I'll begin by saying that I love the RX-8. It is brilliantly designed and I think it is THE most under-rated sports car on the market, however...

My engine recently died on my way home from a track day. I had DOT R compound tires on my car and the stock tires inside the car so it was obvious I was at the track... I hate lieing anyway.

The only mods I have on my car are tires and a Mazdaspeed suspension. No one has been under my hood except Mazda mechanics. My argument is that I wasnt racing not even time trialing. I was just lapping in a much more casual manner than you see in the avg 8 commercial.

Nevertheless they insist I was racing and want me to pay $7,000! for a new engine.

Has anyone faced this issue before? Know any good attorneys?

 

ouch...that sucks....good luck, man!

 

Maybe, split the bill.

 

That's total BS ... what the heck was the car made for???????

They should put you at the head of the line for a replacement because you actually bought the car for it's intended use!!!!

I'd write Mazda's corporate office about this... I assume it'll blow over.

 

My dealership sponsors track days, so...

 

Sorry to hear. Keep us posted.

 

That sounds pretty weak

 

One of the reason I'm afraid of track day. You never know what they could pull on you.

 

They have to prove that you're racing. Since when did R-Compound tires = Racing ?

Everyone can drive causally on a Track, right ? Hey I want to enjoy a ride under a controlled environment. Thats a problem ?

Sound like an *** but, thats the only way u can get out of this.

the short block sells for about 5500 Brand New + shipping. If you have lots of time and maybe a buddy or 2, you can do the swap yourself in a day or 2 (need some knowledge of course, but at least you can save urself whole lot of money)

 

Thanks for the info, but I am pretty clueless when it comes to fixing cars. Do you know what it might cost to get a rebuilt motor installed?

 

you can probably pick up a used one at local junk yard for maybe 2-3 K, if you want to rebuilt one using new parts, it might actually cost more than getting one from your local junk yard.

If you really want to track your car, you should start your *DIY* lessons. because tracking/AutoX will put ALOT of stress to every part of the car. and you know machines, no matter how strong/durable they're, sooner or later its just gonna break apart.

so by DIY, you will save alot, at least the labor cost.

 

Don't let them push you around, press the issue with MNAO. If you have to, consult with an attorney , they have to prove that you misused and abused the car. As long as you were not in an actual race or timed event they can't pull that card on you. They can though try to say you misused and abused the car. The thing is that the warrenty book does not state what is misuse and abuse. They lose nothing by trying to scre you off by saying no the first time. Stay on them, there was a guy on here who had a similar situation, eventually thery folded.

 

yeah **** that.

If you were running your car hard on the street and blew up they wouldn't void that ****.

it's total ******* bullshit.

 

My mazda mechanic told me that these cars are redlined at 10k but dynoed at 13-14k, and I don't track, just an FYI for me. FIGHT this.......If you have done all the proper maintaince, then they are still responsible for that engine failure. What tires you choose to run on your car, is your business.

Re-contact the dealer, asking for his mazda rep. If you cant get anywhere there, go through MNAO. Raise a stink locally.......do what you have to do to get this fixed. customer service is the name of the game, and bad press is not a good thing.

 

This wouln't work especially if they entered him into the system. When ever you take your car to the dealer and get it checked out they give you an invoice(receipt) That receipt is kept on file, any dealer or MNAO can access that file.

Jason,

Just raise alot of hell, eventually they will fold. it's cheaper for them to do so.

 

Many dealerships do. And many keep track of who comes out so that they can deny warranty work.
Mitsubishi is notorious for this. They actually have a corporate program for entrapment of owners to get "warranty relief". It is one of the ways they bolster their bottom line.

We had a local Maryland Mazda dealer that went to car shows to look for mods and write down serial numbers.
They would show up in a modded TiT RX-8 and park along with everyone else and then start up conversations with any Mazda owners to find out what they had done to their cars.
They then sent another guy (incognito as a spectator) to gather data.

 

yeah, warranty gone

when you sign that event insurance wavier its all on your bank account, meaning can't sue your track/event and can't claim on your own insurance.

 

^^ Wow.

 

whomever is spreading the rumor that a dealership send spies to "catch" people at track days is lying. Dealerships love warranty work, it makes them money. Warranty Work is a dealerships friend and will make a dealership very profitable. If anyone is spying on races it would be the actual manufacturer, but I bet this is a very very rare occurance. I would just take it to another dealer.

 

My god you say some stupid ****... One guy has a famous thread on EvoM about getting his warranty work denied from autox'ing and now Mitsubishi has a corporate program designed to entrap the owners of the cars, give me a freaking break.

Jason, it really sucks what happened to you, and I'm happy you were honest about the situation. Sadly, there are dipshit owners here that have blown their motors with poorly tuned turbo kits and returned it to stock only to get a new motor. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to do the right thing. Try to fight it as much as you can, but sadly Mazda probably has you by the *****.

 

Unfortunately, Mazda has dealer shops by the ***** on motor work because they must approve every RX-8 transaction in advance.
They don't let the shops crack open the Renesis - every failure must be passed by the tech line first and ends with a replacement or a denial.
They will decline nearly everything if they can.
On the other hand owner-pay work is far more profitable. There is markup on all the parts and materials and they can bill for actual hours or better. Mazda pays a flat rate (which is usually just enough time to get it done) and there is no parts transaction to mark up.

TSB work pays to some extent. Major engine malfunctions are a relative loser.

This coming from the King of Krap?

I don't know anything about Evo forums - I'm not a poser/troll like you, lurking on every major forum just looking to be an *** (its enough work to be a competent *** on just one forum).
However, Chapman Mitsu in Phoenix sponsored a track day at Firebird last April and subsequently denied warranty work on 1/2 dozen cars, specifically siting that track day as the reason.
The owners, most of whom were adults, not aging children like you, were stunned and rode the chain all the way up to corporate where they ran into a peculiar dichotomy; Mitsu indicated that they sponsor race days through their dealer network and that they absolutely deny warranty work on cars that have been to race days - but not that those were somehow related.
They refused to relent on the irony of that and they do have a fairly good disclaimer in the warranty (as do all OEMs) that ALL racing is verboten.

 

Mm 1 Ike 0

 

Talk to Paul over at Mazmart. They are top notch when it comes to service & great prices. I got a very slightly used 06 engine for under $3K. Cost about another $1K to have it put in.

 

I know for a fact that they need MNAO regional manager approval before they can do major engine warranty work, so the notion that dealers like warranty work is well & fine, but when you need major engine work it is the MNAO people that have to approve it so they are looking for ways to deny warranty coverage.

The moment you brought it in, your car was probably "branded" so putting it back to stock & taking it to another dealership is pointless. Your engine warranty is now void. Sorry.

 

I would say "probably" void. You never know and it doesn't hurt to try.
Unless you have to tow it. That gets expensive.

The thing with warranty work is -
If you have a relatively new vehicle with a fairly wide gap in value, you are likely to pay $6k to keep it on the road. So, it is a good gamble on the dealer network's part to deny your warranty because you are going to get it fixed, anyway.
On a $600 fix, they are likely to "good will" you to keep you coming in.

They know you are stuck and, fact is, manufacturers don't count on return customers. The market is entirely driven by new customer sales - especially first time buyers because they are so financially strapped, they will enter into horrible finance deals.
Losing all their repeats would hurt, but losing just some would barely register.