Once again, an early 04 fails. Car has 43,000 Miles and the compression is way low. I was experiencing the same problems everyone else had, (rough idle, hard starts), did everything I could, plugs and battery, carbon flush, and the the Dealer told me I needed a new engine. Supposed to be done by next Wednesday.
We'll see how it turns out...

 

Give us some history on your car. What kind of driving did it get, reg or prem gas, short trips to work mostly city or freeway, was it driven hard or never red lined, oil change interval, 5X20wt oil or what, pre-mix used, oil consumption, just anything you can tell us....THANKS

 

Yeha any other info to help us out woud b great....(also sort of makes me nervous my 04 is about to turn 40k miles

 

I got an 04 with 49000miles and mine feels fine even having nitrous run through it no problems but this still scares me should I be worried?

 

Well, I bought the car with 26,500 miles on it in April of 2007. So in a year and a half I had put roughly 16,5K on the car. I am a student so I mostly use the car to go back and forth from school during the school year, and back and forth to work during the summer. The drive to school is only about 6 miles there and back and the drive to work is maybe 10 there and back. BUT, during the summer I am also involved in performing and gigs downtown so most every night during summers I drive to and from downtown, which is about 15 miles there and 15 miles back. To summarize: Summer- roughly 30-40 miles a day, and the school year roughly 6 miles a day. And of course you can factor in days when I didn't drive at all, trips and stuff like that.

I never really drove the car hard at all, except for those 3 days after first getting the car, as most everyone does, but when driving around town, I usually switch gears between 3000 and 3250 RPM for most every gear, unless I have to pull out into heavy traffic or something like that. I probably redlined the car in first gear once every 2-3 tanks of gas, which I assume isn't enough...

As far as maintenance goes, I had the oil changed every 3000-5000 miles using 5w-20 Castrol GTX, climate in Wilmington is pretty moderate, never gets real cold. The spark plugs were changed when I got the car, and once again when it was at the dealer for the problem I had originally taken it in for. Everything else was in good shape. I have always filled it with premium gas 93, since I have had the car. I have never cut corners with that.

As for the original problem I was dealing with, which caused me to take it in, was that I had to have a new blower motor put in for my AC so while it was in there I told them that the car wasn't turning over as efficiently on cold and warm days and after long drives, and that I had changed the battery and it hadn't done any good. I had also noticed rough idling and less power under 5K RPM.

After doing all the tests, they told me that I needed a new engine.

But, another question...When I took the car in, they said that "We are going to change your spark plugs and do a carbon flush to see if that solves your problems, and if it doesn't we will run the rest of the tests on the engine to see if it is blown." so of course i felt that would be a good idea, and he tells me its going to cost about $180 for the plugs, $20 for the flush, and factor in labor. I was looking at about $400. I could have done it all myself but I am way too busy so i let them handle it. Anyways, after all this was done, he said "it didn't fix the problem and Mazda Line says you need a new engine. You will still have to pay for everything else that was done, as it falls under regular maintenance and WE HAD TO GET THE CAR RUNNING RIGHT BEFORE WE COULD FINISH THE REST OF THE TESTS."

I don't think I should have to pay for this stuff that was done because it didn't correct the problem, which is what he originally told me they were trying to do.

 

Going to get my car today. Hopefully everything will turn out ok. I plan on following Mazda and RB break in procedures. Anything else I should know, other than what's already in other threads?

 

they cant get you to pay for the carbon flush- they bill that to mazda

 

drive the car hard this time please, redline it atleast once a day.

 

Yes you should not have to pay as "ZOOM44" states. Here is what is on page fifteen of the "TSB". Print out the "TSB and show them and if you do not get results, let them know you will have no other choice but to contact Mazda America. Phone number in manual...


WARRANTY INFORMATION
NOTE:
• This warranty information applies only to verified customer complaints on vehicles eligible for warranty
repair.
• Warranty term coverage is 8 years (96 months) from the original warranty start date, with a 100,000
mile mileage limitation.
• Additional diagnostic time cannot be claimed for this repair.

Here is the "TSB....

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...4-08-1924g.pdf

Good luck...and please let us know how it went....

 

Well, I got the car back, runs great, following the break-in, and yes I do plan to redline much much more... previously my redlines varied with my attitude...

As far as paying goes, I made sure I wasn't charged any labor for diagnostics or labor for changing the plugs, didn't pay for carbon flush or labor on that either.
Just got my new clutch put in... I'm happy

 

Great to hear. So you just got charged for clutch disk?

 

Ill add my 04 to the list of blown engines. Oddly it was around 46k - seems like the engine loves to quit in the 40k range. I was on a long road trip home for Christmas when the CEL came on and I lost a significant amount of power. I could maintain a decent speed with one rotor but I didnt have any extra power to accelerate. I was able to get it to a dealer where they did a pretty through exam on it. Turns out one of the coils was very bad so they installed new coils, plugs, and wires. As I was about to get back on the highway and continue my trip home the CEL came on again. I turned around and went back to the dealer. They said they were still getting a misfire code on the #1 rotor and couldnt figure out why. I figured that the cat had probably gotten clogged and could have been causing the error but they were not sure and didn't want to take the time to check the cat. They told me to drive it home and get some more drive cycles in so more data could be entered into the computer. I didnt feel like waiting a week to get more cycles in so I took it to the local mazda shop where I live. They were getting a misfire code on the #2 rotor now. After a day talking to mazda they decided to go ahead and replace the engine. I still dont know if they ever checked the cat to see if it was clogged. On the bright side I can get the clutch replaced for next to nothing since the engine is out. Does anyone know if I get a new warranty for the new engine or does it still go off the date of manufacture for the car?

 

I'm so tired of hearing the redline your car BS. I know numerous guys here in SA and on this site that had their engines replaced and most of us tracked our cars regularly. I drive my car hard everyday, I change the oil every 3k (with synthetic BTW) and my engine was replaced at 22k. My new engine has had nothing done differently but Castrol GTX 10W30 and it has lasted 60k so far with no engine problems. I believe oil starvation was the issue, not carbon build up.

If I were you i would get new coils, etc. I don't think they put new ones in with the rebuilt motor.

 

PatN, sorry to hear about that. But I couldn't be happier with my new engine. As far as the warranty question goes, I wish I new the answer...
Just make sure to follow the proper break in procedures...

 

Your avatar is quite ironic then huh?

 

In an effort to defend my previous post, I will say that I went through phases, sometimes redlining the car once sometime every trip I took, and some times I would go through a couple tanks of gas without redlining... it varied a lot.
As far as that average goes, I could be a bit off