As far as I know the only way is to disassemble the starter and put the armature on a device called a "growler ". This tests the magnetic field generated by the armature windings.

A really good mechanic should have knowledge of this type of problem and may know of other ways to test for it. Maybe disconnecting the fuel pump and repeatedly cranking the motor might rotate the armature to the dead spot.


Chris...

 

I can vouch for that. I'm only keeping my lease if they go way under the residual value they gave me when I signed my lease. Like at least 20% under. Otherwise I don't want to have to deal with a Mazda dealer ever again. I've had two Mazda dealers pull shady crap on me and the worst was the Mazda dealer that would be the most convenient for me to go to. They've already totally lost my business, so I don't relish having to go out of my way to get my car serviced.

I'm strongly looking at Infiniti or BMW actually just because they give you "luxury" service. I've heard Subaru dealers are pretty good too, but after my experience with Mazda I'm starting to think I want "luxury" service. Of course Infiniti and BMW are overpriced (and personally I'm a bigger fan of the RX-8 than the G35C, especially if you consider the price too) but I've heard nothing but good things about the dealers from friends with Infinitis and BMWs.

What really makes me sad is there's a few Mazdas I would've considered. In fact they had the most amount of cars I was interested in. I would've considered getting a 3, MS3, MS6, or MX-5 if I decided against the 8 for say gas mileage reasons. Now I'm pretty much crossing those off my list, not because of the car, and not because necessarily of Mazda Corporation, but because of the experience I got from the two Mazda dealers I've been to.

 

I hear you, we are looking to replace our Outback in a year or two, I was really liking the C7 but after tasting Mazda's crappy customer service and support I've scratched the C7 off our list. Again another great car hobbled by Mazda's support, shame.

 

Thats the thing. They are not driving your car so they give 2 ***** about you. Thats why there are so many cars for sale in this town. No one knows how to service there cars inc the dealers. Dam shame I tell ya.

 

Well I just read an article that pretty much puts this whole discussion into perspective. JD power just released their customer satisfaction index. Mazda rated 32 out of 36.

The funny thing is all Mazda has to do to increase their satisfaction is service their cars like they are suppose to. Stop ducking out on warranty work. Nice work Mazda, well done!

 

its a shame all of you have had bad experience with your mazda dealers. my starter died on me 7/19/06. the next day i tried to start it again but to no avail. i got the car towed to the mazda dealer after hours. the next day i went by there and they told me that the starter was shot. they replaced the starter, battery and wires under warranty. the only thing i paid for was a oil change.

 

yeah i've had a cel thrown and the local dealer wanted $90 just to look at it while it was under warraty.. I had to call my inside mazda person to bitch the dealer out.. they did and then I magically got everything I wanted.

Mazda Corp is great if you can get ahold of someone. the dealerships and dealership service suck ***.

 

I had my calipers painted as part of the deal when I bought the car. So after they finished I drove home....and this rapid thumping sound started. It sounded like I was driving a helicopter. I brought the car back in to see what was wrong,and it turns out the wheels were loose. They just said "good thing you brought it back!"

Oh well.

 

Do you have the full list? I'm kind wondering where other car companies placed.

It's pretty sad though. Great cars (though maybe a bit shakey on reliability compared to Honda and Toyota) with horrible dealerships. My friend with a Mazda 6 likes his car alot. The funny thing was he's been to the two dealerships I've been to in a similar situation.

The one we both bought/leased from tried shady things to get us to buy more. For him they got his car and "oops! this one has a few more options you didn't ask for, so please pay extra!" (ie really badly glued on wood trim). For the dealer closest to both of us now, he had warned me that the service there was *very* underwhelming. I know there are good Mazda dealers out there, but when your record is 2 out of 2 trying to rip you off, you pretty much want to avoid Mazda from that point on.

 

I saw the list in the Sunday Chicago Tribune, Auto Section. A quick search on the web turned up this link.

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story....vice&aff=projohttp://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story....vice&aff=projo

If you go to the bottom of this list you can move onto 2 more ratings one for Satisfaction for sales and Customer Retention. In Customer Retention Mazda was 3 from the bottom here and one of the manufacture under them was Oldsmobile who is out of production.

Unbelievable, only Isuzu loses more customers then Mazda. Wake up Mazda and stop screwing over your customer base while you still have one.

 

I hope you don't give up for gas reasons - I had read so many horror stories that I had almost gone to another car just because of that - but my new 8 is doing so much better than expected - I suspect that either the initial problems were corrected, or I have a bigger gas tank, or my service gang really did a great tune up. There are only two places I lose milage - one is hill climbing - I burn more gas because I enjoy the power and speed while climbing - and the other is, and I blush to admit this, showing off.... I find that sometimes I am led astray by Hondas and Gts and the occasional little ol lady driving a SUV... that I am learning to control simply to save gas - my only revenge is knowing how much it is costing them... but don't give up an 8 for gas - Chevetts are worse!

I think the trick is to find a good dealer and at least people are posting the good and the bad here!

 

Nope, that's not the reason. I basically decided that I could live with the gas and the shakey reliability (mine's an '04). I wasn't sure about the dealer service still though. Then my own dealer pulled that crap on me and I decided I most likely didn't want to stick with Mazda.

The problem with finding a "good" dealer is that they're not necessarily convenient to go to (ie you might need to drive an extra 20 miles to get to it).

Thanks for the link Raptor. It's very informative.