coolant in the motor??
 

hello all,

i've had the CEL on for a few months now and the code was pulled as cylinder 1 misfire. at startup, i would have a rough idle. as if i was running on one rotor and the CEL would flash. after about 30 seconds, the idle would smooth out and the car would run normal. this was an intermittent problem and figured it was the coils again. (changed them twice already) however, today when i started the car, the car barely started and ran really rough and there was a ton of condensation coming out from the exhaust. i could smell that it was coolant. another indication was that the low coolant light turned on. there was a huge loss of power and after about five minutes of driving, the engine smoothed out somewhat, but still had a loss of power. i parked the car and checked the dipstick and it was caked with the milky stuff all over it. i know that this is common at times and i had it happen when i first bought the car but this is about 10 times more milky and gunky.

at this point, i'm guessing that the seals went and i'm getting coolant in the motor. i called a local mazda dealership to bring my car in and asked them if it were the seals, would the extended powertrain warranty cover it since i have 67k miles on my '04. they said that IF it is covered, mazda requires all maintenance records including all oil changes. is this true??? aside from the oil changes i did at the dealership since i moved to so. cal 3 years ago, i did all my oil changes myself and didn't keep the receipts. i spoke with mazdatrix and they said that its the discretion of the dealership for the maintenance records so i'll check out some other dealers and see what they say.

if anyone had any similar experiences or advice on my situation, i would greatly appreciate it. my apologies if this is a repost!!!!

allen

Sounds like a hairline crack near the cooling jacket around the spark plugs.

Overheated engine... not covered by warrenty.

my engine never overheated though. i have a PWR radiator and the temp gauge always reads one tic left from 90 degrees. could it have cracked any other way?

Yes - you need all maintanence records. From the dealer, or from jiffy lube, or if you do your own changes you should keep reciepts.

I dont know what the deal is and people experience. If they let you slide, that'd be nice, but I wouldnt blame them if they didn't. If they're going to replace peoples engine for free 100000 miles in, I can't blame them for wanting to verify that they were cared for properly....

Good luck...

Wrong, there is no way you can make that diagnosis...

To the OP, why did you run your car for months with a CEL on...? the light usually means that something is wrong.. NOW. whatever it was you exasperated the issue. it could be you cooked your cat driving your car with sub-par ignition. and yes, the dealer does have the right to ask for maintenance records.

This is why I take my car to the dealer for oil changes when under warranty. It costs a few bucks more, but you have an iron clad service history.

To the op- if you used a check card or credit card to purchase the oil and filters- you might contact that bank/company to get a print out during those years for records. Some auto parts stores even document all of your purchases and would have a print out you could use.

And this is the same with any car and any manufacturer. They will always demand records of service. But this doesn't sound like an oil issue... be even so, they have the right to demand records. Good luck.

Hmm wow really? even over a 8 year period of time and when it could have easily have seen a few owners? and just because someone can provide evidence that they had the regular checkups and oil changes does not mean an engine was entirely cared for like it should have been. I do blame them if they really expect you too. They are the ones that built a motor and vehicle that needs as much attention as it does down the road. I'm not knocking on the car I love the RX8's and backing up the core engine components was a right step by them but I don't see how they can expect someone to keep records for 8 years or 100,000 when they do their own work and/or it was bought used.

Obviously they should not cover an engine that was not cared for, but how can they PROVE that?