Is there a 'cutoff' date for newer MS3's to NOT have the motor mount issue?

[CTGrey02]

With all due respect, driving hard is implied by the cars name and branding. 3 People having the problem on this board and a much larger handful having the problem on the other board (some of which caught it early) is more than a few. Lets put that in perspective. 5000 cars coming to the US. Many, like my own are still not delivered. Of that 5000, and with all the magazine coverage, how many of these owners are likely to be on these forums? Between the 2 boards theres 8 people (I believe... too lazy to go back and count again) that have had the motors drop and a good handful more that had to tighten that bolt. This car should be able to withstand everything I put it through short of abusive wheel hopping launches, which I have no need for. The people who's engines fell on this board have claimed to just have been driving when this occured. Think about how much more damage would have been done to the cars had they been at any higher rate of speed than just driving down the street. Their claims are believable, and thats what makes it scary. Lastly, while a dealership can always, and would love to tell you not to believe what you read on the web (especially the stuff they'd rather have swept under the carpet) my dealership had no idea this was even happening until I sent them the pictures. Think of it as imaginary all ya want, but it doesn't appear to be from any kind of excessive abuse.

 

[whitey4311]

Well I guess the only people that can make changes for us are the ones it happened to. As I said I would love for Mazda to reacall it so I dont have to worry about the horror stories but I wonder if they will do that.

What criteria has to be met for a recall?

 

[kokemon23]

With all due respect, driving hard is implied by the cars name and branding. 3 People having the problem on this board and a much larger handful having the problem on the other board (some of which caught it early) is more than a few. Lets put that in perspective. 5000 cars coming to the US. Many, like my own are still not delivered. Of that 5000, and with all the magazine coverage, how many of these owners are likely to be on these forums? Between the 2 boards theres 8 people (I believe... too lazy to go back and count again) that have had the motors drop and a good handful more that had to tighten that bolt. This car should be able to withstand everything I put it through short of abusive wheel hopping launches, which I have no need for. The people who's engines fell on this board have claimed to just have been driving when this occured. Think about how much more damage would have been done to the cars had they been at any higher rate of speed than just driving down the street. Their claims are believable, and thats what makes it scary. Lastly, while a dealership can always, and would love to tell you not to believe what you read on the web (especially the stuff they'd rather have swept under the carpet) my dealership had no idea this was even happening until I sent them the pictures. Think of it as imaginary all ya want, but it doesn't appear to be from any kind of excessive abuse.

+1,000,000

If you believe what Car and Driver wrote one of their reviews, they called Mazda to find out how to get the best 0-60 times (they were having a hell of a time launching the thing). Mazda's reply? Flat shift! Car and Driver responded with something along the lines of "Are you f'ing serious?" Mazda said, "don't worry, it won't break." (I am not sure of the exact quotes, but something along those lines) Now I seriously doubt that most of us are flat shifting, but if they are advocating it, then the car should be able to handle it. Most of the people on the other board that this has happened to admit to spirited driving, which is exactly what this car was made for. This motor mount issue is a HUGE safety issue, and Mazda really needs to do something about it.

BTW, whitey, this is nothing like someone talking about clutch failure at 45k miles, please stop making that comparison. That happens on any range of vehicles, performance and otherwise because of how people drive. This issue does not happen on other similar vehicles (bast525's SRT4 example is a great one), but is happening on quite a few MS3's specifically.

 

[M3_Zoom]

Any idea if the AWR rear motor mount corrects this problem? Or is it just designed off the defective one?

The rear mount is not what breaks and causes the engine to drop, it's the side mount located under the battery. The bolt is vertical which in my opinion is an engineering flaw but hey I'm just one voice

The rear mount to my understanding is the one that slowly comes loose and can break but the engine and tranny will not drop if it does. I have checked my rear mount bolts (5 if you include the 3 on the mount bracket) and will be checking my side mount this weekend. What I did was torque them to 76ft/lbs (Manual = 66 - 86 ft/lbs) and marked them so I can quickly look and see if the bolt or nut loosens up.

 

[Kansei]

BTW, whitey, this is nothing like someone talking about clutch failure at 45k miles, please stop making that comparison. That happens on any range of vehicles, performance and otherwise because of how people drive. This issue does not happen on other similar vehicles (bast525's SRT4 example is a great one), but is happening on quite a few MS3's specifically.

If someone's clutch fails at 45k miles they need to take some driving lessons or get an automatic.

 

[M3_Zoom]

+1,000,000

If you believe what Car and Driver wrote one of their reviews, they called Mazda to find out how to get the best 0-60 times (they were having a hell of a time launching the thing). Mazda's reply? Flat shift! Car and Driver responded with something along the lines of "Are you f'ing serious?" Mazda said, "don't worry, it won't break." (I am not sure of the exact quotes, but something along those lines) Now I seriously doubt that most of us are flat shifting, but if they are advocating it, then the car should be able to handle it. Most of the people on the other board that this has happened to admit to spirited driving, which is exactly what this car was made for. This motor mount issue is a HUGE safety issue, and Mazda really needs to do something about it.

BTW, whitey, this is nothing like someone talking about clutch failure at 45k miles, please stop making that comparison. That happens on any range of vehicles, performance and otherwise because of how people drive. This issue does not happen on other similar vehicles (bast525's SRT4 example is a great one), but is happening on quite a few MS3's specifically.

NOTED!!! Come on guys this is a problem period. If a car is advertised to run as fast as ours does the least bit of concern should be a motor/transmission mount. A dealership can't tell you "Mr. So&so we're sorry your engine and transmission are on the ground, maybe you shouldn't drive it so hard." This is the first of many turbo'd cars for me with a mount issue. I have never seen or heard of a motor/transmission mount issue other than the pre-maturely wearing of one. I too owned a louder than crap, everything rattled interior of recycled plastic SRT-4 that was highly modified and fast as hell. I babied it on my daily commute, but when the time presented itself, I drove the heck out of it and I was not friendly about it either. It had ZERO mount issues. Another great example, I owned a 91 Eagle Talon TSI AWD Turbo that turned into a 1/4 mile Buschur Racing BEAST. It would run consistent high 10's very low 11's all day any day on OEM motor mounts.

We shouldn't argue about it, we should stick together and get the issue resolved.

 

[M3_Zoom]

Just wondering. I swear I remember someone saying that MS3's made after a certain date had already had this issue addressed.

Mine was manufactured in 12/06 so... Just wondering if I need to be keeping a close eye on things.

I think you might have that mixed up with the re-flash information. That had a date/VIN# specific fix. I wasn't sure if your original question was answered.

 

[bast525]

by the way, after two years, my SRT's interior was rattle free

So far, my mazdaspeed had two rattles within a week of ownership... just turn the stereo up!

 

[RODSCALIP5]

This totally sucks, I find it hard to believe that Mazda would not do anything about this after the first 5-10 incidents.

 

[Equinox]

I can. Can anyone say 626?

 

[CosmicMS3]

Sorry but I don't agree with 'driver abuse'.

Case in point... the Dodge SRT-4 I owned before this car.

If you bought one of Mopar's Stage kits, they outright ENCOURAGED you to flat shift the car (otherwise known as a WOT-shift i.e.: Wide Open Throttle shift... in other words, keeping the throttle planted, push in the clutch and shift as quickly as possible). They tout this as a feature of the stage upgrades, that they will hold boost if you power shift in this manner, so you won't have ANY lag/spool up time after shifting.

SRT owners do this all the time, and while it IS definately abusive to the transmission and clutch, no one has ever failed a motor mount due to this, at least, no one on the srt forums has mentioned it.

I've had several performance oriented cars, most of which were manual transmission, all of which were driven hard... I've never had an engine fall out of the car.

I'm not saying abuse wouldn't contribute to or accelerate this problem... sure, people who drive gently may be less likely to have this issue... but even being driven hard, the motor mount bolts should NOT be breaking or backing out. ESPECIALLY on a car designed for performance!

I doubt that everyone this has happened to has been abusing their car.

It really makes things harder for people who have a legitimate complaint with a car that may really have a design or assembly flaw when the first response is "it's driver abuse".

+1. I drove an SRT 4, and I drove it hard for 36,000 miles. Very hard. The tranny and clutch were bullet proof. I became skilled at the "flat shift" (doesn't anyone just call it powershifting anymore?), I never worried about the clutch or tranny. I also never had any mechanical issues or thrown codes. I love my MS3, but I am leery of some of the issues I have had and heard of others having. I respect the SRT 4 as the best sport compact ever.