Hi everyone,

Was wondering if anybody could help me. Back in March my 56 plate 1.6 diesel 3 had tensioner failure about 1/4 mile away from home, luckily I managed to nurse it back and the cambelt didn't come off. The car had only done 62,000 miles. I only noticed due to it sounding like the transit van next to me at the lights even after the transit van had moved off. All in all it took the main dealer I bought it from (non Mazda) three weeks to sort it out due to it going through on the warranty etc. After receiving the car back, I made my first journey from home and it made the same noise as it had done as when the tensioner had failed, however had plenty of pull etc. It still did this after repeated start ups etc, and so was advised to take it back in to the garage (had car for about 2 hours!). They advised me they were sending it to Mazda to 'strip it down' and supposedly check everything was ok, (I have since spoken to Mazda who confirm they did have the car but according to their system they never touched it!) I got my car back after about 2 weeks and all seemed well for the next month or two.

The car then started to make the loud rattling noise maybe once or twice a month when started up from cold. Pulling over and restarting didn't cure it, lifting the bonnet and dropping the bonnet did, strange huh? Anyway in the last 2 weeks it now makes this noise everytime from cold for about 5 seconds, appears to be running rough, and now makes a strange squealing/grating metallic? sound that isn't over-loud but distinctive enough above 3000rpm.

I am really stumped and the garage are dragging their heals, they have it booked in for August. Does it sound like it could be timing or tensioner related? It's drivable but definitely not right. When it goes in should I demand a full strip down of their work or should I be asking for something else??? Does this problem sound fully resolvable or should I be thinking about getting rid of this car as it is driving me crazy. All help much appreciated. Thanks