So a year ago today I bought my 'speed3 from Burt Mazda. Since I have had it the car has been great, and I have had no problems worth mentioning with it.

So cut to yesterday: my wife and I decided to go up to Black Hawk, and we took the Mazda. We cruised down C-470, encountering traffic but nothing major. Once we hit I-70 things slowed down to a crawl, but I watched the temperature gauge; it was steady the entire slog up to Floyd Hill which while slow took less than half an hour. We exited on a frontage road and headed towards where US6 and US40 intersect to get up to Black Hawk. As we exit the offramp my wife says she hears a noise, and I killed the radio and listened but didn't hear anything.

So we're headed down the frontage road and run into US6 & US40, and I turn right on to US6 from a complete stop. There I feel a massive drop in power, hesitation in first gear, and ... big vibration through the wheel. My wife asks if we have a flat, but I tell her I doubt it as I realize the sound seems rev-dependent. A sickening feeling hits me as we pull over on a wide margin. The car is definitely making a massive cyclical thumping noise and there's no doubt it's coming from the engine compartment when stopped.

I kill the motor and sigh. If I were to guess, something has gone very wrong. I have a Cobb SRI and iridium plugs in my car and that's it - so I know there's no way in hell whatever's gone wrong is my doing. I've had every oil change done at Burt Mazda (and had 4 or 5 done in those miles, the first at 1k) and the car only has 15,795 miles on it. I checked the dipstick and there was oil in it, and it's definitely not leaking anything, but I've never experienced anything like this in any car I've owned.

I called Mazda roadside assistance and (after a 2+ hour delay for the tow truck driver to find us) they towed the car to Burt Mazda upon my request. To be honest I don't really have any relationship with the dealership but it's where I bought the car and where I have had it serviced, and the last interaction I had with anyone was with Jimmy and it had been a good interaction. When we got there I asked if Jimmy was still there and was told no, and had the briefest of introductions to Ken.

So I'm a little nervous - they told me they wouldn't even look at the car until Tuesday, which sucks all on its own as I could use a car for work on Monday. Almost my entire interactions were through Mark, the service writer, and he didn't really let on anything about how this process was going to work.

I've never, ever had a problem like this with any car. Having a new car flat-out fail within a year of ownership has shaken me pretty hard. I've never had a car towed, and it makes me even more sad that it's the car I've liked most out of everything I've owned.

What are your thoughts about how to proceed with Burt's service department on this? With what might be engine failure at hand I'm a little irked that they told me they wouldn't even look at the car until Tuesday, and Mark's demeanor was kind of strange; he didn't seem exactly sympathetic. I just feel like I have no idea what will happen. Sorry for the rambling, just bummed about the car and unsure how Mazda will try to proceed with this.

Damn, sounds scary, sorry to hear that. If it helps, I got towed yesterday and have to wait til Tuesday also for gateway to look at the car. Good luck with your repairs. Let us know how it goes.

It's not that big a deal. They have the car. Usually it's first come first served, so when a tech gets open, they'll look at it. Then they determine what's wrong. Then they'll most likely determine that it's a warranty issue. Then they'll fix it. It's not going to happen overnight, so be patient. Sounds like it should be a warranty issue, and if so, Mazda will provide you with a rental.

So the car needs an engine. Burt Mazda has told me that I am approved to get a new short block (no word on whether that will come with a new turbo or not but I doubt it.) As they tear into it they said they will let me know what they find as the cause of the problem, but the diagnostics they ran on it merited a new motor according to a Mazda 'tech line'. Does that jive with what you know dommo?

damn, that sounds like a big problem if an MZR engine epically failed within a year..

if the turbo is fine, i doubt they would replace that too.

keep us updated, im interested to know what went wrong.

Did you let them know you are a CMZC member? Maybe they can give us all the scoop. Better to work together, than as a bunch of individuals.

Tremek, please let me know how you were/are treated from start to finish at Burt. Thank you! Best of luck!

So far my primary point of contact in the service department has been Mark and he has been very courteous and responsive. He set up a rental for me yesterday and things are generally going as well as can be hoped for. Re: being a CMZC member, when Mark called me Monday afternoon to let me know they had received approval to move forward on an engine, he let me know that Jason in their department knew I was a CMZC member. I'm not sure if Jason saw this thread or not but at the very least Burt already knew!

For what it's worth Mark quoted $4500 for the short block part and mentioned it would be more like $3900 with the CMZC discount or something along those lines, although I'm not sure how that makes any difference with a warranty claim. I didn't get the impression that included labor but I could be wrong on that. I guess that's something to keep in mind for the future... That's an expensive repair.

Sounds like the engine was put under full load below 3k rpm. This scenario has happened multiple times around the country. The speed cars have a factory tuned lean spot around 3k, with enough engine load the motor goes. Sorry it happened toyou, but glad they are replacing it under warranty.

Tremek wrote:So far my primary point of contact in the service department has been Mark and he has been very courteous and responsive. He set up a rental for me yesterday and things are generally going as well as can be hoped for. Re: being a CMZC member, when Mark called me Monday afternoon to let me know they had received approval to move forward on an engine, he let me know that Jason in their department knew I was a CMZC member. I'm not sure if Jason saw this thread or not but at the very least Burt already knew!

For what it's worth Mark quoted $4500 for the short block part and mentioned it would be more like $3900 with the CMZC discount or something along those lines, although I'm not sure how that makes any difference with a warranty claim. I didn't get the impression that included labor but I could be wrong on that. I guess that's something to keep in mind for the future... That's an expensive repair.

Very good to hear! Keep me posted

Sorry to hear about the car. Glad to hear it will all be taken care of under warranty! Please let us know what Mazda determines as the cause of the failure.

I try to look out my the CMZC. I'm glad Mazda approved it. I didn't want you to have to spend anything out of pocket.

bobopud wrote:Sounds like the engine was put under full load below 3k rpm. This scenario has happened multiple times around the country. The speed cars have a factory tuned lean spot around 3k, with enough engine load the motor goes. Sorry it happened toyou, but glad they are replacing it under warranty.

The thing is there was no point during the 40+ miles I had been driving the car that day at which I had the car at full load under 3k RPMs. I'm very rev-conscious and I know better than to floor it and bog the engine. The minute or so preceding the failure consisted of me passing in 3rd gear with RPMs between 4000-5500, and then letting engine braking in 3rd take me back down to around 4500 RPM at which time I remember upshifting to 5th and coasting down the hill, and eventually coming to a stop with little or no throttle input. I went to turn right and accelerate (gently) from a dead stop and that's when things went south.

jt2589 wrote:I try to look out my the CMZC. I'm glad Mazda approved it. I didn't want you to have to spend anything out of pocket.

Very much appreciated! I'm looking forward to getting the car back when it's ready. By the way - I mentioned this to Mark as well - I will be in Hawaii from the 16th through the 24th of this month, and I am going to make sure to turn in the rental for the 8+ days I won't be in the state so you guys don't foot the bill for a car that isn't being used.

Wow...engine failure when under full load under 3K rpm? I'd never heard of that. WIll have to make sure I never do that. Ugh...more things to worry about with a Mazdaspeed vehicle.