We've got measurable, quantifiable evidence and data.....but yea, lets ignore that and go with "its not hard to start enough".

LOL....

Some people.

 

Dude, You started on the 27th of February. Today is the 11th. If the builder was going to he would have. My thought is just face the man and say (face to face) Brother, I thank you for all you have done. I know you went the extra step for me and that is what I want to tell everyone in all the forums and fb clubs I am a part of, but I cannot because this issue has my up in arms. I have to say that I did this and this is what I got and now I am having to find someone else to fix the fix.

Bottom line is you are telling him that his name and the warranty company names are about to become crap. JMHO. That and $1.25 will get you cheap coffee

 

Actually, this ridiculousness started a few weeks earlier than that. The 27th is just when I started to realize that I was standing knee-deep in pre-processed fertilizer.

Unfortunately, this guy is in Texas and I'm in Chicago. Face-to-face meetings are non-trivial.

At this point, I'm seriously considering asking for a refund for the work and having him freight it off to BHR for a proper rebuild.

 

He actually claimed that re-used housings and Atkins seals are why they require compression to be below Mazda spec for a warranty claim. When I asked for an RPM for his "below 90 psi" spec he didn't answer. When I showed him that 96 and 94 psi @ 298 were below 90 @ 250 is when he started to budge a little covering it.

 

wow! I am kind of blown away that you would send it so far. There has to be at least one person that would have done the job in all of Illinois. Nevertheless, this whole time for "considering" is over. Dude is not going to fix your stuff. have him ship it off and once you KNOW it with Charles or anyone else, I would let the world know what this guy has done and whatever warranty company you had would not hear the end of it till I had my car running again!

Now that is just me, but I am upset enough for you in this too! HA

 

Now he's asking me if I ever did a seafoam treatment...

 

Ah, the "blowing smoke out your ***" ploy.

 

i got the Texas reference - thanks for the tip off

 

I did one about 6 months before the rebuild but not after. Because, you know, 8,500 miles...

I get the feeling that he's searching for any possible reason to not have to honor the warranty.

 

Just wish the free market wasn't such a pain in the *** in the process.

 

One way or the other, I think we're getting close to the end of this saga. I hope.

I texted him for an update this morning.
Response:
Him: "Did sea foam and had carbon so we gonna do again then compression test"
Me: Really? How did you determine there was carbon?
Him: Camera
Him: Through Spark plug hole
Me: Got pictures you can send me?
Him: Lots of smoke
Him: Snap on camera doesn't take pics but can video second sea foam smoke

After that it degenerated into an argument about whether seafoam would create smoke even without carbon and whether seafoam is oil based.

Later he comes back with:
Him: Just proving my point as I only stated I was doing a sea foam to try to get compression up before I have to tear into Engine to see cause of slightly low compression as both two dealers were not willing to help with warranty matter
Me: "Not willing to help"? What did you ask them to do?
Him: Run through the warranty process for me as if I were bringing in for warranty and so I can have my warranty company cover this but Mazda corporation would recommend a carbon treatment so I just brought back to shop as I had thought of doing that anyway.

 

Yea, normal procedure for a Mazda reman was do compression test. If fails, decarb, then try compression test again. It was not uncommon for compression to get WORSE after decarb...mine certainly did.

At least it sounds like you are getting somewhere.

Use stock seals, new housings. Replace anything else that needs to be replaced based on measurement. That should have you a good engine baring an assembly issue.

 

In an overall "karma" global scale that likely works.........but when you are one of the outliers it really sucks.....and not very satisfying

 

Hush, let me whine about this for a while.

 

Update to the Saga of Stupidity™:

I asked for compression numbers. He replied that he wants to seafoam it again and drive and to give him until tomorrow.

 

has it been said who built it yet? that sux man sorry. pepper your angus

 

Not saying until the situation is resolved.

Dude, don't you know? Healthy Rennys get coked up with carbon in, like, 5 miles. With 8,500 on the clock, it's a miracle the engine even runs at all!

 

Sorry, forgot the sarcasm tag...

Another update:
Working on the theory that if it were Mazda denying my warranty claim, I'd be working my way up the food chain on the phone. So, I asked him if he'd tell me who his warranty underwriter is. He refused but said compression is better and he'll have numbers for me soon.

I pressed him a little bit, saying it would make me feel better about this whole experience. He replied with "It's a huge private company but I'm with another engineer in a meeting I'll contact u shortly".

I just asked him if he can block out the company name on the paperwork for the warranty denial and share that with me.

I'm now pretty curious about why he wouldn't give me any info on the underwriter.

 

Well, I hope he does the right thing and doesn't continue to dig that hole deeper.

 

At any moment he can end this whole saga and improve his public image by simply say, "My underwriter denied the claim but I'm going to take care of this anyway."

I don't see that happening.

 

I'm still skeptical that a shop that size would have an underwriter to deal with warranties?? Dunno.

Will remain to be seen I guess

 

Yeah I think the underwriter stuff is a bunch of BS.

 

Light at the end of the tunnel:

He claims that a friend that works at a Mazda dealer came by at the same time as the warranty claim adjuster and they hashed it out over a compression test that showed 95 psi @ 250 rpm. The warranty claim adjuster agreed to honor the warranty. Now all I have to do is find all of my receipts. Fortunately, I buy almost everything online so I have already found receipts for everything except the original oil fill.

Hopefully, if I can't find that missing receipt I can convince him that I didn't start the car up and run it for a few weeks without oil.

 

What a PIA. But I hope it gets resolved amicably.

 

I sent my maintenance records and receipts to him. We'll see.