Dealer screwed up my car after clutch job
 

Hi,

I need some help. I brought my RX7 to the dealer for clutch job a couple of weeks ago. About a week later, they told me that they somehow broke some parts while replacing the clutch, and they would order another clutch for free. I said ok.
Then they said the car is ready for pick up last Friday. They also asked me if I wanted to do some diagnosis for hot starting problem. I said no because it wasn't that bad. But on a second thought I said yes. And they charged $95 for that.
Today I went there to pick up my car, and the manager said the engine needs to be replaced because there is no compression from one of the rotors. I thought he was joking. But when they brought my car back, it didn't even idle. It felt like one rotor was not firing at all like the manager said. He said he would have a technician take a look at it for free.
But I'm getting a bad feeling about it.
What should I do if they refuse to fix it?
What could have possibly gone wrong?
Does anyone have similar experience with the dealer?

I'd really appreciate your help.
Thank you.

first i work at the madza dealer in cali ok i know whats happen allready. first let me know is your car all hooked up? is it turbo? what they did is put the cltuch in. and then test drove the shit out of it probaly mamybe some burn outs! i seen it happen but never messing up a motor but when they test drive fast car the beat them down. look at the tires. ses if they have wear. but that what happened its most likly there falut.

the freaken dealer sucks to the max balls!!!! they know crap... last time i went there to get just my radiator replaced, they said i'll get the the next day and what happen? i called the guy... didnt pick up... and then i went over there... there guy was just sitting his fat ass getting the other customers... then i went up to him i asked him about my car he was like the parts are not in yet.. so i was like wtf.. o yeah it was past like 3 days already... so i was like okay w/e.. then i got half way home my brother was like u know just go get your car back screw that.. so i decided to go back to the dealer... went there to mazda... and told him i want the car back.. he told me that he already ordered the parts... so i was like okay... so the guy took me to his booth... and show me my page of parts and stuff he said he ordered... he was like okay look... boom he was shocked and i was like what a freaken liar!! so pretty much he hasnt ordered no parts to my car yet and i waisted 80 buck for diagnostic test... freaken dealers!!! dont go to them they'll rip u off... do it yourself or someone who know's how to touch it...

Tell them that the car was fine and idled great when you brought it in, now its blown up. Tell them if the car is not as it orginally was when you brought it there, you will contact a lawyer. Did you record your mileage when you brought the car in? did the dealer record it? If the car has 5 extra miles on it, they blew your motor.

Not all dealerships are bad..

Its not about the dealers but tech who has experience working on RX7s (FDs). Make sure to talk to the tech instead of just talking to those idiot service write up guys.. Those guys are nothing but liers!! God I hate those dumbass service writer guys.. Not just Mazda but ALL dealership.

Example: I had an older Acura and took it to Acura dealership because my ABS light was on. I drop the car off, went to work, came back and they charged me $100 and said my ABS system needed to be replaced. I told them NO WAY!! and asked if they plug the ABS unit to the tester.. He didn't even know what that was... He said I didn't asked for that.. I was like, then how come you guys are charging me $100 and telling me I need to replace my ABS?? After 10 mins of arguing, they charged me ZERO!

Point of my story, its the stupid service writers that I hate about dealerships.. Get to know your technician and their qualification, its just as good as a good ole small shops (maybe better as they have access to Special tools).

Good luck!

Mistake #1 - Took it to the Dealer.

Learning lesson - Take car to reputable rotary expert or learn about all about the fd and do it yourself.


later

never take it to the dealer #1.. i took it once only to get the tranny and diff oil changed and i stood there the whole time while they did it..
A PFC coulda prob help.. put the limiter on it... when you drop off your car anywere.. write down the mileage, look at the tires and make sure the mech knows you did all that so they dont try anything stupid

this is the third thread that i found in the last 2 months about the same issue. the smart thing to do(no matter where you take it) is to take a picture of your milage reading, get the picture developed and get it signed by whoever is working on your vehicle. just a little insurence policy, that way you have have evidence if something does happen thats there fault.

i hope you get everything worked out. some dumbass mechanics out there...

dude u better say something.. it was your clutch to be replace now its your engine!!! u know they probably smashed out on your car doing some crap to it or something... u know how much everything now is... yeah u should listen to VTECHthis... tell them you'll get a lawyer if they dont fix your car.. dont be scared too cause if u dont say something they'll take advantage of it!! and send u away with a screwd up car

Did they actually do a compression test? I've had mine flood and run on one rotor for several seconds before the plugs on the other rotor dried enough to fire. Could even be a loose spark plug wire.

This dealership doesn't sound like they know anything about these cars as it is. You should also ask specifically what they broke during the clutch change.

If your young, consider getting your Dad or an older adult to come with you to the dealership. That's not a slam or meant to be an insult to anyone, but IMHO a reality that they'll be much more likely to take you seriously. Especially true if the car is registered in anyone else's name. Speak only with the service manager. Not the tech, not an assistant manager. Get your dates, whatever documentation and facts together. Check the repair write-up. Whenever I've taken my wife's car to the dealer, they've recorded mileage on those when the car comes in. Tell them your car ran fine, with a minor warm start issue when it was brought in for a clutch replacement. Now it appears to be more serious. Have an idea of what it is you want. A reasonable assumption is that you want the car to run at least as good as it did when it was brought it. Don't speculate yourself as to what has gone wrong. That's for them to figure out. Depending on how they respond, be prepared to go to the dealerhip's General Manager and/or the MAZDA district or regional manager. Be business-like. Patient and pleasant, but firm. Last resort would be an attorney. IF your prepared to go that route, let them know. But don't threaten it every 5 minutes. My .02.

Next time call Chris Sanders at Banzai Racing down in Pierceton, IN. He's the closest rotary expert. Search around on the forum - his screen name is BlueTII.

As for the dealer...that was a mistake, and I made the same one. No matter what happens, I would NOT allow them to even attempt to install a new engine. Trust me - I had my own experience with a dealer up here in mid-Michigan (Thelen). They took 4 months to replace my engine, and still screwed it up.

First, go to the manager of the dealership and explain to him what happened. Tell him that the engine was working fine until you brought it in for a new clutch. Have him explain to you how the engine could go bad by simply taking it to the repair bay for work. Point is somone from that dealership drove your car into the ground.

Please understand that the dealership is not going to replace your engine for free. They are going to deny any wrong doing.

Find a good mazda shop in your area, get the car towed there, and have them find out what is wrong.

Find the meanst SOB attorney you can find, pay him the retainer fee (even if it is $2,000) and have him write the dealership a letter with the diagnosis from the Mazda shop, demanding a replacement engine or face a law suit.

Go after these jerks. it may be expensive, but you really have no other choice other than to fork over more money for a new engine. (@ $4,000 installed - if your turbos and pumps are in good working order)

Good luck.

Super77

Again, the closest rotary shop is Banzai Racing in Pierceton, IN.

And if your car is modified at all, they can deny you any sort of "free" work. In my case, I had aftermarket seats in my FD because the original seats were torn to shreds by the previous owner's dog. They said they would not warranty anything or honor any previous warranties because the car had been modified.

You should start working on your own car. A clutch job is'nt that hard. You would have saved yourself a big headache and $700+(clutch/labor) that you could put towards aftermarket parts. Start exploring your car.

The replies above are correct ( engine was running fine, only needed clutch replacement), I am also a mechanic and ive seen this kind of things. Its gonna be hard but it will pay off. You will need to bring your lawyer, police report yada yada.. they blew up your engine and they should be responsible for replacement. My boss wasnt happy when a customer brought paperworks about the shop being sued:scared:

Thanks guys.

I already told the service manager that the car was running fine except occasional hot start problem when I went there to pick up my car a week ago. And he said he would have some one take a look at it for free.
Now I just called him about an hour ago, and asked him what's the status of my car. He said that there's no compression in one of the rotors. Same thing he told me before. And he claimed that the car was like that when I brought it in. He didn't say that a week ago, even though he didn't explicitly admit that they did something wrong. And he wanted me to pay for the engine replacement. I said no, and told him that I would call him back.
Then I called student legal service (I am a graduate student research assisntant and can use the service for free) and made an appointment with a laywer. It's tomorrow afternoon, so I have to wait. I did not told the service manager about the lawyer, though.
I know, the service manager knows (I believe), and God knows that the car was fine before the cluch replacement, but I'm not sure how I can prove it. The odometer reading indicates that they drove it about 4 miles after I dropped it in. And they had not said anything about the engine being abnormal for about two weeks while replacing clutch. They should have noticed it right away and called me about it if the engine had run like that. I don't think they could have even driven 4 miles with that condition ( it hardly idles).
I still have to see my lawyer tomorrow, but am really worried.

Thanks again for your help.

Well. Clutch is pretty straightforward job on this car. In my expierence - this is easiest clutch job I ever did.

4 miles is enough of a drive to blow engine if they took car down a block for "test drive"

Believe me... its possible.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this is the first time I've ever gone to the dealer for service. I've done quite a bit of maintenance myself. But the car is almost stock except down pipe, catback and boost guage. I've installed down pipe, catback, boost guage and replace numerous things myself. And I was about to do something about the occasional hot start problem, and that's why I let them do the diagnositics thinking that they might find the cause. I thought it would be some kind of electrical problem such as weak alternator/battery, aging solenoids and some faulty sensors.
And when the manager told me about the ZERO compression, I thought it was just some kind of dealer scam. But I'm worried that it is indeed the case.

Just goes to say, "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

This crap happens a lot these days. They probably did break your car. My brother in law works at a dealer, he's been in trouble a few times for hot rodding cars.
I mean if you let me drive your rx, I'd get on it.. a little. Thats why I do all my own work... it may not be the best, but if I screwed up its my fault, and I didn't waste that money on labor...

Good luck, and get a good lawyer!

Ok, same sort of thing...

My little brother works as an apprentice (trainee) mechanic at a garage here in town, which does warranty servicing & medium mechanical repairs. One day, A 1997 Nissan Pathfinder SUV-kind-of-thing came in for an oil change & service. The service was carried out, and my brother then gave the car the complimentary free wash & took it out on the road for a test, as they do with all serviced cars.
Now, my brother owns a turbocharged 2.6 liter 1974 Chrysler Lancer, and he's right into drifting, etc (as most young people who work in the auto trade usually are) so the "test drive" he gives customer's cars, is one full of limiter-banging, tire screaming hell..
He recounts that he got the automatic trans Pathfinder on the rev limiter in second gear, slammed it into 3rd and heard a bang & a big grinding noise, followed by a loss of forward drive (engine free revving while in gear). He coasted into a carpark, calls his big brother up (me) and says "holy crap, I've just blown up a customer's car! What do I do??" :scared: I reply that he should just be honest with his boss, and leave me out of this one!! So he ends up calling his boss, getting the car towed back to the workshop and his boss tells him that "No matter how hard you were driving this thing, we're just going to tell the lady customer that her car was going to blow up anyway"
Turns out, he stripped all the spline teeth off the input shaft of the auto transmission, and welded parts of it together internally, from all his antics. If I were the customer & saw all the spline teeth shredded off the input shaft, I'd know some idiot had thrashed my car.. But this customer wasnt very mechanically minded.
The boss calls her up, says it was going to happen anyway, and it would cost her $4000 all up, in labour & parts to repair everything. And you know what? The silly customer paid it :uh: because she didnt know any better!? And apparently, this wasnt the first time this sort of thing had happened, and that would explain why the boss wasnt too shaken up by it, & never got angry about it.
After that, I made sure if my car was going for exhaust work or a wheel alignment or something I couldnt be bothered to do myself, I set my Power FC rev limiter down, so the "mechanics" cant rev it to an early death. And it pays to know, or have a good relationship with the guy who is going to work on your car, because he will respect you & also your car a little more that way. :)

I think that is exactly what happend to my car. Some one took it out for a "test drive" and blew up the engine. But I still hope it wasn't the case. The boost was not particularly spiky before the clutch job. It goes up as high as 11 psi or a little more (but less than 12 psi), but I wonder if it's enough to blow up the engine.
Any way, what is the symptom of a blown rotary engine. They said one of the rotor has no compression at all.
I could start it up when I went to dealer to pick it up. The car was not drivable at all. I stalled it a couple times to just move it about 20 feet. Idle was very rough, jumping any where between 500 to 1500 rpm. The whole car was shaking side to side. The boost(vacumn) was about 8-10 mmhg. After about 5 minutes or so, it eventually stalled. And then I could re-start it.
I don't remember seeing excessive smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe even though the exhaust sound was very rough with some popping every second or two.
Is this something I should expect when one rotor is completely busted?

Thanks.

your brother is a no good stupid fucking asshole. He deserves to get the shit kicked out of him. No respect for other people's property and as a apprentice its even worse cos he cant afford to pay for the damage he causes. If he did that to my $100 shitter that i took in to have an oil change id still get to him with a sharpened golf club. Sorry but hearing about dickheads like that annoy me. When i take my FD to any shop i tell the boss that the car has datalogging/ rev limiter and if anything sounds wrong he will pay through the nose.

i think as a word of advice to anyone who takes the car into a shop, dealer or not, they should be upfront with the service manager or technician that you have recorded the odometer and under no circumstance are they to test drive the car after completion. they can call you to come do that. ive done this before and the shop was very courteous about it and understood completely. any shop that would protest i would walk away from. i dont really care about what their policy might be.

and give them a limit if they need to move the car around (which they might from time to time) but tell them you expect that no more than 200 meters will be justified. there is no shop in the world that needs more than 200meters to move a car.

for those who arent metric 200meters is 1/8th of a mile

I havent met a person who didnt want to drive my car. Mechanics who deal with shitboxes all day everyday jump at the chance to get behind the wheel of the FD.

The way you prove it is you tell them that the dealer called you to ask if you wanted them to look at a warm start issue. If the car was like that when you brought it in it stands to reason that they would have asked you if you wanted them to look at your blown motor!!!!!

They are trying to get out of taking the blame and are basically calling you an idiot by doing so.

You should explain to them very politely that you are a very fair person but it does not take a genius to figure out that they are at fault here. You then tell them that you will contact a Lawyer, Mazda USA and go to the media with your story. Basically you make their lives a pain in the ass until they admit they are at fault. I would even ask to speak with the owner of the dealership to inform them what kind of people he has working for him.

Also if your motor was blown it is obvious you would not be changing the damn clutch but rather putting that money towards a new motor.

Stand up for yourself and do not let them take advantage of you.

Did you ask him, if the car was already like that when you brought it how the hell did you get it there?

it sounds like they over reved it, detonated it then limped it back to the shop.
when my motor went it sounded just as you described. back rotor had 0 compression.
and it took maybe 4 to 5 miles and it wouldn't even move.



:squint: and like stated before tell them if it were blown before how did you make it there?:suspect:

I didn't ask the service manager the question, but it is one of the things that I will tell my lawyer today along with the fact that they drove it about 4 miles while the car was in the dealer. It would have been almost impossible to drive it 4 miles with only one rotor, plus they would have imformed me right away if it had been the case. The service manager didn't even brought it up when he called me to pick it up. Instead he suggested an engine diagnosis, and I said "no". Then he said, "Well, you know how it ran when you brought it, right?" And the way he said it was a little fishy.
Any way, Mazda USA and media are good idea.
I'll definetely try them after I consult my lawyer today.

Thanks.

Gaebing,

:( Just reading your thread makes me angry. It's just amazing how some shady service departments will lie to cover their a*ses. They've occasionally done it to me, and that's the reason I do all of the work that I am capable of on my own cars, even those under warrantee.

Good luck. I hope they don't get away with this!

Another great point to prove the dealership is lying! Good stuff.

yeah...common man, they told you they would diagnose it.....for free??hrm you shouldnt take a business man to be so nice. i wonder why he told you he would do it for free......

Shops, in general, tend to be shady. Just last week I was replacing a BLOWN wheel bearing on the SVTF...I got it all apart to the point where the bearing just had to be pressed from the hub, and the new bearing pressed in. I called 3 places...the first just laughed and told me they wouldn't do it (guess it wasn't a big enough job for them), and another quoted me $60...to press ONE bearing out of a hub and press ONE bearing back into the same hub. The third shop, however, was great - it was a local parts store that had a machine shop in the back. Ended up costing me $17, but I could totally see someone less knowlegable thinking $60 was a fair price for that work....or, heaven forbid, they actually had the shop do all the work. I can only imagine what that would have cost. I ended up spending about $150 on a new spindle, new wheel bearing kit, the bearing removal/install, and random tools I needed to finish the job (things I needed but didn't have). I could imagine seeing a bill for at least twice that if I would have taken it to a shop....plus they'd probably tell me my hub was bad, or I needed new blinker fluid or some crazy shit.

Basically...never trust anyone with your car that you wouldn't trust with your life.

gaebing,

You have have 2 pieces of evidence that are gold.

1. The service write up lists what the car came in for. I'm just going to take a shot in the dark here but I doubt blown engine is listed anywhere.

2. This is the most important: It was driven for 4 miles. Why would anyone go on a 4 mile test drive with a blown engine? Logic would suggest that the tech would have left the the dealership and come right back because there a huge fucking problem.

Like I said a blown engine is a huge problem and if your car indeed in that condition when you brought it in it should have been cought by several people: you driving it to the dealership, or the service rep who received your car in, or the tech who drove the car to the service station, or the tech who drove your fucking car for 3.99 miles before he duduced there was a problem. See what I'm trying to get at?

I hope your car is still there... If it is do not take it anywhere. It's time for you to start flexing muscle. Call mazda corp and ask to speak to whoever the dealer answers to. Have a corporate mazda rep come down and view for himself.

Be calm be cool but tell everyone you are already speaking to a lawyer (as you should be) and you will sue, and name specific people on the lawsuit. That is: the tech, service manager, the owner of the dealership. And that you will seek punitive damages (to be honest im not sure if this applies but it's always good to scare people) from the dealership because in fact they are aware of their mistake but choose to proceed on going forward.

oh yeah don't be surprised if your turbos are shot as well...




Call back the shop

reading about stories like this pisses me off greatly, if it was my FD then id find out who the guy was that test drove it then get some nice cold payback.

anyway, you do have some things going for you that will stir things up on their end so they can correct their pathetic ways

1) your engine wasnt blown when you brought it in, how would it have made it to the shop in the first place??? your engine can't just pop while its turned off lol, what they are sayin is like "yeaaah we turned on your car and it just blew". its ridiculous!

2) you can easily blow an RX-7 in about 4 miles, just turn it on then go off drivin the snot out of it without warm-up. maybe even go do some peel-outs on a low gear (like first heh).

if you dont have surge tank in the back they couldve made a badass left turn thus making your engine run lean for a bit as well.

3) they also most likely boosted the shit out of it on the way back at which point they just turned the car off with no warm-down period as well. underhood temps are at their highest when its sitting there, so yeah you get the idea. you will also probably need a new turbo like another poster has said.

i wish you the best of luck against BS like this and hope justice serves you well. hopefully your lawyer has some good news for you in regards to this matter so keep your head up and stay positive.

edit: about the surge tank thing i hear the fuel goes off to the right with weight shifts and surge tank prevents that by keeping your engine well fed!

man this is why i'm scared to ever let people work on my car

montego, you're reading my mind. That's exactly what I'm thinking. If the engine had been blown before I took it to the dealer, they would have informed/caught me right away.
I just talked to my lawyer this afternoon. He said that even my wife can be a witness to prove that the car was running fine before I took it to the dealer. That makes me feel much better.
But, he said he need a second opinion, such as what has happened to the engine and how it could have happened, from another reputable repair shop,in order to sue the dealer. So I called several palces to see if they could do such things, but couldn't find anyone willing to do that yet.
Does anyone know rx-7 speciallist in Ann Arbor, MI area?

Thanks, everyone.

Glad you are going to play hardball. Keep us updated on what comes out of it.

Off-topic, but first of all, most shops in my area are good. Run by honest hard working people. Skill and experience level varies alot, but in general...not honesty. Painting with a big brush IMO.
Second, it probably WASN'T a big enough job to the 1st shop you called. They assume some risk pressing bearings in and out on a high dollar suspension piece. They probably figured you'd have exactly the attitude you had with the second shop..."give him a price that's worth taking the risk and he'll just think we're trying to cheat him". So they just refused. The second shop probably quoted you a price they figured was high enough to make it worth the risk. The third shop will probably do things that cheap until a mistake is made (and with human error, it happens occasionally) and they get burnt with a $400 bill for a $17 job.

i work at a mazda dealership, but im not a mechanic...
i do know however that our techs dont tend to bag the sht out of the cars thats why i do trust our shop... but if i didnt know any better... i wouldnt!!! and even tho i dont know much about FD's yet (mechanical work-wise) because i just got mine recently, i will learn to do most if not all the work on it myself... first of all there's a feeling of appreciation after u are done with the project, and second you save a sht load of money when u do the work yourself...

Why do you need a shop local to your place? Call a reputable rotary shop. Ray at PFS, Pineapple racing, even Gotham could all tell you them that the motor blowing was infact the shops fault.

Now we're talking... open a can O'whoopA$$ on that boy! :icon16: And to the poster who's brother blew an engine while test driving some SUV and then let his boss charge the customer $4k for a new engine - that is utter bullshit. You should have walked your brother over to that customer and told them the truth of what really happened.. right in front of the shop owner. Thats called INTEGRITY and I guarantee you, the shop owner would have fired your brother, but if I were him, I wouldn't want to work for some rip-off cheap sob like that anyway. That shop DESERVED to pay for that lady's new engine based on your brothers mistake AND not because she wasn't mechanically inclined. Imagine if it were a Doctor trying to pull some bullshit like this on you and your brother, but because you don't know jack about Medicine you should just "pay" whatever is asked... and trust me, there's plenty of Doctors out there doing shady shit to get paid by the insurance company's, I know, I used to be an ER-tech and I saw all kinds of shit, Doctor's are shady motherbuckers!

^+1

OP, if you live where I think you live, then I know the EXACT dealership you are talking about. The owner is a family friend and my brother got his CX-7 there. (My 8 was bought out in Monroe). PM me the name of the dealership and I'll make some calls. IIRC, there is a rotary shop in Monroe that would probably take care of this for you (backing up the fault claim). I don't think the owner would like to hear about this. This is totally unacceptable.

"You need Sam Bernstein!" LOL for the MI folks! Let me know anything I can do to help with your situation.

Shawn

Thank you, Archie's8. I PMed you.
I already talked to my lawyer yesterday, but have not taken any action yet.
So if you can call him and make some arrangement, it'll be very nice.
But, in case it doesn't work out, can you give me the phone number of the rotary shop in Monroe?

Thank you very much.

Sorry to hear that the Mazda dealer messed up your car. I think Shawn is referring to us, however we have not been in Monroe for over 4 years now.

LOL this guy works at the dealer and is asking if a post in the 3rd gen section is a turbo.......this could be a good indication of why not to take it to a dealer. I can see where he's probably pretty accurate on how they treated your car and most likely detonated it or boosted it before it was warmed up. I'm not sure if not crashing it was in your favor or not because, had they crashed it you can bet it would be easier to prove they were not testing the car in a safe and proper manor.

:rofl: Ugghh... yeah! Whoops! Sorry guys, I forgot you relocated. I was trying to throw some business your way. OP, these guys do great work. Give them a call and see if they can help you out.

Edit: PM recieved and message left.

Shawn,

I'm waiting, my fingers crossed.
I hope it is a good news.

Thanks.