Last week my wife's 2006 Mazda5 started running really rough and we could tell it was misfiring. Check engine light came on and we took it to a mechanic. The error code was P0301 Code - Cylinder #1 Misfire.
He pulled the cap off the hole where the spark plug sits and it was gross inside. Oily gunky residue... looked VERY different from the other 3 sparkling clean cylinders. He cleaned off the plug and cleaned out the hole a bit. It looked as though there was a chip / hole in the "well" (cylinder) where the spark plug sits and could possibly be where the gunk was coming from. After things were mostly clean he reset the error code so we could do a drive and see if it was still having a problem. Well, the problem was gone... so that was good news.
Well, I was still very concerned that we didn't know how it got so gunky inside and also that there was that hole / chip in the wall of the cylinder. The mechanic thought it could have been caused by corrosion or a bad molding job at the factory.
We checked our warranty and it expires THIS MONTH... like in 20 days!!! So, I quickly took it to the dealer so they could check it out. I got a call back to come pick up my car and here is what I learned:
1. Since the error code had been cleared they didnt have proof that there was really any problem. (Obviously there is a problem the cylinder is a TOTAL mess compared to the other ones what good will the code do them?)
2. They noticed that there is water, moisture got inside the cylinder. Spark plug looks rusted outer side. Tech removed it and spark plug looks normal. (Well, they is way more gunk in there than just water and rust!)
3. They dont have proof that the hole in the cylinder wall wasnt caused by some other mechanic during service. (Looking at the hole it sure doesnt look like any mechanics tool could have caused the hole maybe a dentists drill, but why would a mechanic be using one of those?
)
4. The car had been in a minor fender bender (old lady backed into my wife in a parking lot) and they are saying that might have caused the problem. (No way that a fender bender could have caused a hole like that in the side of the cylinder)
5. If it was a manufacturer default/problem it would have shown up a long time ago. (I dont know that I agree with this. If it was a bad mold at the factory and water, coolant, oil, whatever finally made its way through and got bad enough to cause a problem couldnt that take a while?)
So, Im hearing all this and it sounds to me like Im getting the run-around to avoid them having to do costly service to my car at least not until it is out of warranty and they dont have to pay for it.
I talked to the service manager and said Id like him to look inside the cylinder with me. He said he didnt need to because he trusted his technicians and could go by what they wrote. Well, they didnt write anything about all the oily gunk and nothing about the hole in the cylinder wall. He said any mechanic could have caused the hole and I asked him to look and see that there is no way that could be the case. Again, he said he didnt need to look. I asked how Mazda decides what is and isnt covered under warranty and he said it is his decision. I pleaded with him to look into the cylinder and was adamant that there was no way for him to make a decision without all the information or looking at the actual problem. He said the decision is his and that he didnt need to look and that it wasnt covered.
So, anybody out there work for a dealership or know about this stuff? Am I wrong with any of the above (Im not a mechanic and am just making observations as best I can)? Is there anything I can / should do before my warranty expires in 20 days?
Below are two pics: The first is of the dirty hole. The second is of the other hole (clean) but with the rubber cable thing that was down in the first hole (dirty).
Ill try to take a better picture of the sidewall of the hole.
He pulled the cap off the hole where the spark plug sits and it was gross inside. Oily gunky residue... looked VERY different from the other 3 sparkling clean cylinders. He cleaned off the plug and cleaned out the hole a bit. It looked as though there was a chip / hole in the "well" (cylinder) where the spark plug sits and could possibly be where the gunk was coming from. After things were mostly clean he reset the error code so we could do a drive and see if it was still having a problem. Well, the problem was gone... so that was good news.
Well, I was still very concerned that we didn't know how it got so gunky inside and also that there was that hole / chip in the wall of the cylinder. The mechanic thought it could have been caused by corrosion or a bad molding job at the factory.
We checked our warranty and it expires THIS MONTH... like in 20 days!!! So, I quickly took it to the dealer so they could check it out. I got a call back to come pick up my car and here is what I learned:
1. Since the error code had been cleared they didnt have proof that there was really any problem. (Obviously there is a problem the cylinder is a TOTAL mess compared to the other ones what good will the code do them?)
2. They noticed that there is water, moisture got inside the cylinder. Spark plug looks rusted outer side. Tech removed it and spark plug looks normal. (Well, they is way more gunk in there than just water and rust!)
3. They dont have proof that the hole in the cylinder wall wasnt caused by some other mechanic during service. (Looking at the hole it sure doesnt look like any mechanics tool could have caused the hole maybe a dentists drill, but why would a mechanic be using one of those?
4. The car had been in a minor fender bender (old lady backed into my wife in a parking lot) and they are saying that might have caused the problem. (No way that a fender bender could have caused a hole like that in the side of the cylinder)
5. If it was a manufacturer default/problem it would have shown up a long time ago. (I dont know that I agree with this. If it was a bad mold at the factory and water, coolant, oil, whatever finally made its way through and got bad enough to cause a problem couldnt that take a while?)
So, Im hearing all this and it sounds to me like Im getting the run-around to avoid them having to do costly service to my car at least not until it is out of warranty and they dont have to pay for it.
I talked to the service manager and said Id like him to look inside the cylinder with me. He said he didnt need to because he trusted his technicians and could go by what they wrote. Well, they didnt write anything about all the oily gunk and nothing about the hole in the cylinder wall. He said any mechanic could have caused the hole and I asked him to look and see that there is no way that could be the case. Again, he said he didnt need to look. I asked how Mazda decides what is and isnt covered under warranty and he said it is his decision. I pleaded with him to look into the cylinder and was adamant that there was no way for him to make a decision without all the information or looking at the actual problem. He said the decision is his and that he didnt need to look and that it wasnt covered.
So, anybody out there work for a dealership or know about this stuff? Am I wrong with any of the above (Im not a mechanic and am just making observations as best I can)? Is there anything I can / should do before my warranty expires in 20 days?
Below are two pics: The first is of the dirty hole. The second is of the other hole (clean) but with the rubber cable thing that was down in the first hole (dirty).
Ill try to take a better picture of the sidewall of the hole.