Oh, and earlier in this thread, i believe someone knew of someone pretty much local.. That might be your best idea right now.

 

Guess what? My car is still not done - probably won't be done until Friday. I took it in early November 2002. Here's a synopsis of what has happened so far:
- car died, had it towed to local dealership
- they looked at it, found out that the engine was dead
- a month and a half later, after much pain and problems, the new engine is installed
- a few days later I noticed a coolant leak
- took it back, they found that the water pump housing was cracked
- they ordered a new waterpump housing
- while waiting for this service, my car was broken into and $1000 of stereo equipment was stolen
- they got the new housing on, tried to start the car, found out the new engine was dead
- they are now replacing the new engine.

:sigh: I just want my car back. I think that my dad is buying me some new racing seats because of all of this - he's the one who told me to go to and stay with the dealership over 3 1/2 months ago.

- Tyler

 

Well, I'd repeat the fact about taking it down to Chris @ Banzai to get it looked over, but that would be overkill. Especially because I'd say by the time you get your car back these guys will be rotary mechanics extraordinaire... I'll have to take my car up the to get worked on next time, they should be great at it

If you get the car back on Friday, think about coming over to my place for the Michigan meet Saturday evening, we'll all lay hands on it and hold a prayer session to the rotary gods that it works better for you from here on out.

Click here for info on the Michigan meet and to get directions to my place.

 

i am really disturbd by this thread!!!!!!!!!! i think i speak for every1 here when i say that u "disturb" r not listening to us...

At the moment forget abt moding ur car... forget abt ur dad buying u a racing seat... forget abt going to the MAZDA dealer again!!!

u can be smarter than those mechanics at the dealership as long as u have the initiative to learn abt ur car...

What you can do now is take ur old motor back... and get it checked if the engine is really dead!!! if the engine is in good condition, which i have a feeling that it is.......SUE d mother$%#$% dealership...

Does any1 here lives near to this guy???

 

The problem is that he already has a lot of money involved in this repair with the dealership. Grant, the dealership apparently has no idea what they are doing, but at this point he may as well stick it out and force them to fix it correctly on their own bill (rather than to take it to a new mechanic and shell out more money).

 

Mahjik: true true... but im just concern that they will do more harm and try to suck more of this poor kids $$$...

I mean c'mon, the mechanics just put a new engine in there and they "assume" allready that the engine is blown/dead?!? WTF???

what im suggesting, as some1 has allready pointed out, is getn the old engine and have it checkd out... no harm done in doing it, right?

 

He should definatly check out the 2 previous engines.. I bet they both might be good..

If they are, he should take them to court.. And he will win.

-Zach

 

No, I am not paying for one more part - from this point on, I will never take my car back to them - only to Banzai racing (i realize that now). I can't just yank my car out of there now because they are doing this install under warrantee and I don't have to pay for the labor or the parts. If they try to tell me something else is wrong and that I need to buy _____part, I'm taking them to court. The fact that I drove it onto the car-carrier to take it to them the second time (to fix the housing) and drove it off of the trailor and parked it there at the dealership shows that it was working fine then (except for the waterpump housing leak). When they tried to blame it on me and told me that I probably let it overheat, both me and my dad gave them hell. They are affraid of us now. I won't take it back there again, so I don't need to hear that advice anymore. I took it there before I found out that I shouldn't (remember, since last November, before Thanksgiving). It should all be over soon (knock on wood)
- Tyler

 

Well, that depends on the shop. It's extremely doubtful that the dealership is just going to "hand over" the engine.

What he SHOULD do however, is contact Mazda USA and let them start a case. If they have to, they will get a mechanic from another dealership or contract out the work to a "qualified shop" to get it resolved at their cost (if negligence upon them can be proved).

I don't think the latter would be hard to prove.

A dealership in my local area has contracted work out to a few RX-7 Club members in the past. If the correct pressure is put on them, they'll get it taken care of...

Mazda Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-222-5500 between the following hours:

Pacific Time: Monday -Friday 8:00AM - 4:45PM
Central Time: Monday - Friday 9:00AM - 5:45PM
Eastern Time: Monday - Friday 9:00AM - 5:45 PM

 

One of the major complications with this all, and what has cost probably the most ammount of time, is that they have a problem with mechanics just deciding to not show up for work. That gets them backed up, and puts them way behind on everything. I realize now that new cars coming in have more priority than my car, and if they only have 2 people there a day, my car will just get pushed aside on the work list

 

Yep, you need to get on the phone with Mazda USA and get them to start investigating. That alone will get your car's priority bumped back up.

 

he paid for the new engine right and therefore he may take his old engine!!! am i missing anything here...?

Disturbd: i've experience that myself... my car got stuck for 2 painful months... and they did as what you just told...

I've spoke to the GM and change d mechanic asap!!! luckily, he is a certified rotary mechanic... as a matter of fact, the only certified rotary mechanic in Brunei... *phew*

 

Apparently, they need the old engine for "core parts" and wouldn't release it. We asked the first time. It would be like $600 more to get the old engine.

I am going to call that line - thanks for the #

 

Unless you pay the core fee, the old engine is NOT yours to keep.

 

I called the support line, and they said that they would draw up a formal complaint against the dealership. The guy said i had every right to complain, and that he would do the same thing if he were in my position.

 

Exactly. I've been there and been on that hotline a few times.

Good luck!

 

i see there is a positive outcome here... $$$$$ for disturbd... hahaha

"may the force be wiv u..."

 

For all the money you've laid out you could have flown an expert out, bought the engine, rented a shop, accomplished the installation and still had some mad money left over....