kc5zom

Hire an attorney, or bitch. But we like our cars. And I don't believe any of your issues have even been brought up before on the board. What you should do is say that the clutch was slipping beforehand too. There is a TSB for that. Then they would fix it. But I certainly feel that you are in an abusive relationship with your car. I'm also betting your are less than or equal to 20 yrs old. Probably under 18. Meaning you think you drive really good but you are most likely really bad.

jimshingleton

actually I'd almost enjoy being 20 something again, I'm twice that and some. Re: abusive relationships I'm pretty sure you can only experience one of those with an animate object such as a dog or perhaps another human, I'm sure you like your car, I'd like mine too if I ever get it back. Perhaps mine is so good the dealer just cant part with it, yes that must be it. The car when we do have it is used for dull basic transport in that it goes 45 miles down the interstate and then 45 miles home for the return trip. Average speed 65 to 70 mph. (when the bearings aren't protesting and growling as they turn. But thanks for your concern. jim

jimshingleton

by the way, type in defects on the search mode of this page and read what is written there regarding tranni's,wheel bearings, or shaking or electrical problems or the like. I was glad to see I wasn't alone you as well may find that area of the club helpful for what may become a potential problem for you. good luck .... jim

jstand6

It sounds to me that either this car has been seriously abused or it has suffered from some major front-end damage. I have been scouring Protege boards since I bought mine in February of '99, and I've been selling them since '97, and I have never seen or heard of any problems that come near as compound or severe as yours. This vehicle has been in nearly flawless production for almost 5 years now. BJ-chassis Protege's just do not leave the factory like this. The Protege has always been one of the most reliable cars in its class, and the whole line has been this way dating back to the first Familia in 1963. If this board has a manufacturer's slant to it, that is why.

The amount of abuse required to cause this is nearly unimaginable. You don't, by any chance, use this car to jump off buildings with?

However, major front-end damage can cause all of these problems. Has this car been involved in a collision? Who knows what the car went through before it was sold. I, personally, have received vehicles that have been dropped off the ramps of the transport trucks. The worst one was a Durango that was on a ramp that was lowered before the preceding ramp had been lowered. It's front-end was lowered on top of the other ramp and destroyed the radiator, cracked all of the front splash shields, tweaked the chassis, broke an engine mount, etc. Luckily, I did thorough inspections of the new vehicles (you would be surprised how many dealerships don't) and caught the damage, because a quick glance would not reveal any damage. The damage totalled $6,500 and DaimlerChrylser forced the trucking company to buy the vehicle. About one out of every four vehicles had some sort of damage (from light scratches to what I described above) when they are transported.

BTW, I ran the same search you suggested. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there. Minor electrical gremlins do occur, even with Honda and Mercedes... Broken trannies by people who have so many mods in their signature it won't fit on a page... Someone who can't understand why their $15k Protege isn't as solid and quiet as as a $30k Passat... Seized engines when the driver tried to take their car swimming... Engine and tranny problems on vehicles that were raced from day 1... This is where the abuse allegations come in. 95% of the problems can be traced back to abuse.

KpaBap

I have put over 13000 miles on my car in about 4 months and I've never had a single problem (other than the clutch chatter).

jimshingleton

Thanks for the input, actually I had a friend who discovered his truck had fell off of a carrier, crushing the roof and repaired. the winter he bought it all the bondo began cracking so I am somewhat familar with what you say. There are no glaringly obvious signs that this is the case with this car, Hoping for a resolution...... jim

jimshingleton

Well: its me again, As of this friday,1/10/03 it will have been 3 months since I took my car to the dealer for a bad transmission, thats 3 months count em' three. I did receive a call this morning however from them. 10 more days is the new estimate of time. It appears the transmission is on back order, they somehow used all of the new ones in stock, no doubt people just buying them just to have, or perhaps as gifts. Actually 10 days was the estimate to get the transmission to the dealer, who knows what will happen then. I'll keep you updated jim

enormiss

Funny, yesterday I first read your post.
Today I read a bunch tranny threads that sounded just like yours

UCSBgeek

Mercedes have more than their fair share of electrical gremlins

Volkswagen aren't anywhere near as reliable as Mazda's (as a statistical average), although they probably are quieter .

Jim, good luck, I'd sure be pissed if I didn't have my car for three months. Although I'd tend to agree with jstand6 about Mazda's impeccable reliability, it's impossible to ensure 100% perfection. All it would take would be for one worker who is upset / distracted for one day at the factory to let a batch of trannys (or clutches) through with small defects that can screw things up. However, remember that the occurences of this from Mazda are still much less than many other manufacturers. There will always be lemons in new cars. No way to avoid it than going for used cars which are time tested. It sounds like your dealer isn't that great either, but then again, I'm operating on the presumption that you really didn't abuse it.

jimshingleton

Theres that abuse word again, but a glimmer of light someone who is not positive I am at fault. Honestly I've had probably 50 cars in my lifetime Lots and lots at the beginning and fewer as I got older, some I genuinely beat the living **** out of, others I babied because of their age. But even the ones I pounded on held up to some extent, I personally have scattered clutches through floor pans, missed gears and twisted cranks, spun the tires off the rims, hit inumerable objects at high rates of speed, walked away and did it again, and again. Lived to tell you about it, and have without question and in no way have ever abused this car. I sincerely know what kind of cars will stand up to hard driving and which ones wont. I also know when a dealer sucks, when a dealer sucks because he's told he has to suck (at the expense of lost sales) and when a company sucks. Let me tell you guys in my experience with mazda THEY SUCK. I joined your corner of the net not to incite, enflame, ridicule or taunt, I joined so that what is happening to me does not happen to someone else. Hopefully anyway. I certainly wish you all the best, We didn't buy these cars because we could have any car we wished for. We bought them because for the money they seemed a pretty good deal. Granted most of your experiences have been. And to you I say GREAT, I wish you the continued good fortune you currently enjoy, For those of us who have not had as positive an experience I say keep writing, keep trying, e-mail mazda to death and good luck. jim

UCSBgeek

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt -- it's not unconceivable that somebody in the world is going to have a bad experience.

I'm hoping you get a resolution to your liking. I've also seen Protege's taking massive abuse well (which you have said you haven't done, although you bring up the point about how you know which cars are abusable?). Hell, there are pictures of a guy in a rental automatic protege who spun the tires so much he literally left burning tire marks on the pavement, and then took it off-roading.

I hope for your sake this doesn't turn you away from Mazda forever. Good luck.

jstand6

I sure would love to see what the dealership's reasoning for the non-warranty repair is. The dealership I used to work for repaired items under warranty that I thought for sure would not be covered. Have you tried contacting the dealer principal (owner) or general manager? Those two people are the final word within the dealership. Of course, it depends on the attitudes of these people, but if my old general manager got involved, the problem got fixed.

What official response from Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) have you heard? In disputes like this, MNAO usually gets the regional office involved.

If you really want to push it, find the pamphlets and booklets that came with your car. There is a warranty booklet supplement that breaks down third-party arbitration procedures and laws on a state-by-state basis. If you can't get a satisfactory response from the dealership or Mazda, this is the first place to turn. However, looking at the PA Lemon Law, this may not help since you are not covered (defect must occur within 1 year or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first). But, it certainly cannot hurt.

For further help and advice, you may want to look at MyLemon.com. This website is for a law firm that specializes in the PA and NJ lemon laws. Good luck.

jimshingleton

Mazda allows the district service rep to make the decision, the only # they publish is customer service whom when called ask what his decision was and will not deviate from it. I have been sending e-mails to them from other owners problems, identical to mine from bulletin boards such as this yet they refuse to acknowledge a problem. The only warranted part is the tranni after 13000 mi. the clutch is a wear item and even the manual states they will not cover it. Which to me is reasonable, Had not the transmission been the root of the problem, I'd have chalked it up to a lesson learned. The fact the transmission is back ordered speaks volumes regarding this not being an isolated incident. Several folks have like myself have compiled lists sharing information with one another and we all send Mazda our current findings daily. Each acknowledgement is disclaimed as "we told you we wont cover your clutch" and "if you are not completely satisfied with our response call customer service". Who in turn tell you they can do nothing.( ever see Groundhog Day?) I called Irvine Calif. and a very SUPRISED Staci Brock Customer Service Representative queried how did I get their phone #, (directory assistance by the way) W'ere becoming friends through this believe it or not, shes a very nice person. However her hands are tied, admitting to this catastrophe will certainly cause a recall, and it doesn't make good business sense I guess to volunteer to do the right thing. So I press forward, thanks for listening (well reading) and good luck to all.

jstand6

Jim, I'm going to confer with an internal contact I have. Could you please send me your findings list, pertinent details, and names and e-mail addresses of the other people who you know have this problem? Send it to my e-mail address: jstand6@yahoo.com

I'll see what I can sniff out.

enormiss

....and have a key made off the VIN, take a bus to your house and drive your car home.... Amazing what them numbers tell....