Ok, so I know nothing about cars (am I allowed to say that without getting lynched?) but Mazda central have refused to accept any liability for a £2,200 bill which I'm landed with, due to the oil pump failing. They say that because the second service was 3 months late, the oil will have degraded & put pressure on the pump and that I therefore can't claim that the pump was not 'fit for purpose' even though the car's only 3 & 1/2 years old & done a mere 12,500 miles. Does this sound right to you?
On top of that, 2 months ago, the car was cutting out when I put the clutch down & making a knocking/ticking noise. The mazda garage put this down to the clutch plate (another £350 bill). They replaced it but when I left, the car was still cutting out (albeit less so) & still making the noise. I was told it would 'probably settle down when it bedded in'. The noise got worse & I booked it back into the Mazda garage - it was on my way there that the oil pump failed & bu**ered the engine. The rest (as they say) is history...... Could the original problem have been the oil pump all along & the garage had just failed to diagnose it correctly?
Last question (honest), what other possible causes are there for an oil pump to fail on a Mazda? I've no idea how it's driven for example. Any likely causes that could have caused the initial 'knocking sound' symptons?
I really can't afford the £2k & I want to argue this, so any advice?
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Gill,
Issue 1. Despite a low mileage you need a fair amount of goodwill to claim on an engine for a car over three years old.
Issue 2. At your rate of mileage the exra three months to a service will have only added 900 miles. Assuming you were having yearly services they would have been at about 3,500 mile intervals. There is no way degradation of the oil at 4,400 miles compared with 3,500 would have caused oil pump failure. It is a much discussed thing here that the makers are pushing oil change intervals out to as much as 20,000 miles, those cars may not last as well into the 100s of thousands mark but their oil pumps don't fall apart at less than 15,000 miles. I look after a car that the owner left unserviced for 24,000 miles (at 60,000 miles), ie she'd missed three services, and that engine is still going strong at 125,000 miles.
Issue 3. I'm afraid you're going to find it really hard to get to the truth of this failure. In my experience the oil pump is not usually the first thing to fail when there is an oil supply/quality problem. Are they saying the pump has failed completely and in turn trashed the engine?
Issue 4. It does seem possible that the noise you describe was the gradual failure of something and the garage may well have missed the problem and been distracted by the clutch issue. What actually happened at the moment of failure on the way to the garage?
Is it worth an independent engineer looking at this for you given the potential costs?
David
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I'd have to agree with Mr. Woollard on this.
No comfort really Gill, but in reality servicing can be more improtant to a low mileage car than a high mileage car.
I doubt if missing the service really caused that much harm, not that I am an expert, but the trouble is that its part of a warranty to keep the things serviced.
So, I'd have a go at Mazda on the off chance, but I doubt you'll get anywhere and its not really surprising.
Now, it might be worth finding out, if you can, what the noise was that you had before. But you're actually going to need someone to look at the car, and not guess from the internet.
Sorry.
Mark.
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I totally disagree with David's answer here, for obvious reasons if you read between the lines of what Gill has written.
HJ
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There wasn't meant to be anything 'between the lines here' I just gave all the facts I could in the hope of some advice!
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HJ,
Feel free to disagree, but which bit didn't you go for. I said quite a lot.
David
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Gill received her advice from me by private e-mail, and ignored the instruction at the head of it. My advice to her remains private.
HJ
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I suspect this car had done a lot of short journeys and the oil was therefore in quite bad condiiton, but 900 miles past a service interval isn't that much.
I'm sure garages *are* allowed to give incorrect advice and do innapropriate work. I also know through bitter experiance that when the engineer makes a mistake, it is for the customer to pay for it.
The fact that Gill *didn't* have his car serviced at the correct intervals is surely all the dealer/manufacturer needs to absolve himself of all blame no matter how obviously Mazda *is* culpable.
Also the vehicle is three years old.
I'd say you've got no chance of pinning the blame on Mazda.
Someone who really knows will be along soon.
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Three and a half years old. No indication of whether a private import or an official UK car. And a driver who admits to knowing "nothing about cars". What that says to me is lots of short runs from cold and a bonnet that hasn't even been openened in the 15 months since its last oil change. Mazda not liable.
HJ
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Just a thought. Could HJ not write the putting down messages a little less unkindly (especially if they may go into print)? It really does make one reluctant to ask.
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MBRM, is this right, then?
One may ask HJ, or the Backroom, but not both? In which event, which is recommended?
Politeness costs nothing, even in the car trade.
I feel sorry for those who unsuspectingly write in to the address in the paper and see a sarcastic reply printed under their initials.
(Blessed if I can see where 2 HOURS extra work came in, in this case.)
HJ, do you want to be the wise old friend or not - it's your living, not mine.
Now replace the fuse, and think.
Regards, Tomo
PS Advice is always appreciated and my new tyres come tomorrow, as it happens. But was there need to be snippy about it?
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"Three and a half years old. No indication of whether a private import or an official UK car. And a driver who admits to knowing "nothing about cars". What that says to me is lots of short runs from cold and a bonnet that hasn't even been openened in the 15 months since its last oil change. Mazda not liable."
I agree John, but the knocking ticking noise clearly wasn't the clutch and morally should have been resolved.
The car wasin a Mazda dealers 2 months B4 the breakdown.
But as I say, I'm sure garages aren't under any legal obligation to fix the problem they say they're going to...
However moral responsibility and legal responsibility are different things.
And as you say late service + the age of the car mean any kind of claim will be futile.
BTW HJ. Some mate's kipped over at my place after a boys night out two weeks ago. One of them picked your book of the shelf in the recovery period first thing on the Sunday morning.
The bits he loved, and the bits I love are when you tell some dingbat in no uncertain terms that he has no claim against a garage wher ehe's negected his own car. (Usually in response to a Cam belt failure)
Keep it up.
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Dave wrote:
>
> BTW HJ. Some mate's kipped over at my place after a boys
> night out two weeks ago. One of them picked your book of the
> shelf in the recovery period first thing on the Sunday morning.
>
> The bits he loved, and the bits I love are when you tell some
> dingbat in no uncertain terms that he has no claim against a
> garage wher ehe's negected his own car. (Usually in response
> to a Cam belt failure)
>
> Keep it up.
Of course, you're not applying that epithet to Gill, are you, Dave?
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Tomo, I get thirty of these a week, in addition to between 250 and 300 others. I answered Gill privately. Without intending to push her luck she doubled-up by also asking The Backroom. All told, through no intention of Gill's, this has created around two hours of extra work, none of which I get paid a sausage for. And if anyone puts anything of mine in print without my permission I'll be looking for massive compensation for breach of my intellectual copyright.
HJ
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"Of course, you're not applying that epithet to Gill, are you, Dave?"
Not at all!!!
Personnally I think Gill is morally in the right. And have said so twice. If you take your car to the dealer about a noise. They should fix it. Not replace the clutch and fob you off! I just don't think Mazda are gonna see it that way!
But I do love Johns put downs!
"Could HJ not write the putting down messages a little less unkindly "
If he wants to sell books to me he'd bl**dy well better toughen his put downs up!
I now think we should have a competition for HJ's harshest put down. Anyone remember any gooduns?
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"Just a thought. Could HJ not write the putting down messages a little less unkindly (especially if they may go into print)? It really does make one reluctant to ask."
HJ could, Tomo, but surely one of the reasons he writes as briskly (and entertainingly as he does) is to deter people from writing in before they think things through, otherwise he'd be hearing from everyone who thought that someone in the motor trade had been beastly to them. Perhaps one shouldn't be so sensitive .....
"One may ask HJ, or the Backroom, but not both? In which event, which is recommended?"
Whichever you hear of first presumably, although if you write to HJ you are, very politely IMHO, directed to the website, and, most importantly, to the Back Room, using the following words (assuming that HJ, in this case, and for obvious reasons, won't sue me for quoting him!):
You can find the answers to many questions yourself simply by visiting www.honestjohn.co.uk which contains a vast amount of information including the good and bad points of 600 cars ('Car by Car' Breakdown), a good garage guide, a Scratchpad of useful telephone numbers and URLs, 31 FAQ answers and an extremely lively 'Backroom' forum where 'Backroomers' swap information and many problems are solved. But please, if I have given you an answer to your e-mail do not then refer the same question to The Backroom.
Couldn't be clearer, especially the last sentence Gill and Tomo ....
Ronnie
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Problem was - I sent both queries at the same time so I didn't see the bit about not referring a question to both sources until after I'd done it. Jolly decent of HJ to reply nethertheless. As for getting the 'beastly' responses (liked that by the way - very famouus 5) I did my best to take it like a man but found that tedious & settled for being female instead. (Have personally always found it so much more rewarding). I'd certainly 'thought things through' before I asked you guys, but when you know nothing about the topic to start with, that doesn't take too long. Funnily enough, that's why I decided to ask.......... Have we gone full circle yet?
Gill
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Well done Gill. There have been chaps go off in a huff never to return for less.
With HJs permission ( ;-) ) you'll have to visit again with more questions.
(whispers) not speed camera related please.
David
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Dare I suggest that is probably enough ?
I think we've all got the point.
People get HJ's help for free, including us.
HJ doesn't like to waste his time or have it wasted for him.
It will, regrettably, happen by accident sometimes.
Maybe HJ was gruff, I will willingly accept that possibility in return for his [currently] free help and this place.
I assure you, in my trade you would pay handsomely for my advice and I would only listen to complaints *if* you were paying.
I am now off to the bar to spend some of my "handsome" earnings for which I have sweated bricks. I'll drink a virtual G&T for all of you.
M.
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Gill (aka Quarter Pint?)
"Have we gone full circle yet?"
Oh dear! In my case, so far as Mazda MX5 oil pumps are concerned, very definitely. So far as other things are concerned, I can go on for ever, and I was of course taking H(onest) J(ohn)'s first comment on this thread as gospel. IMHO just like a woman to ask a question twice - talk about belt, braces and MCC tie! However, as HJ fairly says says later on, he appreciates that you did not intend to push your luck, and so do I
"Jolly decent of HJ to reply"
How Famous Five is that? Look on the bright side, HJ's stricture does not specifically prevent people from e-mailing him *after* a subject has been raised in the Back Room - ladies first of course. We would we be lost without you, so you go on "being female" - we wouldn't have you any other way!
Ronnie
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"(whispers) not speed camera related please."
I heard that Woolard!
Any more speed camera talk and I'll sneak round in the night and replace your favorite landie with a Suzuki Jeep!
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> Any more speed camera talk and I'll sneak round in the night and replace your favorite landie with a Suzuki Jeep!
On a similar subject...
I can't remember if I have ever mentioned the fact, but I don't actually like Freelanders very much.
Sadly, nobody is paying attention. So now I've decided that I am going to recommend Freelanders as much as I can. This should increase the amount of people that own them, and ensure that when I return to my "Why Freelanders are awful" campaign I should have loads of people ready to join me in the battle against Fisher Price. Sorry, I mean Landrover.
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Two l's please Dave.
David
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Oops, sorry Mr. W.
I hope the typo didn't detract from the chilling nature of the threat!
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Actually Dave I do think there is a place for the Suzuki Jeep.
David
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Ok, I confess I know nothing about the Suzuki jeep. It was the first thing that came into my head as the antithisis of the honest landie. I assumed it was the domain of the girlie hair dresser.
Can they practically be used off road?
My brother has a Daihatsu 4 track to tow his horse it seems like a genuine off roader to me. Chassis and everything. (he's looking to sell it incidently, if anyone here is interested). So I guess the japs *can* make proper off road vehicles.
Incidently I saw what can best be described as a Land Rover school bus on thursday. Do they make a long, long, long wheelbase LR for that purpose or did I see a one off?
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