Bah.. I broke my toy...

And, I've been walking for 47 years, and driving a stick for 32. If you've been doing it longer, you should be MazdaspeedOldLady :D
LOL!! ok ya you got me beat ;)

Sorry to hear of your woes, Diana. I had both of my motors replaced at North Park, and they were great - but that was over a year ago. My more recent dealings have not been so great, and my favorite service advisor, Patrick Walsh, left for another dealership. He was always very customer-oriented and took great care of me. Maybe he saw some changes going on that he didn't like.

Actually I was just about to post that I am SUPER happy with the outcome. I just got a call from the service manager and the Mazda rep: the motor will be in today and they are going to replace the turbo as well due to damage from the metal shavings when the piston got a hole blown in it. They went on to say that an over rev in the car's history caused the damage. The valves were bent. I'm not sure if he meant to imply that I over revved the motor but I know I have not. No worries though, I'll have a new motor soon and will baby it the same as I started with the old motor. :)

North Park Mazda wins a well deserved high recommendation from me.
 
LOL!! ok ya you got me beat ;)



Actually I was just about to post that I am SUPER happy with the outcome. I just got a call from the service manager and the Mazda rep: the motor will be in today and they are going to replace the turbo as well due to damage from the metal shavings when the piston got a hole blown in it. They went on to say that an over rev in the car's history caused the damage. The valves were bent. I'm not sure if he meant to imply that I over revved the motor but I know I have not. No worries though, I'll have a new motor soon and will baby it the same as I started with the old motor. :)

North Park Mazda wins a well deserved high recommendation from me.

Well that explains the hole in the piston. Very nice outcome, and dont over-rev the engine anymore i suppose(lol2)?
 
in a way, its kinda a lucky outcome. your gonna have a brand new motor when your done for free. id almost be thankful for that. but i guess its all in how you look at it.
 
Well that explains the hole in the piston. Very nice outcome, and dont over-rev the engine anymore i suppose(lol2)?
What did I just say? I did not over rev it. (dark)
The "diagnosis" is all speculation at this point. If 4-5K is over revving the motor, then I know a lot of people with speed3s who would be in deep s***. :p
 
Just read the entire thread. Glad to read about the outcome. And looking forward to the ultimate final result when the car is back in your possession :)
 
Here are the pics I took of the car/damage:

motorinstall1.jpg


motorinstall2.jpg


newmotor.jpg


oldhead.jpg


oldheadpiston1.jpg


oldheadpiston4.jpg


oldmotorpiston1.jpg


oldmotorpiston4.jpg


newturbo.jpg


oldandnewturbo.jpg


It was actually TWO cylinders that had the valves break. o.O

Those are the valve heads sitting in cylinders 1 and 4.
 
oh my diane! you did it good! glad everything is being taken care of for you!!
 
This is the only reason I ended up buying my 08 MS3 GT. The warranty is for 150k miles or until early 2015!

The dealer provided you with that warranty?! Surely they tacked on some significant coin for a warranty that long?
 
What did I just say? I did not over rev it. (dark)
The "diagnosis" is all speculation at this point. If 4-5K is over revving the motor, then I know a lot of people with speed3s who would be in deep s***. :p

well I didnt say you over-revved it, just pointing to the investigation conclusion of the cars previous history before you bought it. When the mazda guy say over-revving, he probably means a few mis-shift that went up to 7000+rpm. Another argument for having no need to redline this car. This is not a honda.
 
Last edited:
Hey, if yer gonna blow an engine, no sense half-a$$ing it, right? LOL

Diane- any estimates on when she'll be road-worthy again?
LOL and nothing yet, but it should be sometime this week. I don't mind waiting for a job well done, ya know? :)

well I didnt say you over-revved it, just pointing to the investigation conclusion of the cars previous history before you bought it. When the mazda guy say over-revving, he probably means a few mis-shift that went up to 7000+rpm. Another argument for having no need to redline this car. This is not a honda.

Right and sorry I came off so harsh. At the time I was dealing with flack on 3 forums where everyone was blaming my driving. heh

Ya I've never seen a need to take it over 6k, especially after asking my speed3 buddy who's had his for 2 years. I didn't even try revving it like I do the miata. I asked him first because I know the importance of checking a car's capabilities and weaknesses first before pushing it.
 
Right and sorry I came off so harsh. At the time I was dealing with flack on 3 forums where everyone was blaming my driving. heh

Ya I've never seen a need to take it over 6k, especially after asking my speed3 buddy who's had his for 2 years. I didn't even try revving it like I do the miata. I asked him first because I know the importance of checking a car's capabilities and weaknesses first before pushing it.

The engine doesnt make any more power after 5500rpm. Redlining is purely over-run. If you are stuck at a corner which 2nd gear is too short but 3rd gear is too tall, then I can see the point.
 
The engine doesnt make any more power after 5500rpm. Redlining is purely over-run. If you are stuck at a corner which 2nd gear is too short but 3rd gear is too tall, then I can see the point.
Yep and that is what I had deduced after talking with Steven. So it doesn't make any sense that the supposed cause was over revving, at least not on my part.
 
Yep and that is what I had deduced after talking with Steven. So it doesn't make any sense that the supposed cause was over revving, at least not on my part.

Over-rev from downshifting. Like trying to go from 6th to 5th and getting into 3rd instead.
 
Agree completely. Dropping valves on two cylinders, #1 and #4 does strongly suggest that someone accidentally downshifted when trying to upshift at or near redline. It's very easy for that to happen.

Since the hp peak is at 5,500 rpm and the throttle plate starts closing soon after that because the turbo has run out of flow and turned into a heat engine, there is no need to pull to redline and a lot of reasons not to. Most but not all of the tranny ratios produce about 1,000 rpm drop or less when grabbing the next higher gear. So, if you religiously upshift at 5,500 rpm you have enough headroom, so to speak, in most gears that if you were to accidentally shift down the next lower gear while trying to reach for the next higher gear, you would still probably end up below 6,700 rpm and stay out of trouble.

But if you are trying to push the turbo outside of its efficiency and are shifting up at rpms above 6k, then you had better make sure that shift is up and not down.

It could also be, however, that the timing chain stretched and jumped a tooth or so, or even broke, or the chain tensioner failed. That could put valves in the wrong geometry when pistons came up. Can't rule that out. That would not be driver error on anyone's part.
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I thought I'd bring closure to it.

I know what you guys are saying and what they meant; a mechanical over-rev is implicated. However I never miss a shift. Ever. I would know if I did. Hell this car was just a family car/grocery getter for me. I've been driving manual transmission cars for 16 years.

After the new motor self-destructed the same way (NO over rev of any sort, never went over 5krpms ever) and Mazda denied the warranty a final time, I traded the car in with the busted motor and absorbed the neg equity myself.

I did months of research and come to find out, the car had previously had a service performed before I owned it where a timing component was replaced along with an ECU flash. The definitely tells me that the car had a pre-existing timing issue.
 
whoa whoa what? I just read through this whole thread from the beginning because I'm bored and then I get to this post and it's like the ending to a horrible m. night shyamalan movie. You got a new engine and a new turbo and that blew too? crazy
 
Back