Need New Engine on 2007 under warranty and Mazda not honoring.

[krekc]

On Feb 13 2007 I was getting off of the freeway and noticed a noise coming from under the hood and found that the car would not accelerate properly. The service engine light did not come on. I didnt drive the car Sat. or Sun and when I started the car Monday morning the service engine light came on and I was able to get the car to the dealer that day.

A couple days later Mike the service guy said the engine looks clean but the valves inside the engine are bent. He said he was looking into it more and said that "I shouldnt have a problem". I was assuming he meant that I wouldnt have a problem with the warranty repair as I only have 27,000 miles on it. He asked for oil change receipts. I have a few but I do my own oil changes so I obviously dont have receipts for that.

Mike said we would have to wait on the regional rep to view the case/car. I kept calling and no answer. Days go by and no answer.

Yesterday (the 23rd) they said theyd have an answer for me today (the 24th). I got a call from Mike and he said that the warranty repair request has been denied on grounds of "dirty" oil and lack of maintenance receipts.

Ive called mazdausa, Ive asked for the reg rep to call me as this is totally unacceptable. I told them I would contact every media outlet, every blog site, every forum and post this information until this warranty repair is taken care of.

So here I am. My Mazda warranty for my 2007 CX-7 is not being honored.
Anyone who is out to buy a new car I will tell them to avoid mazda. This is my first and last mazda.

 

[xtrememps]

No offense but you should have receipts for the oil purchased...big mistake. I'm not going to doubt that you did all your service correctly and timely but without proof look at it from their perspective. You shouldn't knock Mazda because of your deficiency in record keeping.

With that being said you should get a sample of the oil and have it analyzed by a third party to hopefully add some substance to your claim of regular maintenance. If Mazda USA does not listen then your only choice would be to get a lawyer.

Good luck and hope you've learned a lesson.

 

[Mazda3]

I think you will find that most auto manufactures would handle that claim the same way. If you can't prove you did maintainance and the oil is dirty they have grounds not to honor the warranty. However with only 27k on the car you might have a case, depends what maintainace you can prove. I have trouble understanding why people would buy a brand new car and not have it serviced at the dealer until the warranty is up. A few extra bucks for oil changes and you wouldn't be having this problem.

At any rate I don't think this is a Mazda exclusive warranty denial. I think with the tough times right now most companies would deny that claim.

 

[xtrememps]

I think you will find that most auto manufactures would handle that claim the same way. If you can't prove you did maintainance and the oil is dirty they have grounds not to honor the warranty. However with only 27k on the car you might have a case, depends what maintainace you can prove. I have trouble understanding why people would buy a brand new car and not have it serviced at the dealer until the warranty is up. A few extra bucks for oil changes and you wouldn't be having this problem.

At any rate I don't think this is a Mazda exclusive warranty denial. I think with the tough times right now most companies would deny that claim.

I trust myself more than the dealer...I only go to them if it's really freezing out and I can't get a friend or family's garage to do it. It's no problem as long as you have receipts and trust me it's not a few bucks if you use synthetic...it's 10's of bucks you save so that's not the issue here.

 

[Olestra]

There's probably more to this story than you're letting on.
How come you have a few receipts and not all? Sometimes you decided to keep them and sometimes you decided not to?

As mentioned, your first step would be to get your hands on some of the oil in the engine and see if it in fact "dirty".
If you paid for your product with credit card, you can at least pull up past credit card statements.

Your date must be wrong, because according to your post, your engine blew up 2 years ago.

 

[Mazda3]

I trust myself more than the dealer...I only go to them if it's really freezing out and I can't get a friend or family's garage to do it. It's no problem as long as you have receipts and trust me it's not a few bucks if you use synthetic...it's 10's of bucks you save so that's not the issue here.

Well.....an oil change at my dealer is $39.50 CDN tax paid. There's probably $20-$25 of oil/filter there, so for another $15 somebody does it for me. Granted my dealer has a very experienced mechanical staff that I am comfortable with, it might not be the same at every dealer. But on my $40k CDN vehicle it provides hassle free warranty being a good service customer. Worth the piece of mind IMO.

 

[xtrememps]

Well.....an oil change at my dealer is $39.50 CDN tax paid. There's probably $20-$25 of oil/filter there, so for another $15 somebody does it for me. Granted my dealer has a very experienced mechanical staff that I am comfortable with, it might not be the same at every dealer. But on my $40k CDN vehicle it provides hassle free warranty being a good service customer. Worth the piece of mind IMO.

I'm assuming that is not synthetic? Unfortunately at my dealership synthetic (Mobil 1) is something like $80 dollars ($100 cdn I think)..they send out coupons once in a while which makes it something like $60 but that is ludicrous. Granted every place is different but another dealership around me was almost the same price so I don't know.

 

[Mazda3]

I'm assuming that is not synthetic? Unfortunately at my dealership synthetic (Mobil 1) is something like $80 dollars ($100 cdn I think)..they send out coupons once in a while which makes it something like $60 but that is ludicrous. Granted every place is different but another dealership around me was almost the same price so I don't know.

It's a semi-synthetic blend. Not as good as Mobil 1, but good enough for a leased vehicle. I guess if I actually owned the vehicle and was planning on keeping it for a longer time I might feel different. Part of it is the confidence in the service staff. I'm lucky enough to have one of the better Mazda service departments here. I know some of the US Mazda dealers are mixed in with other brands where the Mazda is low priority and the service isn't as competent.

 

[xtrememps]

It's a semi-synthetic blend. Not as good as Mobil 1, but good enough for a leased vehicle. I guess if I actually owned the vehicle and was planning on keeping it for a longer time I might feel different. Part of it is the confidence in the service staff. I'm lucky enough to have one of the better Mazda service departments here. I know some of the US Mazda dealers are mixed in with other brands where the Mazda is low priority and the service isn't as competent.

I actually must admit I have a high confidence in my dealership that I go to service occasionally (usually just warranty): it's Wayne Mazda which is a HUGE dealership but there's just no way I'd pay that much for oil changes regularly. No matter how good any dealership or garage is I still trust myself more for anything because I have extrememly high standards of care for my vehicle whereas you may get some guy who's been overworked one day no matter how good the dealership is and scratch or dent something. Not saying I'm perfect but I'd rather do things myself..just the type of person I am.

 

[offset_98]

This is why I again say, I'll spend a couple extra bucks and just go to the dealer for the oil changes. You do that and this whole warranty issue is a non-issue. So, for the $50 extra you'd have spend over the course of 5 oil changes will now cost you $5000 for a new engine. Good luck man.

 

[offset_98]

I'm assuming that is not synthetic? Unfortunately at my dealership synthetic (Mobil 1) is something like $80 dollars ($100 cdn I think)..they send out coupons once in a while which makes it something like $60 but that is ludicrous. Granted every place is different but another dealership around me was almost the same price so I don't know.

I only use Mobile 1 synthetic and my dealer TOLD me to go to WalMart to buy it and bring it into the dealership and they'll do the actual oil change while I wait. Maybe yours would do the same for you?

 

[Mazda3]

will now cost you $5000 for a new engine. Good luck man.

Try $10,000 for this engine.

 

[Mazda3]

I only use Mobile 1 synthetic and my dealer TOLD me to go to WalMart to buy it and bring it into the dealership and they'll do the actual oil change while I wait. Maybe yours would do the same for you?

My dealer will let you bring your own oil as well.

 

[mikey1981]

in most instances, you do your own work, you save the money, you take on liability. end of story.

theres a reason why people goto the dealer, even though it costs more money, when you have a problem and no problem can be worse than a dead engine...YOU dont have liability!!! (in most cases)

the only way to prove your case is with receipts of product being bought, along with dates and/or CC records. without it, how could you possibly prove to Mazda that YOU maintained the car? and even then, how is Mazda assured that you actually performed the work right, got all the oil out, every time, etc n so forth....sucks man.

 

[wwest]

On Feb 13 2007 I was getting off of the freeway and noticed a noise coming from under the hood and found that the car would not accelerate properly. The service engine light did not come on. I didnt drive the car Sat. or Sun and when I started the car Monday morning the service engine light came on and I was able to get the car to the dealer that day.

A couple days later Mike the service guy said the engine looks clean but the valves inside the engine are bent. He said he was looking into it more and said that "I shouldnt have a problem". I was assuming he meant that I wouldnt have a problem with the warranty repair as I only have 27,000 miles on it. He asked for oil change receipts. I have a few but I do my own oil changes so I obviously dont have receipts for that.

Mike said we would have to wait on the regional rep to view the case/car. I kept calling and no answer. Days go by and no answer.

Yesterday (the 23rd) they said theyd have an answer for me today (the 24th). I got a call from Mike and he said that the warranty repair request has been denied on grounds of "dirty" oil and lack of maintenance receipts.

Ive called mazdausa, Ive asked for the reg rep to call me as this is totally unacceptable. I told them I would contact every media outlet, every blog site, every forum and post this information until this warranty repair is taken care of.

So here I am. My Mazda warranty for my 2007 CX-7 is not being honored.
Anyone who is out to buy a new car I will tell them to avoid mazda. This is my first and last mazda.

Sorry, I don't buy bent valves as a result of lack of oil changes, dig deeper...

 

[xtrememps]

in most instances, you do your own work, you save the money, you take on liability. end of story.

theres a reason why people goto the dealer, even though it costs more money, when you have a problem and no problem can be worse than a dead engine...YOU dont have liability!!! (in most cases)

the only way to prove your case is with receipts of product being bought, along with dates and/or CC records. without it, how could you possibly prove to Mazda that YOU maintained the car? and even then, how is Mazda assured that you actually performed the work right, got all the oil out, every time, etc n so forth....sucks man.

Yeah I actually made sure with my dealership that it was OK for me to do oil changes as long as I kept records. And I'm going to have to agree with bent valves and dirty oil not being related. Like I said earlier in the thread I'm going to assume you actually didn't really have "dirty oil" and it had been well maintained, but even if it wasn't I'd have a hard time believing that would cause bent valves.

 

[xtrememps]

My dealer will let you bring your own oil as well.

I should inquire about this..at least for the winter oil change.

 

[mikey1981]

yea i wasnt really agreeing that bent valves & dirty oil go together, doesnt really make sense, but just in generalities, if the guy was doing the work himself, mazda has the clear advantage, especially absent any proof from the guy showing otherwise

 

[offset_98]

Try $10,000 for this engine.

Ouch!

 

[michaeltex]

What does dirty oil have to do with bent valves anyway? Isn't that usually a result of the timing getting screwed up?