Engine just dropped from my Mazdaspeed3 for the SECOND time!

[Silver Ecstasy]

Exercise every option like, BBB, arbitration through Mazda, or just trade it in?

 

[nondual]

Exercise every option like, BBB, arbitration through Mazda, or just trade it in?

Any suggestions about what would be best?

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Well, having experience with Lemon Law, and understanding that it works differently in different states, i'm pretty positive you wouldn't be able to claim Lemon Law unless it was within the first year of ownership and had a consecutive amount of repairs. I was too lazy to read it all, but here:
http://www.lemonlawamerica.com/Utah-Lemon-Law-Statutes.htm

First thing's first. You have to follow chain of command. That means you'll have to contact Mazda Customer Service. Explain to them about your situation and your frustration. They will contact the dealership who did the repairs, to verify that the problem was in fact, solved. They will then call you back and offer you a HORRIBLE solution (coupons for free merchandise or service at the dealership of your choice). Considering there really isn't a fix for the problem, there isn't really a whole lot that Mazda can do.

Should this not be good enough, you can re-visit the dealership you purchased it at. Hopefully, this is also the same dealership who performed the service. Between the sales and service manager (and even the owner of the dealership), maybe they can set up a deal where they will offer you trade-in value or higher to get you into a new vehicle for your troubles.

Should this not be good enough, i'd probably suggest you contact BBB and report the problem, or contact a Lawyer and inquire on the legalities and opportunities that you may be able to exploit.

Otherwise, you'll have to bite the bullet and cough up $1k-$2k and put it towards a down payment on a new vehicle of a different brand. Because it's a guarantee they'll short you a couple grand on the trade-in. But if your negotiating skills are up to par, you should be able to break even with $1k out of pocket. And you can sleep easy at night.

On the other forum, someone got a ton of help from Mazda because of suspension noise and whatnot, and they bought his car back and he got himself into a GTI. Go ******* figure.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

You're not. And i'm not trying to be-little your rights to owning a functioning vehicle that won't drop it's engine out of the caboose. I'm just saying, having enough time in customer service, with a situation like this, there really isn't a whole s*** ton they are going to be able to do. Other than say..."Sorry?...we'll buy you coffee next time and give you a free gas card?" They arn't going to buy your car back because of something that happened, and was resolved ALL under their dime under Mazda Warranty.

At that point, the balls in your court whether or not you want the car or not. That's all I was saying.

Or, you can save yourself a s*** ton of trouble, and spend $80 on a TRZ Rear Motor Mount. Problem solved my friend. Problem solved.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Well, if that's the case, I'd just start talking with the sales and service managers tomorrow morning. Start getting some ideas rolling. If not, you may need to just start shopping your trade to other dealers.

 

[nondual]

Well, if that's the case, I'd just start talking with the sales and service managers tomorrow morning. Start getting some ideas rolling. If not, you may need to just start shopping your trade to other dealers.

Should I talk about this online anymore or just PM you the deets? Something might be rolling and I'd like your input.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

PM me, i'd be glad to help if I can.

 

[mzdaspd3]

I have no clue what some of you guys are doing to your cars. I got the tranny mount replaced with the recall in 07. Now i have over 76k miles on my car and haven't had any problems with it at all. Seriously, i read that ppl don't drive their car hard or anything and stuff just breaks. Well i must have gotten a rare car since it hasn't broken at all.......

 

[RuZec]

honestly. just pay 100 bucks and get an aftermarket MM that is more reliable and stronger. Honestly if your soo stuck on how its a design flaw and you would rather get it replaced with a stock MM that has a 50/50 chance of dropping your engine for the third time, go ahead and get it again. But if you want to stop being cheap and hardheaded spend 100 bucks and get an aftermarket one and save you from a third engine drop, I'm just sayin.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

honestly. just pay 100 bucks and get an aftermarket MM that is more reliable and stronger. Honestly if your soo stuck on how its a design flaw and you would rather get it replaced with a stock MM that has a 50/50 chance of dropping your engine for the third time, go ahead and get it again. But if you want to stop being cheap and hardheaded spend 100 bucks and get an aftermarket one and save you from a third engine drop, I'm just sayin.

I don't think it has anything to do with being hard-headed, as it is a design flaw. And not only just a design flaw, but one that has s*** his engine out TWICE.

I agree, that he could easily fix this himself. But in all my posts, I was never implying that it was appropriate for this to be happening. But as i've told OP, there's not a whole bunch that Mazda will do, if they've already covered the repairs TWICE under warranty.

But yes...he could easily fix this with an aftermarket MM. Time will tell.

 

[Sergius64]

Being forced to shell out 100 extra bucks on an aftermarket part to make this car safe to drive is bordering on unacceptable.

 

[SwampAss]

Being forced to shell out 100 extra bucks on an aftermarket part to make this car safe to drive is bordering on unacceptable.

Sonar concurs.

 

[fastmazdams3]

Is it really that bad when the mount goes? I've driven car with front mounts completely ripped and the other 3 mounts hold it in place ok. Of course they aren't sick engines like the ms3's have. Some of you guys were saying you tightened the MM bolts, is the engine torque really pulling the bolts out or are the rubber mounts failing. Either way, sounds like you should just bite the bullet and get an aftermarket MM. Do the 09's have this problem, I just bought one >.>

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

It's something i'd consider doing sooner rather than later.

 

[MS3Buckeye]

Is it really that bad when the mount goes? I've driven car with front mounts completely ripped and the other 3 mounts hold it in place ok. Of course they aren't sick engines like the ms3's have. Some of you guys were saying you tightened the MM bolts, is the engine torque really pulling the bolts out or are the rubber mounts failing. Either way, sounds like you should just bite the bullet and get an aftermarket MM. Do the 09's have this problem, I just bought one >.>

The MS3 only has 3 mounts, so when one goes, the engine falls out. The 09s have the same setup.

The engine moves quite a bit in the engine bay on stock mounts. A buddy of mine autoXed his and the engine moved so much he pulled a coolant hose out. The next day he ordered his new rear motor mount.

As for me, I have an 08.5 and I chose to get the mount myself after hearing about his story. You do get better shifts too.

To those saying "Geez, what do you guys do to your cars?!". The engine should not fall out. Period. I don't care how hard you press the go pedal. I don't care how hard you drop the clutch. The engine should not fall out.

Why does the engine fall out? One part design weakness (flaw may be a little too strong in this case) and about 10 parts bad luck. The only reason you are saying "What do you do to your cars?" is because it didn't happen to you, and it didn't happen to you because you didn't happen to be in the 0.1% (probably less) of people that it did happen to. The OP didn't do anything to his car that you didn't.

But that also leads back to the OP having it happen twice. That is REAL bad luck. Too bad luck. Meaning the dealer didn't do the repair correctly. I think that is pretty straight forward. This just doesn't happen often enough for it to happen twice to the same car if it is done right. Of course the dealership will deny that, and they have better (paid) lawyers.

I understand why you wouldn't want to talk about it on the forum while it is ongoing, but be sure to give us the update here when you can. We're rooting for you.

 

[MS3Buckeye]

After all, it isn't like we bought a Toyota or something...
(rofl2)

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

I didn't think the dealer did the repair wrong, his mount failed twice it sounds like.

It's hard to screw up that repair.

Lift Car
Unbolt horizontal mount bolt
Unbolt vertical mount bolt
Remove mount
Insert New Mount
Bolt vertical mount bolt
Bolt horizontal mount bolt
Finish

 

[MS3Buckeye]

I didn't think the dealer did the repair wrong, his mount failed twice it sounds like.

It's hard to screw up that repair.

Lift Car
Unbolt horizontal mount bolt
Unbolt vertical mount bolt
Remove mount
Insert New Mount
Bolt vertical mount bolt
Bolt horizontal mount bolt
Finish

If you don't torque it right it could fail after another 20k (or something) miles like in the OP's case. That just seems much more likely to me than him recieving a defective replacement mount. Don't you think?

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

The thing is, you'd feel it if the mount was loose. It'd clunk, and it'd make noise up to the issue. Having his mount fail twice is literally not a likely thing of happening, but I've seen crazier things.

 

[xDJ DUBx]

Not that my car much applies, but to the whole "stock mounts suck" and "I don't drive this car aggressively", 2 of my mounts were blown on my 90whp automatic protege and one was on its way out, just cause u don't use or have the power, doesn't mean they won't go out.

Replace the mm or trade er in, done.