Can Someone Please Help Me??
 

Hi All,

I need some advice. First of all, does anyone know of any reliable, experience RX-7 shops here in the San Francisco or San Jose area that can diagnose and repair 3rd. Gen RX-7's? My car can't seem to pass emissions here in San Francisco. Car was originally from Nevada. Had it smog tested before I bought it and it passed in that state.

Story:

I bought a 93 RX-7 a month back. 45k miles Auto Tranny, stock everything. Took it to the dealer on Jan. 26th to get it smog checked. Til this day, it's still at the dealer. It's been almost 3 weeks!! They can't get it to pass smog and the tech has already registered 7.2 hours of labor time diagnosing this car. I am both frustrated and helpless. At $112 per hour, I'm looking at a lot of money spent just trying to find the reason that the car isn't passing smog under load. The emissions is fine under idle. When put on a dyno with more stress, the emissions fail. I feel like just going in, taking the car, pay what is owed, leave and never go back. I told the service rep. last week I don't want to spend anymore labor time on this car diagnosing unless someone can give me somewhat of an idea of how much will be spent on this car. He kept on saying "I don't know." He said they have to look at things piece by piece. In my opinion, if they can't find something in 7.2 hours, I don't think adding another 5 hours of labor time will do anything.

My question for everyone is:
-What should I do?
-Anyone know of a good RX-7 shop I can take the car to instead of this blood-sucking dealership that seem to have mechanics that don't know what they're doing?
-Will contacting Mazda Motor Corp. and filing a complain resolve anything?
-Anyone else have emissions problems with 3rd gen. RX-7's and what was done to fix it?

Thanks for your help.

This experience is making my first RX-7 ownership very, very painful.

Jim

first off, has the dealer or someone told u the reason y its not passing the smog check?

Do you or are you able to get the readings on the failed tests? Can you also state any parts they have replaced. I have a ca. smog license and surely can help you with your problem. I must say anyone who spends that much time diagnosing a problem is just milking you, incompetent or both. I contact the bar and ask for assistance. There is no way someone can spend this much time and charge for it unless they are just in the dark about how the systems work. Dealer or not the cars are rare and people just don't see enough of them to clearly understand the systems. I would not spend another cent until they can give you a root cause and back it up.

Current Status
 

Thanks for the replies so far.
The dealer is unable to give me an exact cause of the problem and now has taken the car "off clock" meaning that they will continue to do work on it, but will not charge me anymore for it. However, since the tech is no longer getting paid hourly, he is only going to work on it on his spare time. This doesn't make any sense to me cause the tech no longer has an initiative to work on the car now since he's off the clock.

I've contacted Mazda Corporate and will see what they will do for me. The dealer keeps on saying how this tech working on my car is the #2 tech in the whole West Coast region and when others can't fix it, they ship the car to him and he can usually figure it out. I find that hard to believe cause 7.2 hours spent still didn't come up with anything.

The car still won't pass smog until load. The idle is fine. Anyone here own an smog facility that could possibly help me out?

Thanks,
Jim

Hmmm I'm no expert on emissions but did you drive the car hard at all before you took it in? The reason I'm asking is because these cars (if the previous owner babied it around) will have a ton of carbon build up on the rotors and turbos. This could be the reason your failing under "load". The carbon will break loose and screw up the readings. Racing the engine every so often helps keep carbon build up down. Also prolonged periods of idling will definatly cause some carbon build up. To give you an example I was at a local laser wash and my car sat at idle for about 10min. After leaving I floored it on the highway and could see clouds of black smoke from behind. Higher octain gases burn shitty at idle and light load conditions causing this.

From what I understand most of the guys here always makes sure the car is warmed up really well before getting it inspected. This insures that the cats are really hot. Also they usually replace the spark plugs as they will foul very easily if the car has been babied around.

So my advice to you is to get you car back and do what I explained above. Decardoning will do wonders for emissions test. Then retry the test to see if it passes(being a stock car it should pass). If it doesn't then diagnosing will be a little easier.

just drain your gas and run 50:50 ratio of gas and methanol or what ever everyone else is using to get pass emmisions. do a search on it :)

that or just get a hook up for passing emmisions, im sure someone there will take a 100-200 dollar donation ;)

jwang: Get the car out of the dealer immediately. They have no clue, trust me. Take the car over to Rick's Rotary in Pleasanton. www.ricksrotary.com 925-484-2324

Rick is a very knowledgable FD mechanic and a good guy to boot.

There are several reasons why you may not pass smog. Use the search function or shoot me a PM. I'm over in East Bay by Hayward.

I agree with Rynberg, get it to a rotary shop. The alcohol trick will probably work, but it is only a band-aid. Your car obviously has a problem - a stock FD should pass emissions. It is probably a simple problem (for someone who knows rotaries). Good Luck!!!

Update #2
 

Thanks to everyone that have replied so far. Here's the latest update I received from the dealer. I called Mazda
Corp. and they called the dealership to discuss the problem. This dealer is a flat rate dealership, which I didn't know about when I brought the car in. My mistake. They will charge you for every little work they're going to do. The smog test so far is okay except it's still producing too much "nox" or as the service rep states. They said they've narrowed it down to either the EGR and or the Catalytic Converter. The EGR replacement, plus the removal of carbon buildup will run me $900 parts and labor and to replace the catalytic converter will run me $2500 parts and labor assuming fixing the EGR doesn't get the car to pass smog. The tech also said the oxygen sensor is "lazy" and should get it replaced too: $350.

-Jim

Re: Update #2
 

Please, please leave the dealer immediately!!!!!

A hi-flow cat (CARB legal) is $450. Even a new cat is about $1500+15 minutes of labor. An EGR is not $900 either. An oem o2 sensor is $200 and is a 15 minute job (if that). You can get a Walker o2 sensor with the oem wiring harness for $50 from www.oxygensensors.com

Please get your car and take it to Rick's. He deals with getting cars to pass smog all the time and won't rip you off like the dealer is trying to do.

why the dealer????

I've always learn from this club that DEALER IS RIP ASS OFF...

Learn from your mistakes. I strongly suggest you take rynberg advice.

Get it outta there!
You must have some recourse. Negotiate to pay 1/2 . They didn't fix it!! If they still refuse, put it on a credit card and dispute the charge.
Ask to see proof of more than $700.00 worth of _WORK_, not just labor charges.

#1.. never take the car to the dealer.. they don't know jack.

#2. If your EGR is bad.. i have a spare one i can sell you for like 20$ or something. Its only 2 bolts.. easy to get out. (pretty sure w/stock car)? Hiflow cats are cheap too, 450$ as stated earlier.. just gotta undo 4 bolts.. and drop it out.. put new one in.

#3. Take it to this guy's shop since he has good rep. My advice is to learn these cars inside out.. it will save you tons of money.

Re: Update #2
 

:eek: Thats ridiculous!!! Here's away to clean out the carbon practically for free and it works:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...threadid=33778

EGR would throw a code, that's about 5 min of labor. They could have sold you a cat' after one hour of labor. What labor are they claiming? I think you're paying for them to scratch their ass and mumble D'oh!

If the car passed Nevada smog then it's CA legal. It makes no sense why you couldn't use that paperwork to register. It makes no sense why you wouldn't pass. There would be absolutely "NO" difference in Nevada smog test and CA smog test because your car is not a CA car!!!!! You will only be held liable for a federal smog test (same as Nevada) and if the dealer is doing a CA test, they are idiots especially since it's the computer that's supposed to decide the test. Make sure you car was not originally sold in CA when brand new it falls under the federal smog regultaions.

I don't understand 7 hours of diagnosing. I've never heard of more then one hour. They are not fixing anything. They are testing, failing, scratching their butts, testing, scratching, testing and billing you for accomplishing nothing. B.A.R. # (916) 255-4200