a lawyer about the case and see what they think about your chances (more than one - unless you know a lawyer you can trust) and decide how to move forward based on costs +/- potential case resolution.

good luck. it certainly seems like total BS if there have been problems w/the clutch and/or transmission previously. "Abuse" is something all sleezy dealerships toss around, and I really don't know how difficult it is to fight that crap.

Thats why Mazda have such a low score in customer services.

Now I see why. I see why ....

Sounds like bad luck to me. I autocrossed mine quite hard and never had any issues with the transmission. Granted I didn't try and slam it into every gear but still...I would have the lawyer give it a crack but prepare for the worst and start looking for a used unit.

I bet even if it's out of pocket you can still get out for under $1K.

Headache is right, damn. Yeah see if you even have a legit shot at winning, but win lose or draw i would be looking to trade this 8 in on another one after the tranny is replaced. No reason for the 8 to go through 3 trannies dog. Car is cursed or your 8 just has some incredibly shitty luck in recieving 3 bunk tranny replacements.

God yes Mazda service is disgraceful. I went with my girl to a local Honda dealership for service on her Accord and you would have thought you were at a 5 star resort! No joke, they had BBQ goin outside, internet access and big screens in waiting area, spotless service area, a nursery, free bottled water, coffee and donuts...i can go on and on. I couldnt believe it.

Brought mine in today to get the new tail light gasket because it was full of moisture. Go out to start it, flooded. You would think being a mazda dealership they would know to warm it up before shutting it down. A tech came out and after about 10 minutes of cranking it finally started. I was hoping they would have to keep it so I could get a new set of plugs.

Oh well, its only got 20,000 miles, I should probably order my own set and put them in soon.

You should've told them to take the car back in and change the plugs.

^^right after kicking them in the nuts

Surprisingly, it actually feels like it pulls a little stronger, maybe all the gas in the engine cleaned some of the carbon off the plugs and out of the engine.

I think the stock plugs are iridium, I've had great luck with those in the dirt bikes. You can flood one, take it out and dry it off, put it back in and run the bike. Pull the plug out again and it will look perfect. If I have any hard starts I will probably just throw new plugs in.

stock plugs are iridium

@ 22 K miles its about time to change some new ones ...

Yeah, They offered me $7,500 on trade in w/ the tranny problem. :rofl:

ROFL ?!?!?!?!?!

Wow, Please tell me they're not giving you shit ! Please tell me they're NOT trying to rip you off.

Wow , I mean wow !

This is something new, the car has a problem, they fuck it up even more just to get you to trade it in ? Wow Wow WOW.

Mazda is the pits!!!

It is a shame such a shitty company makes such nice cars but in the end there are other car companies with nice vehicle that value their customers.

Again skip the lawyer and go small claims, with a little luck Mazda will not even fight it and your are back on the road. Keep your costs down.

Yeah that is a good idea, someone earlier mentioned a small claims court. Ill run it through my dad see what he thinks. But yeah, $7,500 for a 04 with 42k miles.

No I am not trading it in for $7,500