Haze

NO HATS OFF TO MAZDA NORTH AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only reason this guy got the warranty work which he paid for when he bought the car, since the cost of the warranty is part of the purchase price of the car, is because he hired an attorney and arm twisted the dealer and MNAO to the ends of the earth. Are they paying your attorney's fees? Are they being held responsible for out and out lieing to you? No. MNAO is the sole reason that Mazda doesn't sell better in the US. It isn't the quality of the cars that is bad; it's the quality of the dealer support that is ridiculous.

I am happy for Devious, but to applaud MNAO, this thread should have been three posts long. I had a problem, I called MNAO, they helped me resolve it. That isn't what happened.

Good for you for getting a lawyer and good for you for making them cough up on a blown engine, but there is no kudos to anyone involving Mazda for this. They should be as embarassed as can be for their behavior. They tried to get away with a lie including putting after market plugs into your car, and they got caught. As far as I am concerned, that is an attempted fraud. Sorry for the rant.

devious12

The attorneys weren't charging until we actually had to take MNAO to court which isn't happening.

I understand what your saying, but I'm just happy as **** that the issue is getting resolved.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Haze

And I'm happy for you, but no one should have to go through what you did to get a legitimate problem repaired. It becomes more and more obvious that MNAO and the dealership network is poorly run.

alcimedes

No, it appears that the dealership was bad, and that MNAO was on the ball. There's not much they can do until they see the problem, and if the dealership is telling them that this individual is just a trouble maker, they have to weigh that in their decision making.

Sounds like they did the right thing to me.

VOODOO8

Congrats!!! ...and a hats off to the members of this on-line community too. The various types of support (from emotional to anecdotal to advanced technical) offered by the members of this virtual community to others is tremendous and certainly can be invaluable to those of us on a crusade for truth, justice, and the ZOOMZOOM way.

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

my thought as well...

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

read the whole thing.

I guess the Mazda Rep did sad something to the dealer. Probably giving them an "OK, just fix it, we will cover it for SURE"

I've been to one dealership in NYC when my car has lost its power (yeah, clogged cat Im sure). they said it was my K&N intake problem, gave me some BS about "oh the intake changed the air flowing rate thats why you're having lost of power*limp mode* problem."

Obviously they dont know **** about the cat.

finally cat completely burned out, smells so bad I took it to Great neck Mazda and they fix it without question.

I dont care if MNAO is reading this because, I mean guys. MNAO, if you're reading it. Please you guys have to, I mean HAVE to learn something from Toyota. Look at their SCIONs, SCIONS buddy ! like what almost 1/2 price of our 8 ? fine lets just talk about tC for now, Toyota never bs about mods, you can have almost as much mod as you want, they will still cover it as long as you didnt open the engine up. So? what does that mean ? Yea I know Mazda is nowhere near the size of the evil Toyota empire but hey, to get business, you have to show your customers (us) that you do cared about us.

anyway good thing you're getting a new engine. be happy for now.

bagman

So Mazda replaced my engine about a week ago. (Very rough idle, stalling, loss of power.)

On the printout it says:

"Pulled plugs ran compression test at 255 RPM, R1 Had 650,685,680 and R2 Had at 260 RPM, 685, 660, 675. Replaced engine."

So what in the heck does that mean? Which rotor had the problem? What do the numbers mean? Most importantly, what caused the compression issues?

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

they were both bad, well under spec for compression at that RPM

as for the cause, you'll have to get Mazda to answer that one ... maybe not enough oil injection, but it could be any number of other things too

devious12

Yeah I don't really know if Mazda will ever release the reason that my engine had compression loss, or anyone’s for that matter. The dealers are not allowed to take the engine apart from what I understand. The dealers are required to ship the engine back to Japan for analysis. The techs in Japan supposedly take the engine apart and trouble shoots the issues, but that's just "hear-say".

Haze

It's a matter of opinion as to what your expectations are from MNAO, but MNAO runs the dealer network and that network has alot of bad apples. I've had trouble with a Mazda dealer a few years ago, and I hear more and more of these sorts of battling stories on the site that make me think that this isn't one or two bad dealers and THAT is MNAO's fault.

I also am not blown away by MNAO's response here or in a couple of other threads. MNAO is exploiting a built in loophole by requiring owners to go back to the dealer who they started the ticket with even when the dealer refuses to give a diagnosis. MNAO refuses to get engaged with a problem until a diagnosis is given by the dealer. So, all the dealer has to do is NOT diagnose the problem, which keeps MNAO out of it, and keeps the dealer and MNAO from having to pay for it.

I think that the disconnect begins when MNAO refuses to pay for warranty work to the dealer, including diagnostic work, if there is no problem found. Therefore the dealer would not get reimbursed for the compression test if it showed no problem and they couldn't justify why the dealer wanted the compression test.

It is MNAO who creates this catch 22, and in the end it is within their power to resolve the catch 22 by either authorizing the test from another dealer or sending a tech out to the writing dealer. Either way would have been an acceptable answer to me, but running a customer around for weeks, making that customer engage an attorney and get independent compression tests from non-dealer shops to force them to address a warranty issue isn't what I would call "Good Service".

I don't see MNAO doing the right thing here. I see MNAO weighing ending up on the wrong side of a law suit from an intelligent lawyer if they didn't give this guy a new engine, because he had all his ducks in a row and a verifiably bad engine, against the price of a new motor.

Warranty work isn't free. It is paid for first by the customer as part of the purchase price of the car, and we have a right to rely on what we paid for. It is paid for second by an insurance company who insures the manufacturers potential claims up to a certain cap. Last, it is paid for by the manufacturer when there are more claims than they have insured for. That could be part of the problem here as well. It could be that there have been more claims than Mazda anticipated, and they are trying to push that liability back onto the customer who paid for a warranty, which MNAO is trying to make sure that the customers can't exploit.

I understand that you guys think that because he ended up with the new motor that that is enough to say that MNAO did the right thing, but I think that the process he was forced to employ speaks to whether he got what he paid for. I don't think that he got the worry free benefit of the warranty that he paid for. He sounded pretty damn worried to me, and I don't believe that ANY dealer could have honestly compression tested that engine and said it was "Normal". There is chicanery going on here, and I choose to blame all involved.

devious12

Update: Ok, Mazda installed a new engine and transmission. The transmission feels great, although the engine doesn't. I have noticed a loss of power from 3k-5k RPMs, the car feels like it's draggin it's ***. Also, I'm getting a sputter sound out of the exhaust when at idle, and when driving.

I was at Chrism's house yesterday, we were swapping parts. 5 RX8 owners were there and confirmed the noise from the engine, they actually said it sounded sick.

After we were done, I started the car and white smoke was coming from the exhaust, while it sputtered, actually sounds like a long drawn out burbble. I was almost home when the check engine light started flashing, and is now on presently. I turned the car off hoping it was just the computer that needed to be reset. Well 1/2 hour later when I tried to start the car... nothing. The car won't even crank, which would lead me to believe that the starter is gone. What gets me is that a new started was installed before they gave me the new engine, and it was fine. Anyway, to get to the end of the story, I have no car again, and roadside asst. came to flatbed it to the dealer today. UGH!

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Ok .......

devious12

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Tracker

about your intake, magnuson-moss act, here is a lil somethin-somethin from the CEO of K&N himself

they tried to blame my intake for my motor failure, me and my dad went in there (not a good combination) and picked them apart

http://www.knfilters.com/warrantyletter.htm

the easy version essentially states, that unless the the MANUFACTURER had done tests and conclusivly proven that the aftermarket component caused the failure, they must service the vechile under warranty... now if the dealer wants to be an asshat about it, then you need to go to mazda, and explain what the magnuson-moss act means to them

Tracker

stalinc434

How Do U Know If Ur Engine Has Compression Problems? I Have An 2004 8 But At The Begining When I First Bought It I Felt It Was Faster Than Now Is.. What Do U Think??? Is Ti Blown? And If Somebody Knows A Shop Where I Can Take My 8 So It Could Be Checked.. Im In Miami In The Kendall Area

zoom44

wait until you get your recall letter int he mail and then set an appointment. if your engien is going south they will know it and you will get anew engine expect a letter within 2 weeks- or so

Gomez

Did the smoke smell sweet....like almonds?? If it did, you're in trouble. Coolant leak into the chambers.....another new engine headed your way.

I don't think it's oil smoke...unless you topped up while you were at Chris's house. Overfilling will cause heaps of smoke and a rough running engine......no permanent damage though.

I think you're up for another engine. The no crank-no start at home makes me think coolant leak.

Sorry.

devious12

Yes you win the cupie doll!!!! You were right on target, the dealer took the car back in and tried saying nothing was wrong with it again. So I whipped out my razor phone and showed the corporate rep the video I took of the white smoke coming out the back and her jaw dropped, funniest **** I ever seen. Anyway I had another engine put in and now I feel a loss of power after 1000k miles, but I guess I'll see what happens when they call me in for the recall. Oh boy, just give me a new car at this point Mazda, you probably spent more in parts and labor on my car!!!

Gomez

At this rate you might be the first member into the five-engine-club!!

devious12

Fortune 5 engine club hahaha

weekendwrench

I can't believe that Mazda has replaced so many engines without figuring out and correcting the problem. I have had no major problems with my 2004 RX8 but I feel like I am sitting on a time bomb.

Who will want to buy these cars in the resale market with engines that seem destined to brake and no real fix available.

What are the strongest theories on why these engines are taking a dump?

devious12

After 3 or four engines don't you think Mazda has spent more money than they would have if they just took the friggin car back. I mean does anyone see a profit and loss problem here or is it just me?

Apex Eater

Devious are you using the same dealership? After the BS they put you through I wouldn't let them rotate my tires. Also I would be very suspect of the quality they will do since they were forced into doing the job by Mazda. They are not happy either!

devious12

I know, but at this point they have done all of the work and are familiar with my car. Also, the tech has become friendly with me if you know what I mean.