Hi all,

I'm wondering if you folks would mind providing some feedback on what's turned out to be a bad experience with one of the dealers in BC, Canada. I own a 2004 RX-8, and am the only owner, and am not much of a techie... Here's what's transpired:

A couple of months ago I started experiencing difficulties starting my car - it was cranking over quite a few times before starting, and in some instances I would have to try a couple of times (I don't like to let it crank over for more than four or five seconds...) to get it to start. I went online, and from what I could see, it sounded like the starter motor was the issue. So, I took it in, and asked them to replace the starter. That helped for a day or two, but shortly after, it started doing the same thing, and then the CEL went on. Oddly enough, the day I was planning on booking it in to the dealer, I went out in the morning to pick up a few things from Home Depot, and after doing so when I got back into my car it wouldn't start. I assumed that I had flooded the engine, and ended up getting it towed to the dealer. They told me the problem was a starter sensor had gone, and that was causing the problems. They said they had temporarily fixed it, after a number of hours, and booked me in for the following week to repair it. Well, I got in the car, started it up with no problems, but then after pulling out of the lot and driving about 100 meters down the road, stalled at a stop light. I got it started again, after attempting a few times, but when it started it was running rough - in fact, as I turned around and headed back to the shop it started mis-firing even more, and as I pulled into the dealer I could smell something burning... which to me was similar to a catalytic converter burning out (sadly, I've gone through a couple of cat con's, I believe due to faulty igntion coils, but that was years ago - my car's a 2004). Anyways, the dealer seemed to fix the car, didn't mention anything about the cat con, and said it was good to go.

Now, about a month later, I'm smelling radiator fluid, so I take it into the shop hoping it's just a hose, but as luck would have it I find out I've got a cracked rad. But... they tell me that the CEL being on wasn't for that reason, they tell me now that the cat con is toast (which is an after-market that I bought only a year and a half ago from BHR...). I'm getting the rad replaced, but I'm a little choked about the cat con, because now I'm thinking that when they gave me the car back a month ago before replacing that starter sensor, and I ended up going around the block and bringing the car back, that's when it went and they likely didn't tell me as I assume they would have been liable at that time...

So, I'm hoping some of you that are more technical than I might be able to offer up an opinion or two on this - the dealer of course is denying any responsibility, but I'm of the view that they shouldn't have given me my car back in the first place when I towed it in for the starting issue... It sure is fun dealing directly with the dealers, and perhaps that's the lesson to be learned from this.

I'll thank you in advance for your comments/opinions/advice!

Cheers.

 

for clarification; visit #1, you told them to replace the starter, which they did.

visit #2, the CEL came on, but the car flooded and was towed in. the "starter sensor was gone" and they temporarily fixed it.

visit #3 was scheduled to replace the "starter sensor", but the radiator broke, and they also say the cat is gone.

so visit 2, i have no idea what a starter sensor is, and if the CEL was on, why was it on?

 

Yes, visit #1 I asked them to replace the starter, and they did.

Visit #2 was a result of the car being towed in, and as it wouldn't start, I don't know whether or not whatever the problem was caused the CEL to go on. They said the issue was due to some sensor for the starter... But, moments after I picked the car up, it began running rough, and I took it back immediately. They fixed it, costing me about 1,200... and then more recently I smelled rad fluid and took it back for visit #3 which is when I found out the rad is cracked, but that the CEL was on due to the cat con being toast...

 

fixed what?

its an unfortunate series of events, to be sure. if the cat wasn't already bad by the time the rough running episode happened, its probably the thing that killed it.

if the dealership is at fault for anything its visit #2, they should have caught CEL/rough running and asked to fix/diagnose the cause before you picked it up.