Well, its back in the garage and fixed. Good to have my new car back.

I bought my wife a 2010 Sport AT on Nov 20th. The car had 100 miles, and the dealer gave me 9k off of sticker. We drive home. Wife notices a metallic rattle from around the dash/steering column that we didn't hear on the test drive. She was devastated.

I bring the car in on Wed, day before Thanksgiving. It had a whole 300 miles. It has been at the shop now for weeks, and they can't figure out what the rattle is. The service department has a call in to Mazda for assistance.

I love the car, I love the deal I got, and I just want to drive the damn thing. Nothing is more frustrating than buying a car, having it for 4 days, and not having it for 2 weeks.

Any idea what would cause a metal on metal buzz that happens around the dash? It happened sporadically, but most of the time during low speed around 40mph on rough pavement. You can smack the side of the dash with the door open and it would do it as well....

 

keys


jk bro. sorry to hear you're having probs

 

Is there a way you can record the noise or take some sort of video with your phone or something? This way we can hear the noise and it might spark some thoughts from someone.

 

I would if I still had the car. I hope Mazda calls me in a day or so with it fixed. I am the worlds easiest going person, and this is really starting to tick me off. I just want my brand new car back.

 

Is it similar to this:

https://www.rx8club.com/series-ii-technical-trouble-shooting-160/static-sounds-high-rpms-202965/

Could also be pinging? Maybe they filled it with the wrong grade of gas?

 

No idea, give them a deadline and tell them if it's not fixed that you will get a lemon law atty. It doesn't seem like a big issue to fix, it's likely something minor but it's kind of hard to bench diagnos a problem. What sounds like metallic rattle could just be a lose bolt.

 

Be patient until you get it back. Maybe you can just take it back from the dealer for the time being. Then go to an RX8 meet in your area and have some of the RX8 folks check it out.

I will bet one of the experts on this forum can figure it out definitively. This forum is your best friend. Just be patient until the issue is solved and then you can enjoy your car.

 

I am trying to be patient. Its just that two weeks is a long time to pay for a car I can't use. I had Ford replace the engine in my F150 under warranty and that took them 2 days....

 

One big difference with the 8s is that Mazda tries to take care of them when they come in and usually special maintainance is reviewed by a regional rep. I am not saying that's the case here but usually that is why our cars have a longer turn around time. For example, took 2 days for them to flush my differential because they wanted the rep to make sure they didn't need to replace the whole thing.

 

Rattling like this has been brought up before.

It usually is small stones lodge in between the steering column and the dash.
Move it up and down and clean it.

However we do not know the sound so....

Many people report metal sounds when in fact they are not metal sounds.

It's a Wild *** Guess without a video with sound even then you may have to be in the car.

Ever hear of American idle?

JA, we all hear a different tune.

 

Thought the same thing, my car was pinging its head off when I drove if off the showroom floor, I said the same thing to the salesman, you guys put in low octane gas (no we didn't he said), guess what went away once I used up the first full tank of gas and put in the correct octane..

BUT, this member is complaining of a noise at the dash and on rough road and low speed..

Personally, I would be thinking perhaps, exhaust Heat Shield possibly loose..

Is this rattle at certain RPM??,

Frankly, I do not know of anything around the steering wheel or dash that could cause a rattle like this as everything there is Electronic (NO moving parts) apart from the Steering Wheel and its Column, is the Steering Column height Adjuster clamp lever tightened?.

I take it the DEALER has heard the Rattle??

I am really running out of Ideas..

Sorry I cant help more..

BUT I would be contacting MNAO Directly by Phone and calmly telling them what is and has occurred, and that you want your brand new car back.

 

Yea, the dealer has heard it. The only reason why I am almost certain that its from the dash/column is that when the car is off and the door is open, I can thump the side of the dash and hear it. The dealer HAS heard the rattle, and said they were taking the dash down one piece at a time to find out what was making the noise.

My issue is that they seem to not be too concerned with keeping me updated. I have had to call them both times for updates. Its two weeks tomorrow. And like you just said, its a Brand NEW car. Less than 300 miles.

I just want my car back. Thank god I work tmw so I will be thinking of Army stuff instead of my wife's car.

 

On rare occasion, my 2009 has had a similar rattle, but not consistent enough to diagnose. It almost has a familiar sound to it, like keys or coins rattling in the little bin on the left side dash, and it seemed so close that I should have been able to reach out and touch the rattling part. But, I've never found it, and it usually doesn't do it at all, but when it does it can be quite annoying.

 

Hey my 2009 has the same rattle! I keep checking the little coin bin but it's not that. I haven't really spent too much time isolating it as it comes and goes. I usually always have the stereo turned up too so that doesnt help.

 

I personally would try to get the name of the mazda rep from your dealership and see if there is a way you could contact him to provide you with intermittent updates. I would assume he would be very concerned that a new car has spent 2 weeks in the shop shortly after its purchase. If the dealership is hard pressing on not providing you that information, then maybe its time to call MNAO

 

Im thinking its the blower motor.

 

I called the service center at 5pm today and they said the service manager just approved it being fixed and they are putting the car back together. It should be ready tommorow. We will see.

 

HEy sorry to hear about your case with your car, but a little advise here. Depending on the state you are in, if you buy a brand new car and the car goes back to the dealer before a certain amount of miles(whatever the range or limit im pretty sure your 100 miles falls in it). if it was financed or bought for cash you can get get back back in full any money you payed at signing if they cant fix your car within 30 days. In some states its 2 weeks.

 

Well, they just called and said its ready. Time to grab the wife and pick up the car. They said they want to drive it with me to make sure that I am happy....

We will see. I am crossing my fingers cause I like the damn thing.

Oh, and I did get Mazda North America involved. They just emailed me and said they called the service manager. Whatever thats worth...

 

Good Luck...

Just ONE thing...

NEVER...Never....NeVeR....Call an RX-8 a 'THING'...it is not a thing...this car has a sole!..

 

Yes, Im sure the car has a Soul....

That being said its fixed and detailed for me. Im happy and so is the wife.

 

You get what you pay for... your $9000 off = rattling.

I paid MSRP back in 2004, and the car was wonderful.

 

Not to scare the OP, and I know you have a 2010..........but here is one of the best threads concerning rattles.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ghlight=rattle


Now, I've heard of everything in this area from the airbag in the steering wheel, to stuff in the storage bin, to that piece that holds the tweeter on the door, to actually it being the visor(believe it or not)......no, not the visor breaking, that's a whole other subject, to it being the actual gauge assembly mount.

Anyway.......to the OP.............What did the dealer say it was? Would be nice to share what they think it was!!!!

 

So what was the rattle?

 

I'm not surprised it took them that long to fix it. What did they do to repair it as I'm looking into getting and S2 this coming year?


On a side note...Replacing an engine is a straight forward deal. Finding a rattle is a pain in the *** and doesn't really pay anything to the techs. I'll be the 1st to tell that in service departments, warranty doesn't pay the techs very much to find and fix them. Since the techs don't make much money on repairing them, these vehicles tend to get pushed to the side so they can concentrate on repairing vehicles that will make them a paycheck. There's not one tech at ANY dealership that's gonna spend more than 1hr at a time trying to find a rattle. They can't afford to do that as they loose money. That's the unfortunate side of commission based work. Techs will always do the easier higher paying job 1st over something that will take 3-4hrs of their time while warranty will only pay them 1hr for it.