Ok, this has been now the 5th time that I have taken my car in for service to have the CEL coded, fixed, and turned off. Again, after driving the car less than 60 miles...it is back on again. So...here is my ordeal. I am fed up with the service that I have received at both Prestige and Hiley Mazda. Keep in mind that I am ~25 miles from the closest dealer Prestige. They opted to take 4 hours to do an oil change every time I needed one and for some reason could never order the correct parts for my car, nor could they get me a loaner (long story short). Since Prestige could not meet my needs, I decided that I would try Hiley Mazda which is ~40 miles away from home just for the better service.

So, the visit started good. I got my car in, gave all the details, got an immediate (free) loaner, and heard from the service guy daily. All sounds good right...now, this is what REALLY happened. I get in my car and all is good (I finally got the center console fixed, the CEL is off, and it appears that all the other listed items were fixed also). I drive all the way to work beaming since there are no problems. Little do I know (since I havent actually opened the new console lid and used the cup holders) that the neat little foam in the bottom of my cup holders is nowhere to be found. Now, since the rest of you probably still have your foam, let me tell you that it works wonders for soaking up the sweat that forms on cups, water bottles, etc. It also keeps them from rattling against the plastic in the bottom of the cup holders. So, now I have dripping drinks with a pool that forms in my cupholders. Oh yeah, since I never use the back...can someone tell me if there is supposed to be foam back there too? Problem #1. So my next problem is that I get to work, park my car and go inside. As soon as work is over, I get in my car and start it up. Lo and behold my CEL comes back on. I am fuming now. I have been looking at that light for about 6 or 8 months now and I am TIRED of it.

So we get to my question. What does it take to turn in a car with the lemon law in Texas? I love my baby, but with this much frustration and a totally incompetent service department AT EVERY DEALERSHIP that I go to...she is not worth my lost time, extra miles, and extra money to make the 40 mile (80 miles round trip) service trip every couple of weeks. Please advise.

Thanks,

Aggietiff

 

My friend is going through the same problem with her RX8. We are looking into the lemon law option at the moment. It's unfortuante, but hopefully you can get a new 8.

Can i ask you when you got your 8? She got one of the first ones that came out, and has been having non-stop problems with it. I on the other hand got mine a year later, and have had 0 issues with it so far.

-HS

 

dang tiff sorry to hear that, I googled Texas Lemon Law and it came up with a bunch of stuff, here are the results:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=texas+lemon+law

best of luck and hang in there, my understanding is that Texas law takes these things very seriously so I have faith it will all work out for you

 

It is an '04. I believe the first owner bought it in November of '03 so it was probably in the first or second round of 8's to go out but I haven't checked the production date.

 

My mom is a certified paralegal and was able to return her Eclipse Spyder under lemon law a few years back herself w/o a lawyer. I will talk to her and see what she says.

 

What CEL are you getting? If it's not the same multiple CEL you won't qualify for LL

I live up off of N. Beach St, if I'm in town I don't mind checking out and clearing CEL's for you, more often than not they don't mean much and rarely impact how the car runs, I realize it's annoying though ...

 

First off, try Freeman Mazda. They're just a few miles further than Hiley and have one of the best service departments of any Mazda dealership. And the best part is they'll fix damn near anything regardless of your mods if you've got any. I use Hiley a lot, they're very nice guys, but most of their Techs aren't great. If you need a good tech at Hiley request that Steven does the work.

Regarding lemon law, you won't have much luck with just a CEL. It can happen, but not normally. First, you need proof that the same CEL occured 3 times. That's not a problem as it should be on the records. The problem is that in order to invoke lemon law for a problem that's not safety-related, the problem must significantly affect the driveability of the vehicle -- a CEL does not. You can argue that the CEL significantly affects the resale of the vehicle, but since you're not immediately selling the vehicle Mazda would probably want at least one more chance to fix the problem in which case they'll send one of the Master Techs down there to attempt to fix it.

 

Ok, here is the deal. I took it back in today and the assistant service manager (who is a woman, which I know means nothing to you guys, but when you are a girl and the male service guys don't give your expertise the time of day...it matters) was the one who helped me. She owns an RX8 with the same build date as mine 7/03. She was pretty ticked that the guys have been letting my car come back in over and over with the same code P0456 (gas evap leak) and have only continued to reflash the car (is there an "R" flash?...cause if there is, it has been a long time since I kept track of stuff on here). Apparently there is one service guy that has worked on rotary engines for something like 20 years and she is going to have him work on my car on Monday. She said something about doing a full fuel system check and that the fuel pump is probably malfunctioning and will need to be replaced. She was also VERY understanding about me asking for the foam to be put back into my cup holders. She doesn't even understand why they took that out to begin with. So, all in all...I am REALLY hoping that everything actually gets fixed this time and I have a feeling it will. If it does, from now on I will make sure to speak with her and have that specific service guy only work on my car.

 

You need a new gas cap.

Early cars are getting a history for this.. When they run a PBE test it will pass over and over.

 

Was it Stephanie that helped you? She's been great towards me every time I've been in to Hiley w/an issue. Hope they straighten your car out.

 

I suggested this...since the light came back on after I filled up with gas. She said that is probably not the problem if it came on immediately. If the gas cap is leaking it should take about a half a tank of gas for the sensor to register the leak.

I spoke with Chantell. I just feel better knowing that she owns an 8 and that she is the assistant service manager. I was going to go in and ask for a manager anyway this time since I have had so many problems with Mazda service in the past. I had Kyle first and thought that he was going to do ok, but I just don't feel like he knew enough about the car. I told him what the code had been for the last 3 or 4 times (he had no clue what that was...even when I explained what it stood for) and from the results of my visit, he just kinda took me with a grain of salt and let the mechanic deal with everything. The mechanic of course took the easy way out and reflashed the car, took it on a 50 mile test drive, and called it good just like every other mechanic had done for the last 4 visits (to the other dealership).

 

The PCM can test the evap system everytime you shut the car off. It doesn't test it as you drive. It tests AFTER you drive so it will pick up a loose/defective cap after the first drive cycle.

Texas has a lemon law for used cars?

 

You know...I don't know. Funny...I totally forgot that I bought her used. I just feel like she has always been mine. Can't even imagine someone else driving her for almost a year.

 

The law says something about you finding the problem w/in 2 yrs of ownership or 2 yrs of manufacturing date. I would think the law would apply even if the car is used since the law applies to defects from the manufacturer.

 

You might want to check on original owner as a default.


aggietiff28....If they don't fail the PBE for the P0456 walk to the parts dept and buy a gas cap. 20 bucks and the CEL issues will be over.

 

When I bought the car, I made them let me see the service history of the car. There were only a couple of things on it other than oil changes and I think one was a recall issue. It was a certified used car, so I don't know what else to look into.