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my story on how mazda dealer ships treat your car when your gone...poor rx7s

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Old May 7, 2010 | 01:23 PM
  #26  
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I won the lottery on my dealership story. A long time ago in this galaxy, I made an appointment to check out my future ride but the seller canceled because it wouldn't start. He took it to the dealership in which they promptly told him that "the backfire from the exhaust" blew the engine. As I was researching then (BIG props to RX-7 lemon site and Rob's site back then), it occurred to me that something didn't sound right. The seller decided to cut his asking price by 70%!! And I talked him down another 5%! (I won't throw out real numbers...it'll just upset you.) Even with a new engine I would still save a few bucks if it was just that I thought. It was still a risk but I bought it as is and had it towed to a local specialist......

.......four spark plugs and tires later.....and the rest, as they say, is history!!

Lessons learned: never ask the dealership to troubleshoot RX problems and only slightly less known is, of course, never get into a land war in Asia.

(In defense of the seller, he was just a middle-man who inherited the car so he knew nothing about them.)

If it was a Mazduh dealership around here I could believe it. It truly amazed me every time I brought the car in how little they new about it. Even their 'rx7/rx8 certified mechanic' had to look up in his book to find out where to plug the diagnostic computer into. He opened the hood, got the plug, looked around, all but scratched his head, set the cable down, went back to the book, looked at the engine bay, looked at the book, and so on, it took him a couple minutes to figure it all out. All of this while I was standing there watching him do it laughing to myself (and crying a bit on the inside).


BTW, it ended up being iocane powder, I bet my life on it.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 02:12 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by He's On Toroids
BTW, it ended up being iocane powder, I bet my life on it.
Inconceivable!
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Old May 7, 2010 | 02:22 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Scrub
Seriously, I couldn't even read the whole post. GLWS
Ha! I couldn't read past the first line! I just scrolled down and happened to catch Grimple's cliff notes. Lol.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 02:23 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by David Hayes

Trip number one: Me - "My sunroof liner is a little loose and squeaks." The dealer - "Got you all set up and put your receipt in the glove box". Me - Hopped in the car and hit a bump leaving the dealer. Sunroof headliner falls on my head. Turn right around and reach to grab the receipt out of the glove box. The entire glove box falls off.
You gotta admit David, this story is pretty funny. Although I wouldn't ask for it to happen to anyone. I suppose we all learn our "Stay away from Mazda" rule in different ways.

and OP if you ever find yourself having boost problems on a stock tt setup, this is a really good site to check out. This and pretty much a vacuum diagram is all you'll need.

http://www.autosportracetech.com/RX-7/rx7stuff.htm

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Old May 7, 2010 | 02:33 PM
  #30  
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From: harrison ga
Alright alright...damn..My bad for my mind getting faster then my fingers. I know my grammar and how to spell. I was just trying to get my story out to ya. Now I've had my car for about a year and a half and got most of the car down now. i have a shop manual now to and Its really starting to come to-gather.
I have learned alot of lesson's from my rx7. NUMBER 1# never let people other then me work on it. NUMBER 2# check my grammar when i post. If you guys have any horror stories u want to share feel free to post. I would like to hear about them. It might help other people from making the same mistake.

thanks,
baka

Last edited by BakaBakaBusu; May 7, 2010 at 02:48 PM.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 02:53 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by BakaBakaBusu
Alright alright...damn..My bad for my mind getting faster then my fingers. I know my grammar and how to spell. I was just trying to get my story out to ya. Now I've had my car for about a year and a half and got most of the car down now. i have a shop manual now too and Its really starting to come together.
I have learned alot of lesson's from my rx7. NUMBER 1# never let people other then me work on it. NUMBER 2# check my grammar when i post. If you guys have any horror stories u want to share feel free to post. I would like to hear about them. It might help other people from making the same mistake.

thanks,
baka
Fixed the above underlined stuff. You're not batting a thousand yet
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Old May 7, 2010 | 03:04 PM
  #32  
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From: harrison ga
Alright now...If you cant handle small typo's like that you need to be on meds. or something, or your *** is on your shoulders.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 03:56 PM
  #33  
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I'm not going to talk **** about your grammer/spelling, but no need to start getting defensive towards everyone. It really is hard to read what you're writing.


Anyways, glad you realized you shouldn't be taking the car to the dealer before anything significant happened. Good luck with your ownership!
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Old May 7, 2010 | 04:07 PM
  #34  
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I wouldn't take ANY car that I've ever owned to a freakin' dealership. PERIOD.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 04:08 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by cesarx7
Ha! I couldn't read past the first line! I just scrolled down and happened to catch Grimple's cliff notes. Lol.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 04:21 PM
  #36  
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Thumbs up

Originally Posted by grimple1
So I think I can help prevent others from having their head explode.
Took off the IC piping and found dealership rags stuffed in the I/C to up PSI.
Did not notice that, i gave up after the flag going up
but thanks
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Old May 7, 2010 | 05:06 PM
  #37  
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I think this goes for almost any car dealer. I took my 2009 Honda FIT to the Honda dealership for a simple 5000 mile free oil change, didn't even think to check everything out afterward, oil changes an easy every day thing at a shop. Later that week I had to do a hard acceleration (at least as hard as you can in a FIT, lol) and I smelled burning oil. Got home and checked the level, the oil level was about 1/4" above the full mark! Oil was seeping out and burning on the exhaust manifold. Everything is fine, but still, something as simple as making sure that the oil level is right when you are done should never be overlooked.

My only experience with the Mazda dealer for the FD, when I installed my new pilot bearing in the short block it wouldn't turn anymore, at the time, I didn't have the remover and the Mazda dealer was right down the street. So I loaded the engine in the back of the FIT and took it to Mazda. They looked at me like i was crazy, but they got it working. Turned out to be a bad bearing, they had a new one in stock for only a few bucks. The look on their faces was great when they saw the engine sitting in the back of the Honda, haha.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 05:09 PM
  #38  
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From: harrison ga
Originally Posted by grimple1
I wouldn't take ANY car that I've ever owned to a freakin' dealership. PERIOD.
what about recalls?
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Old May 7, 2010 | 05:13 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by kyleaudio
I think this goes for almost any car dealer. I took my 2009 Honda FIT to the Honda dealership for a simple 5000 mile free oil change, didn't even think to check everything out afterward, oil changes an easy every day thing at a shop. Later that week I had to do a hard acceleration (at least as hard as you can in a FIT, lol) and I smelled burning oil. Got home and checked the level, the oil level was about 1/4" above the full mark! Oil was seeping out and burning on the exhaust manifold. Everything is fine, but still, something as simple as making sure that the oil level is right when you are done should never be overlooked.

My only experience with the Mazda dealer for the FD, when I installed my new pilot bearing in the short block it wouldn't turn anymore, at the time, I didn't have the remover and the Mazda dealer was right down the street. So I loaded the engine in the back of the FIT and took it to Mazda. They looked at me like i was crazy, but they got it working. Turned out to be a bad bearing, they had a new one in stock for only a few bucks. The look on their faces was great when they saw the engine sitting in the back of the Honda, haha.
just to humor me , i asked the Mazda dealer if they rebuilt rotary engine's and before i could finish rx.....got a strong noooo
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Old May 7, 2010 | 05:38 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by BakaBakaBusu
just to humor me , i asked the Mazda dealer if they rebuilt rotary engine's and before i could finish rx.....got a strong noooo
While the service manual covers the procedure, nearly all dealers will simply replace the engine with a reman engine. If you're lucky they won't screw that up too badly and your bill will be under $8k.

Dave
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Old May 7, 2010 | 05:55 PM
  #41  
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^Yea, what he said. I'd rather have one of the known and trusted rotary engine builders do it anyways, or do it myself.
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Old May 7, 2010 | 06:08 PM
  #42  
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a few years ago when I bought my FB, i asked the seller to take it to a dealership around Yuma, AZ for a compression check. A day later, he told me that the dealership did not have the compression tester for rotaries anymore. WTF were they thinking? This sort of trend doesn't surprise me in the least bit.
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Old May 8, 2010 | 04:52 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by BakaBakaBusu
what about recalls?
I usually just make them give me the part(s) and I install it myself. Pitch a fit and they'll budge.





If you wanna have it rebuilt, then djseven (Rotary Resurrection) is a good option. It's just outside Knoxville (Morristown). Shouldn't be more than a day trip. And you'll get a quality build from a reputable builder.

You're also south of ATL so Florida offers other options (I don't know that state's options as well).
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Old May 9, 2010 | 05:47 PM
  #44  
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From: harrison ga
Originally Posted by grimple1
I usually just make them give me the part(s) and I install it myself. Pitch a fit and they'll budge.





If you wanna have it rebuilt, then djseven (Rotary Resurrection) is a good option. It's just outside Knoxville (Morristown). Shouldn't be more than a day trip. And you'll get a quality build from a reputable builder.

You're also south of ATL so Florida offers other options (I don't know that state's options as well).
I'm going to do a rebuild myself. Just been getting parts and learning stuff and tricks on how to get started. I just bought the rotary rebuild video from mazdatrix and I have just bought the master rebuild kit from aktins rotary.
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Old May 9, 2010 | 07:27 PM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by BakaBakaBusu
I'm going to do a rebuild myself. Just been getting parts and learning stuff and tricks on how to get started. I just bought the rotary rebuild video from mazdatrix and I have just bought the master rebuild kit from aktins rotary.
Rotary Aviation also sells a couple of rebuild videos too, I own all 3 of em and they're a good starting point for doing it yourself.

Do one or two rebuilds on used engines, that way you get experience with the teardowns and rebuilds. If you make a mistake and screw it up you also won't be out anything more than the cost of the soft seals and some misc stuff. You're not going to end up with a monster HP engine that way but you'll be ready when you do a quality rebuild with all new parts. It's a lot of work tearing the car down and pulling engines but once you do it a few times you'll be good to go.

Honestly the basics really aren't hard. If you can read and turn a wrench you can make this car work at stock levels easily. There are some gotchas in there to be sure though (like doing your front end play and having a bearing drop on you..a very bad thing...). If you want to go beyond stock levels there are a number of quality rotary shops out there that can take care of you a LOT cheaper and a LOT more reliably than the stealership. The stealership is the devil, I wouldn't let them change my belts.
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Old May 10, 2010 | 04:25 PM
  #46  
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From: harrison ga
Originally Posted by twinsinside
Rotary Aviation also sells a couple of rebuild videos too, I own all 3 of em and they're a good starting point for doing it yourself.

Do one or two rebuilds on used engines, that way you get experience with the teardowns and rebuilds. If you make a mistake and screw it up you also won't be out anything more than the cost of the soft seals and some misc stuff. You're not going to end up with a monster HP engine that way but you'll be ready when you do a quality rebuild with all new parts. It's a lot of work tearing the car down and pulling engines but once you do it a few times you'll be good to go.

Honestly the basics really aren't hard. If you can read and turn a wrench you can make this car work at stock levels easily. There are some gotchas in there to be sure though (like doing your front end play and having a bearing drop on you..a very bad thing...). If you want to go beyond stock levels there are a number of quality rotary shops out there that can take care of you a LOT cheaper and a LOT more reliably than the stealership. The stealership is the devil, I wouldn't let them change my belts.
ok thanks for the tips.

Last edited by BakaBakaBusu; May 10, 2010 at 04:29 PM.
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