Dropped off my car 2 days ago to at Ramsey Mazda in NJ, a outstanding dealer if I may add. I took it in for tail light condensation, a grindage problem downshifting into 4th gear, and I have a problem with my damper suspension. They told they ordered me parts last I went for my 4th gear, and they just called me to say Mazda isn't gonna cover this clutch work.

They said it's going to cost me $400 for them to take out the clutch and fix and do all that stuff. I said how can that be? POWERTRAIN WARRANTY!.

He was respectful and i'm good friends with him, so I just told him I cant afford that now, because my dad is gone away on business so I can't pay $400 which is true.

Anyone??

 

why didn't you ask why it's not covered? do they suspect abuse?

 

I heard they just won't cover clutches in Jersey.

 

I'm with Blue on this one....find out WHY they don't want to cover it. How many miles you got on the car?

 

I have the same problems but live in Ca will they cover my warranty

 

T stylez: depends on what's wrong with the clutch. If it's been abused, they might not.

 

I have just around 36k. They said nothing about abuse. Thats why i'm here scratching my head. I'm waiting on them to call me back.

 

The main reason they classify a clutch as non-warranty work is that it is a wear item and stated as so in the warranty contract.

It would have to have a defect in order for them to cover it and happens rarely from what I recall.

 

Yep. I'm not saying that this applies here, but someone that doesn't know how to drive a manual can burn through a clutch rather easily.

 

The clutch is considered a wear item and is only covered for the first 12K miles/12 months; hwoever, I recently got them to replace my clutch under warranty at 41K miles when they did an engine replacement but I had to go through MNAO in order to make it happen.

On a side note - has any one noticed the number of clutches that seem to be needing replacement lately - starting to sound a little fishy as if it is a way for the dealers to collect some $$. But then again, a dealer would never try to take advantage of a customer

 

My clutch is fine, It just grinds when down shifting into 4th. That's what theyre not covering.

 

Let me see if I have this right - they are not replacing the clutch - it is just they need to remove it to do the repair (not sure why they would need to do that but anyway...) and they aren't going to pay for the R&R on the clutch even though it is required to do the warranty work? Am I reading this right? If so, don't walk but run to your nearest phone and call MNAO Customer Service immediately and talk with them. That would be like telling me they wouldn't pay for R&R on my hood that had to be removed to replace the engine!!!

Sounds very suspect to me

Bob

 

consider the fact that a lot of us are getting up into the 40k mile mark now that the car is out. the clutch should work just fine at those mileages but if there is going to be wear on it, it would make sense that we'd start to see more of the replacements happening now compared to a year or two ago when most of the 8s still had relatively low miles. just a thought.

 

Exactly. Theyre a great dealer and have always been the best IMO, I drive over 45 mins to get my car serviced by them. I cant imagine them doing this. Ahhhhhhhh noooo!

 

I don't disagree but I am 47 years old and been driving manuals since I started driving at 15. I have never replaced a clutch yet (until my RX8) and have had many cars with well over 100K miles on the original clutch. I just find it hard to beleive that the Mazda clutch is that weak - maybe it is - but I tend to be suspicious and suspect there is more to it.

 

agreeed!!!.....i think this is what the guy is trying to do....there is nothing wrong with the the but to get the warrenty work he's gotta take the tranny apart and the dealer refuses to pay for it....wtf....

perfect example..right there...warrenty work on the engine and they make you pay up for removing the hood.......

 

Warranty covers the clutch UP TO 12000 miles. After that, you're on your own.

But you can *make it* so they cover the Labor work. You still HAVE TO pay for your clutch.

 

I had to replace my clutch at 59k, it totally burned up. Only launched it hard a few times. The mazda clutch is a POS imo.

 

I'm approaching 50k miles and don't want to jinx myself, but I do plan on going with an aftermarket clutch after this one is "dead". It will give me a better reason to replace my flywheel as well.

 

Ok. Here we go.

Mazda calls me and they said your car is finished come pick it up. I had brought it for other things, not jsut the clutch (tail light condesation and suspension overlook). I said 'ok, is the other work done?'

he says 'no we didn't do anything come pick it up.' I said 'why not?' he sayssss 'oh, the shop manager didn't want any work was done til you paid for the clutch.' I told them i'd pick it up. I give up.

 

So they dropped out the clutch, saw it needed repair, and put it back in without doing anything??? Did your invoice this morning say that there would be a charge for inspecting the clutch?
If not, they're in deep ****!

 

If someone doesn't pay for a repair, I think they can hold the car.

The other stuff is warranty work it shouldn't matter. Unless there is some law against this in your area.

 

I just dropped my car off there tuesday. Long story short...they want to charge me for a broken clutch assembly and broken clutch petal. I'm not paying for a petal...theres no way that's normal wear, in fact, it probably caused the other problem. Anyway...bitch and moan about it....that has been a proven way to get Ramsey to be reasonable.
Did they diagnose the problem? Did you ever have your slave cylender worked on in accordance with the TSB?
Good luck

 

Go ACT if you do. Thats what i want to do

 

I will agree that as soon as you mention the word clutch at any dealer they kinda go weird on you. At Hiley Mazda of Hurst Texas - I simply asked them to lube up the clutch pedal with some silicon grease because it was squeaking BAD, and I even got a partial run around on that, saying "the clutch is only covered in the first 12K miles blah blah blah" until I had to spoon feed them and tell them "look all i want is 5 cents worth of silicon lube applied to the spring/cylinder clutch under the dash. And they finally did it when they realized I wasnt asking for a new clutch or them to crack the tranny open.

Funny thing is 2 days later I took my car into gotham racing and DID have them drop in an ACT prolite flywheel and ACT clutch. When I went to pick it up (and get my old parts, they told me that even having almost 37K miles on my car my clutch looked brand new. and I dont baby it either.

I would be suspect on what this dealer is saying to you - you dont HAVE to pay for a new clutch just because they tell you that you need a new one. You always have the option of telling them to just fix the things covered under warrenty and you will handle the clutch problem on your own at a diff shop or somtehing. If they want to charge you just because they had to take the clutch out to get to the gears that's BS.