2013 Mazda3 Skyactiv Engine Stalls/Surges at Idle

[heather121]

Hello! This is my first post on this forum, I hope y'all can offer some advice

Backstory:
I owned a 2011 Mazda3 iSport from 2010 - April 2013, when I was rear-ended and it was totaled . I loved it, it was perfect, basically it broke my heart when they totaled it, but I knew I was going to get another 3. In mid April I bought a new 2013 3 iSport automatic w/ the skyactiv engine. All was well.

Issue:
Approx. 2.5 weeks after having the car, when it had ~800 miles on it, I was stopped in traffic at a red light and out of nowhere, the engine stalled. The check engine light came on as did another light right next to it (possibly the power steering light). So I thought "WTF", shifted into park and turned the engine back on. It started normally and all of the indicator lights went off. Since then it has seemed to idle low (550-650, it will idle at 750 if the A/C is on).

Brought it to the dealership 2 days later, where they could not find any codes nor could they reproduce the issue, so they sent me on my way.

Then yesterday, right after starting the car, I heard a rattling noise from the front passenger area of the engine for about 2 seconds, and then the noise dissipated & before I shifted out of park the engine started to surge (I even took a video, lest the dealer not believe me.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6edVdAVv3c8&feature=youtu.be). I turned it off and started it again and there was no noise and no surge, so I drove away.

This morning I brought it back to the dealer, after calling them yesterday and being told there might be a TSB on this issue from 2012, they had heard of it happening on 2013s, and it might have to do with the fuel pressure being too low when the car idles. They kept it for 4 hours today and again could not reproduce anything and they said all the software was up to date.

Now they want me to leave the car with them for 1-2 days so they can drive it with some equipment attached to it to get more data and probably still not be able to do anything...

Question:
Should I wait until something (a stall or surging) happens again before I bring it back? Call Mazda directly? Find another dealership? There are 3 or so dealers in the area but they are all owned by the same guy, I'm not sure if that makes a difference. I am fairly tired of bringing it to them every 3 weeks since buying it, and constantly watching my RPMs and hoping to avoid another stall.

I really want to love this car, too, but I am starting to think I should have bought another 2011... :/

Thanks for reading!

 

[heather121]

Weeell since 103 viewers have no opinions, I'll provide an update for my own piece of mind. I dropped it off at the dealership yesterday for them to keep it for however long they're going to keep it. They gave me a 2014 Mazda6 Touring as a loaner, so if this visit doesn't solve the issue I'll just tell them to let me keep the 6

 

[color0]

Dunno how I never saw this, but lemon law that car already. If you're bringing the car to them every few weeks for the same problem and it's documented as such, you can get Mazda to take that car back and replace it with a new, equivalent one.

 

[heather121]

Here's a quick update, I don't have complete details since I don't have the car back yet:

It has been w/ the dealer since Saturday. They still couldn't reproduce the issues and the computer hadn't logged any errors/codes, but they have had complaints from others about similar things, and their cars had logged errors. They replaced a valve (Idle Air Control valve I assume).

Then they basically gave it a brain transplant (replaced the computer) because since it had said everything was fine and it obviously wasn't, they figured the computer itself was defective.

After putting in the new computer, it showed another error with the oil pump not sending enough oil to some parts of the engine. Mazda is having them replace the oil pump (which won't arrive til Monday) and then they have to drive/test everything again.

But at least they don't think I'm a liar anymore