Loss of Power

[bkranz]

Obviously I am new to the forums here I saved up and paid cash for a 2005 Mazda 3 - 5 Speed hatchback last September. I absolutely loved the car. Fast, responsive, and zippy. About a month ago I took it in for an oil change (non-dealer). I got it back and it ran horrible. It was sluggish and non-responsive. It was two weeks before I could it back in to have it looked at, and they over-filled the oil by a quart and a half. They admitted fault and had already fired the employee. They re-did the oil change and sent me on my way.

The car ran a lot better, but it still wasn't running the way it used to. There was always a sweet spot in the torque from about 2500-4000rpms. It felt like the car would almost leap forward when you hit that range. I still have decent acceleration in 1st-3rd gear, but not like it was running before. 4th and 5th gear are way underpowered compared to what they were before.

I took it into the Mazda dealership to have it looked at. They test drove it and said everything was fine, that it was operating within normal guidelines. I asked if they could hook it up and check the computer and they said that without the check engine light on that it would be a waste of time and money. After further discussion the lead tech said he would contact the service line and see if they had any suggestions. He called me back last week and said that they could hook up to the computer and check oxygen levels, timing, etc. So I brought it back in and had them check it all out. Again they came back today and said that nothing was wrong, it was operating under normal factory specifications.

If something came back wrong I was planning on paying to get it fixed and then to go after the oil change place for reimbursement for my expenses since they admitted fault. With the dealership coming back and saying nothing is wrong I feel like I am out of options. I would not have purchased the car if it drove like this. This was supposed to be a 5-7 year car for me and I don't have the money to purchase another car right now (way too under water on the mortgage). On the plus side if I do decide I need to sell the car I do have the receipt from teh dealership showing nothing is operating outside of factory specs.

Any ideas on what to check or do?

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Donutz]

Have you checked at your oil level? It's possible they overfilled it again.

 

[xMazdax]

Get some fuel injector cleaner.

 

[bkranz]

Oil level is where it should be now (I did double check as I lost all my confidence in them). I will try some fuel injector cleaner on the way to the airport today, thank you.

 

[bkranz]

Back and still not running right. The fuel injector cleaner was worth a try anyway. I did finally test my 0-60 time since the problem, and it is a very sluggish 11.0 seconds. I am going to drop off the car again tomorrow to hopefully find some sort of problem.

 

[bkranz]

I am running out of money to check things out. I replaced the spark plugs as they were looking a little dirty and were still original from what I could see. They wanted to replace the fuel pump for $1000 which I declined.

I brought it somewhere else and they couldn't find anything wrong just from a test drive and computer check. They said it is a possibility that the CAM timing is off but that would cost me another $300 to find out one way or the other.

Ideas on anything else I could check?

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Donutz]

A cheap thing to try would be seafoaming your engine.

 

[bkranz]

I finally got a straight answer from a dealer mechanic. He said to check the CAM timing, then check for bent rods, and then to check and see if the catalytic converter is fouled up. Now I just need to convince Meineke to do this as I don't have $1000 to drop to have the dealership do it.