9th time car wont start -- Mazda Sucks
 

I posted all the threads before and had customer mediation call me after my letter. They said about a month ago they would send a top mechanic out to check it but never did.

I just called and left my customer mediation person an voicemail.

I have the greatest lemon of all-time but Mazda needs to do something about it other than say I need a new battery every week.

where you located?

This is so typical of why Mazda is rated so poorly in customer satisfaction. They really need to gut their upper management and bring in people who understand that if you don't take care of the customers your competitors will.

I talked to the women on the mediation team and she once a copy of the lease, registration, etc. She is actually trying to get Mazda to break the last year of the lease since they cannot figure out where the powerloss is.

I have been trickle charging also just to keep it juiced and this morning, the unlock keys didn't even work. Not a single light comes on. This current Mazda battery is about 2 - 3 months old which they said was the higher amp Mazda battery that would fix the problem.

I have told them over and over that they are fixing the symptom and not the cause.

I took the car on a 4 year lease and have had it for three. I am more than 10k under the mileage and the car is in perfect condition.

I am just praying at this point that Mazda mediation team comes through and lets me out of the last year of the lease based on the consistent battery going dead.

I have gathered all the info for the women I am working with on the mediation team. It doesn't show up a CEL light so Mazda has no clue what is wrong with it.

I am in Winston-Salem, NC.

Dean

Raptor,

I am not judging Mazda as a whole on this experience but from my perspective, why would I ever purchase a Mazda again or say anything good about them in my experience?

All car companies have lemons. It is luck of the draw. However, the way that the dealership handles it is what determines how many people purchase the same car brand.

Dean

Dean, are you dealing with Bob King Mazda? If so, that's problem number 1. and this is prolly a dumb question but have they replaced the alternator yet? I'd recommend trying City Mazda in Greensboro, they have been pretty decent with me when i have taken my car there. Good luck man.

sounds like you have a bad ground somewhere. take it to a real mechanic. dealer mechanics are worthless regarless of brand affiliation.

Unfortunately dealership mechanics get dumber by the day. More and more they absolutely rely on a computer to tell them whether or not there is a check engine light. If none appear, they foolishly assume that nothing can be wrong. Then they sit there scratching their balls until they figure out something based on what little they know. If the battery is going dead, it must be a dead battery. Viola! Of course! Then they change it, the problem comes back and again they assume, the battery is going dead. Change it again. It happens again and captain moron starts realizing that maybe something is causing the battery to go dead? Hmm... that can't be, my little computer doohicky says nothing is wrong. Since I'm not smart enough to figure out an issue that isn't written out in plain engish with pictures drawn for me, I'll just replace the battery again and give the owner some bs line to get him out of my hair. Maybe next time he comes back, a different tech can worry about it. Meanwhile I'll put my head back up my ass to keep it warm since I just get paid to physically be here.

This isn't far off from how these guys think. Your car obviously has a problem. It's probably a very small wiring issue somewhere but they don't have the competence to find it. Of course now you have a bad taste in your mouth for the car and Mazda so the damage is done. All because some halfwit who can't wipe his own ass without a tutorial on it can't find a simple issue by diagnosing it without the help of a computer. That's the sad truth these days and they are only getting dumber as time goes on. I'm sorry you are having an issue. I'd be pissed too. Mazda really needs to monitor the quality of their techs much better than they do. Then again I'm sure this is true to some point with all companies.

If its the 9th time, you should really take it to another dealership, hell, if i were you, i'd be driving to another one after my 2nd time. Stop repeating the same process if nothing has changed for........... nine times.....
________
hairy Webcams

Drive your 8 through the dealership door. I saw it on teh Internets and everything worked out fine for that guy (I would assume).

I am so worried about things like this. I have had a great service department here in El Paso, but now that I'm moving to NC, I just don't have a very good feeling. I hope they all aren't like that there.

Dean,

I am no where near as forgiving of Mazda's poor customer service as you are. You are but one of many cases, myself included that have had their problems ignored by Mazda. I also see no reason to buy another car from Mazda, there are just to many other good cars out that that have real dealer/manufactures support behind them.

I am just sick of Mazda telling me that my 12 mpg is the fault of the roads, the gas, the traffic, my driving, the temperature, the weather, the alignment of the stars, the color of my shirt........ you get the idea. The simple fact is my Mazda is under performing as is a small portion of other RX's but is is cheaper to blame the owner then fix the problem.

Also this isn't just my opinion on their service, JD Power rated them last in customer service against all other manufactures.

trust me, mazda is not the only mfgr to come to this realization.

dean what happens when you turn the key to start the car? do the gauges do anything? i had a problem where my car wouldnt start either. when i would turn it to the start position the gauges would go through a full sweep and then settle and no engine response at all. mazda had my car for a full week and they gave me the same crap about bringing someone in. never happened they finally managed to find out that a fuse box had not been properly tightened at the factory and fell out of wherever it was being held and pulled out one of the main wiring harnesses. i found it very strange but it was fixed eventually. gl and i hope they fix the problem

True but they are the worst of the bunch.

A current draw test only takes about 5 minutes, if the battery is dieing overnight, there is a current draw issue.

From there it is a very easy thing to trouble shoot. But something a dealer generally can't do or understand. Dealer mechanics for the most part are technicians, that know how to swap parts, but seldom understand how the part works.

But something that most RX-7 owners have found, a long time ago. Don't take it too the dealer. Find a good shop, and take it there if you are unable to figure it out yourself.

I have been through everything. I was in the hospital and out of commission for two weeks. I started the car on Saturday and let it run for 10 minutes and cut it. It didn't start this morning.

This TIME, Absolutely nothing happens when I put the key in. No lights at all. The door unlock button didn't work. Nothing was left on either. I confirmed the trunk was tight, etc.

I have had it taken to a different dealer and they replaced the battery yet again.. I dont even recall how many batteries this makes. At least 4 in the last year.

They say a CEL light doesn't show up so they don't know where to look for the draw. They told me three times it was the trunk light staying on yet three fixes and it still went dead. Three times they claimed it was just the battery and another two times they said there was nothing at all wrong with it.

I have a Lemon and Bob King Mazda is perhaps the worst dealership on the face of the earth.

And yes Mechanics only replace whatever part the CEL light tells them to replace so there is really no troubleshooting anymore.

I am just praying that the mediator comes through with Mazda buying out the lease which she is pushing for.

It took 6 hours for the tow truck and 1.5 hours for Mazda to get me the loaner that they said would be ready as soon as I got there.

Don't get me wrong either folks. I am not ditching the RX-8. I think it is a nice car (that needs a little more torque IMO) but Mazda CS is the worse thing I have ever experienced.

Dean

I have put a voltsmeter up to it several times and it shows in the 13.xx + range which is normal. When the battery goes dead, it is generally below 10. I dont know what the voltage cut off range is not to turn the starter. I have seen variations of it turing to weekly to crank, replaced starter, replaced alternator, replaced everything trunk relay, etc. Nothing fixes it and the Mazda techs are just guessing. I was even told by Bob King Mazda they have no interest in fixing the car anymore since Mazda NA doesn't pay them for same repairs.

All I can say is "wow". A statement like that from a dealer would prompt me to go buy one of those hidden button cameras and get them saying it again on video. Show that to MNAO or maybe the local news channel. That SUCKS man...my condolences...

This was said by the owner Rob King (It's Bob King Mazda but Rob King is the owner).

He stated that Mazda N.A. pays his mechanics quite well for warranty work but not for repeat business and since the mechanics do not get paid for it, there is not a lot of motivation.

This is the same guy who after having a new Mazda battery I purchased go dead in less than a month told me he thought I should pay for it. After arguing with him, he finally said "I will pick up the cost of the battery but I don't think it is right."

Bob King Mazda is horrible and I truly hope that anyone reading this in NC does not take their car there.

The problem I have is that it is a huge hassel to take it somewhere else and the Mazda towing service will not take it to another dealer other than the closest one. I had the dealer in High Point look at it one time and they seemed nice but didn't have a clue to what was going on.

Dean

One question. It took another 6 hours for a Tow and a rental. It took 1.5 hours to get the rental once at Bob King. They said they had to completely check out the towed in car before getting me a rental. They have NEVER done this in the past and I would know will all the tows I have had. They did like a rental car and checked off every little nick caused by rocks on the side of the car and made me initial. Is this a new policy or does this have to new with Mazda NA being involved? Anyone have a guess?

Dean

that was very entertaining RG & probably pretty accurate .
This problem is not confined to the US believe me . I always prefer to take my car to a gge that works on lots of brands . These guys tend to know how to trouble shoot vs just replace every part (at your expense) unitl it is fixed.

Are you sure you don't own a VW? It sure sounds like a VW problem and a VW service department? Sorry to hear about that. Yeah they shouldn't just be checking the battery with a multimeter, they need to check the system while it's running to see if the battery is actually charging or dis-charging, which we all know the answer already. Sounds like a short in the system which is a pain. But it is traceable and...ITS THEIR JOB TO FIX IT!

how many different cars have you owned? What do u base this on?

Find out where there's a better dealer (with some half-knowledgeable rotary techs, at least), drive your car to a close proximity, accidentally flood it at a store parking lot nearby (ensuring it gets towed to someplace other than your normal service dept.) and see what happens.

This is based on a national survey by JD Power. Also over my live I have owned about 15 different cars and Mazda service has been hands down the worst.

That is a voltage test, not a current draw test.

A voltage test means nothing unless the car is running and you are dropping under 13.5 volts (in which case you have a bad alternator). Normal operating voltage (with the engine running) is 14.4 volts. With the engine off, there should be at least 12.0 volts and normally 12.6 volts at the battery (each cell of the battery is 2.1 volts).

A current draw test should show less than 65mA with the doors closed and nothing turned on.

Raptor is just bitter, from owning a car that the local dealer doesn't understand and he probably has pissed off enough that the dealer doesn't want to fix.

I (or immediate family) have owned almost every manufacture out there... Mazda is by far one of the best.

You could have two problems. One a small current draw from the trunk light being on.

Open the center comparment, see if it's on.

The second could be a bad alternator.

third could be a short. You can have a combination of these at the same time.

A interior light will kill a battery in three days. Like in the trunk. Sometimes two.

Check it out at night time.

My kid left the interior light on in the rear, You can not notice it. After charging it once and bringing it to the dealer twice, I noticed one day when I walked into the garage at night.

Good luck!

If Bob King Mazda is so horrible, why take your car there over and over again? Take it to a different Mazda dealer—even if you have to drive an hour to get there, it would be worth it to get this finally fixed. If the new Mazda dealer can't fix it, get online, do a search, and find a local independent mechanic with a good rep—every town has one. He probably doesn't even have to be a rotary specialist to fix this—just a really good mechanic.

Yes, you shouldn't have to go to all this trouble. In a perfect world, Bob King Mazda would take care of this—and you wouldn't have to pay for it. But that's not happening. If it was my car—and I really liked it—I'd do whatever I have to do to get it fixed, even if it came out of my own pocket. Beats making yourself crazy at Bob King Mazda, no?

Just my 2¢.

Acturally 2 dealers and I'm always very pleasant when I speak with them. The simple fact that both point out is Mazda will not pay them any more to further diagnose the problem. This is a Mazda corp policy.

The one point that you are actually correct on is that I believe the dealers mechanics are very poor in their knowledge of the RX. Again this can be directly drawn to Mazda's corporate policies.

The fact that you are a fanboy of Mazda pulls little weight when compared to the results of a national survey countering your opinion not to mention my own experiance. Coddling inappropriate behavior will not correct the problem, Mazda needs their corporate noise rubbed in their deficiencies if change is to occur.

Like i told the OP. i've been reasonably taken car of at City mazda in Greensboro, which is about a 20 minute drive from Bob King Mazda. Also the dealership in high point is a crock too. unfortunately it's a rare thing in this area to find a dealership thats worth a damn.

when i was first looking at buying my 8 I contacted B.K. mazda and talked price, availability, and financing options. i was asured everything was a go. they had the 6 speed manual, iin winning blue, no nav. at the price i wanted to pay. so i took off work and drove there, upon ariving i was told that all they had was a white 07, auto and they wouldnt come off the sticker price even a penny. I wouldnt piss on bob king if he was on fire. the service department is pretty much on course with their sales practices.

After having two dead batteries because of me or my wife hitting the wrong button on the remote and failing to notice that the trunk lid was ajar (visually almost unnoticeable, maybe 2-3 mm higher?), and after having Mazda roadside assistance tell me that I could wait 6 HOURS for a jump start the last time, I pulled the trunk bulb. Viola da gamba, problem solved.

The trunk is so small, it's not like you could lose a lot of stuff in there and be unable to find it without the light.

- Kabong

If you have the spare tire kit, it's like not having the trunk light anyway—it's location pretty much blocks it out.

I seem to remember there was a problem with some early models with some DVD drive units of the factory NAV drawing power and running down batteries. You might check on this if you have the NAV. Do a current draw test or just unplug it for a while and see what happens.

Sorry to hear about that. It is very unfortunate that most of us are pigeonholed to the dealership for any service on our beloved 8. Best of luck.

my car's engine coolant light went on twice last week and stayed on for 2 or 3 mins and then went off. I took the car to the dealer for a check up and they charged me 25$!!they said they used some kind of machine to check my car and mazda wont pay for this.....and they found nothing

it may just need topping off. i had that problem after they did my 30k flush

i wish we had the other side of the story

No offense but I need some people to listen.

1) I have taken to another dealer. For the last 3 times, I have been working with the mediation team of Mazda N.A.

2) I have checked the trunk light and have had it replaced three times by Bob King Mazda as they stated it was the problem.

3) I have had the battery replaced too many times to count, the alternator, the starter, and any other electrical component that makes sense.

4) I have taken every alternative thing out of the car such as GPS and Radar Detector.

5) I just checked the voltage myself and for a while even trickle charge it as I lose money. I am not a mechanic and do not know how to check for a drain on the car. I pointed out the voltage because that is all I knew from personal experience.

6) I have owned BMWs, Nissans, Audis, Acura, Hondas, Saturns, Infinitis, Toyotas, and a Mitsu.

Mazda is by far the worst in customer support with Mitsu in second place. Infiniti is #1 with my experience with Honda being a close 2nd. This is just my experience based on the dealers I had to deal with.

To this point, I will say the Mediation Rep seems to be trying to help and is trying to get me out of the car. She is reviewing the lemon laws and my car history as well as all the documentation I sent her on the issues.

Yeah, I know you have had issues. I have personally had issues with dealers in San Diego, but even if the car has never seen a dealer, I have had Mazdas more reliable and needing less work than brand new BMWs, Lexus's and Toyotas (and the American cars are even worse- I would never ever own an US big 3 manufactured vehicle again even if it was free).

But the high car reliability aside (as reported in multiple world wide studies on real world service, not just polls of owners like JD power) The current dealer in my area provides service and has the capabilities that I might some day actually take my car into a dealer again for service. Better treatment than BMW and Lexus dealers, more informed than Toyota service departments.

But see the car is much more than a sum of the dealer service and purchase experiences. For me it is how the car is constructed. How the car handles, How the car makes you feel. You can overlook shitty dealer service if the car makes up for that.

Mazda's are sort of like Porsches. You better know a little about the car before buying one. If you buy one and expect that the dealer is going to be the only one to ever work on it, and you are not the type to even lift the hood, then the car is probably not for you. A GM or Lexus would be a much better choice for that kind of person.

It sounds like you have already made your decision, why did you want people to listen?

Which dealer you've been to ? I wanna know Im in NYC too ya know ;) :bowdown:

I drive 20 minutes west of the GW Bridge to Wayne Mazda on Rt. 23 in NJ—they're the world's largest Mazda dealer, and Mazda is the ONLY car they sell—so their mechanics work on nothing but Mazdas every day. They sell a lot of 8's and their service dept. has a good rep. Local gearheads seem to like them.

The only other dealer I've heard good things about is Great Neck Mazda on LI, but I've never been there. Whatever you do, NEVER take it to Manhattan Mazda—I hear nothing but bad things about their service dept. (In fact, I think generally you have to take your car out of the city to get good service, body work, whatever. Every place I've been to in the 5 boroughs looks like grunge city—not the kind of place I want to take my car to.)

Oh yes, Manhattan Mazda is *fuxking* horrible, well I got my car there, cuz they gave me the best price and they got the car exactly the way I want it. I've only been to their Service department twice, first time for Brake Pad Squeak, second time for free oil change, but I waited there for almost 6 hours just for oil change, and their service writer was a prick. Never went back again.

Koppel Mazda was horrible too, they have no idea wtf r they doing, dont even know wtf is clogged cat. never went back again.

Great Neck Mazda .... they used to be cool but last time when I was there, I had a CEL of P0662 which was the SSV Solenoid Ciruit high(cuz I disconnected and sealed the nipple with tabs, which is ok because even Mazdaspeed CAI does the same thing, AEM, etc. cuz its useless), then they start being dick about my *intake* and said that my intake is causing the CEL, took a picture and send it up to mazda to try to *void* my warranty. its been 2 weeks they never call me back, they probably just Cant void it beceause my intake has nothing to do with the CEL. havent call Mazda yet, dont have the time lately, but I will try to do it today or tomorrow.

Hmm Wayne Mazda .... Do you know they're cool about aftermarket parts? I only have Intake and ram air duct only. Im sick of fighting with these uneducated mofo like Great Neck Mazda. hmm if I go there how am I going to come back ? Do they have a Loaner or any *Enterprise Rent-A-Car* nearby ?

Good idea#1 :) : Replace the stupid stone age heater filament bulb in the trunk with an LED bulb. At least then an inadvertent trunk light on mistake won't ruin your day.

PS It will then take only about several weeks to ruin your day - which is much less likely to happen :Freak_ani

koeppel mazda in northerd blvd. and 57 is is good too. certify mazdaspeed dealer. the have anything i had with no come backs.

that no starting thing could be a user.exe error too. it happen to me once because the parking lot were i had the car moved it and shut it off without letting it warm up or cleaning the injectors.

Since nobody else has mentioned it:
To do a current draw test:
Take the volt meter you used to measure voltage across the battery, and set it to measure DC amps. Unplug one battery terminal and (with everything off, doors shut etc.) put one lead of the meter on the battery terminal and the other lead on the unplugged cable end.
You're probably running more than an amp of current if you can drain a battery overnight.
--R.

So in one breath your telling us that Mazda's are more reliable then Lexus, a manufacturer who Consumer Report rate 1st or 2nd best of all manufactures in terms of reliability. Then in the next breath you warn about "having to know what your getting into" before buying a Mazda. Your logic is a little difficult to follow.

Once again you are making excuses for poor service. The fact that Mazda makes a good product is not enough, sorry. They need to support that product and take care of their customers. Do you really have to wonder why Mazda's sales are down? If they are ever to become a 1st tier Japanese car manufacturer they need to take care of the customer other wise they are on the same road as Mitsu.

You may receive good service from your dealer but what you can't seem to understand is you are the anomaly not the norm. The other option is you are willing to accept crappy treatment because you like the car. Either one will not build Mazda's image to the buying public.