K, time to break the record... Back in October 2010...

Year: 2010
Make: Mazda
Model: Mazdaspeed 3
Damage: #1 piston through block
Miles: 1x,xxx
When: WOT 5k RPM in 3rd, didn't get to work on time...
Mods: Corksport SRI/TIP, CP-E Catless DP + CP-E CB, UR FMIC, Forge BPV, PT Performance HPFP, Tune...

Only boosted at 3k+ rpms and never went over 6200.
With 9 months of driving it total I didn't even have time to beat on the car.
Scheduled maintenance and oil changes.

hmmm... #1 piston.
got pics?

How was it tuned?

Only pic as of now that I would be able to show is what's left over of the oil pump that got violently spewed from the block.. could post in a few hours. Custom tuned, no afr's or psi out of the ordinary.

Probable FP problem?

Tuned by what device exactly?

As an example, if the "tuning device" was a BCD coupled with a MBC then the fail is not unexpected.

:worthless: :bsflag:

Looks like 2010s aren't invincible either...

Ecutek tune. Yea had I known this was such a pile I woulda kept my 05 mazda 3 and lt1 formula, but im gonna upgrade to a ls3 maro, so yea; I'll be leaving this turd, when it was in "it's glory days," in the dust... stock. god bless for those who are making more than 310+ whp and are still going strong, I prolly just got a lemon. <-- Haha yea a lemon, mmm hmmm...

Teh pics.

Any chance you can get one of the non broken rods and piston from that motor and send them to me? I will cover shipping.

Ecutek tune?

You are the first person I have seen with that tuning platform, which still leaves tune up in the air as the root cause of failure. Was there any particular reason you didn't go with Cobb or CP-E, which are more proven?

$$ I'm betting.

And just because it was tuned doesn't mean it was tuned RIGHT. If the tuner isn't familiar with the DISI 2.3 platform, he could have fucked up any number of things.

John@theshop used ecutek. Was it him. I'd be surprised, because the general opinion of him on this forum is that he's a saint. Lol

For those that aren't familiar, it was one of the only tuning options available for gen2 at the time.

Not the first gen2 to blow Cata, John already popped my buddy's gen2 a few months ago. LilTrix, you have a failure of a fuel pump and were tuned by a guy notorious for his inability to control boost spike, enter in my friend's gen2, smitty, JTMS3, and several others.

Was that "310 whp" on John's dyno? lol

Joe McLugen FTW...not one issue to date, tuned now for more than 6 months.

John is not a saint anymore. It was finally realized that he has no idea what he is doing and is screwing up people's cars.
Now he is in the same failboat as the other John...

A warning to all those people that had John's tune in their cars... this is probably because of the fuel pump problem.

I was just kidding bro.

Any update on that blown 2010? I am curious if it was john that tuned the car or what actually did happen.

Last I heard, they are actually powder forged; basically you take metal dust and squeeze it 'till it melts, and call it forged.

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/foru...-forged-19811/

Powder forging is so cheap and misleading.

Yeah, probably a bit stronger than regular non forged, but likely not nearly as strong as drop forged or billet forged.

It's really only slighty stronger than sand cast.

I noticed that HNDA ETR posted his failure in this thread, and was wondering, given the recent pictures of failed injector seals, and Cp-e's effort to design an aftermarket replacement, if fuel leaking into the combustion chamber might be part of the problem.

Here is a link to a stock turbo'd car with the problem.
http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/foru...k-turbo-71667/

Kk an update is hurr... 2.010k ms3 got teh warranty stamp approved! Overb00st FTL

ok heres my Q? were any of you guys/girls with blown motors tuned before blown, and how about this any one of you guys/girls ever have the valves adjusted as part of the up keep this car requires.....just wondering cause it would be sweet if it were this simple of a fix..?
just curious and wanted to offer up some more possabilties. the more talk the more likely to figure this problem out.

There were some instances of tuned and un-tuned cars bending rods / throwing rods, and iirc, even a completey stock car blowing with roughly 3,000 miles.

There are many theories, which could all make sense, but it seems that the rods do not like high loads (especially low in the rev band), lack of proper boost control while driving without any catalyst aggravate the problem of relatively weak connecting rods.

There are also theories on loading the car when in transition from closed loop to open loop fuel targets.

Valve adjustments? MS3's need those regularly?

in the manual it says when you start to hear them increase in noise under the cover but with all these mods, like exhaust and what not probably wont hear it..lol

this thread should die. we figured out what causes this shit, knock.

the rate at reported blow-ups is pretty much nill now.

.

2007 mazdaspeed3
84k miles
turbosmart bov, cobb sri, cobb turbo inlet, test pipe with 3" pipe back.
cruising around 75 mph on flat high way.
cracked block, bent rod, bent valve, piston pushed out, blown head gasket.
no warrenty.
new motor and turbo with 5k on it going in this week :)

It just let go on the highway while cruising? No boosting or anything?

My money is on your fp had been dieing for a while. Constant low pressure, and probably runing lean caused tons of knock until a rod was bent. Did you ever monitor the car with a dashhawk?

no did not monitor. gettin ap next week.

and yes just cruising, almost hard to believe and no one actually does believe me cause i do beat the piss outta the car.

Thats usually how it happens

AP and then tune it RIGHT. Don't put an OTS map in there and forget it, they're usually not very reliable.

Where'd you get the new motor from?

Another one popped
 

2006 Mazdaspeed 6
Driving Conditions - 75 Degree Sunny Day
Road - Highway off ramp
Issue - Bent Rod and Clutch went @ same time
Miles - 55k
Miles on clutch - 10k (TSB Clutch)
Doing what? - Downshifting from 6th Gear to 4th Gear @ 55 MPH
Mods - HKS BOV, AEM CAI, COBB TIP, SU Test Pipe, IV22s One Step, Cobb AP Stage 1 FS+
RPM - ~3k

Taking a police report to the Police station because my girls car was in an accident the day before and the bitch fled the scene. Then this happened. That was a great day.

Nice 1st post

Sorry to hear about both of your cars. Are you the original owner?

I know right? I signed up earlier to ask questions about the clutch and then got a call from the shop that it wasn't only the clutch....
And they found out it wasn't only the clutch after they replaced it and fired it up.

And I was not the first owner. Purchased it used with 22k miles on it and it had a dealership installed AEM CAI and HKS BOV.

My "Extended warranty" from the dealership ran out June 6th too :(

Ideas needed!!!
 

Going on my way to work, the car started smoking on acceleration, black. Check engine light came on and a random missfire code on my dashhawk. With that came an awful engine knock. The engine seems to be normal, no missing, responding normal to acceleration, etc. Just that knock. "Pretty loud too" Took it to the dealer, they said they don't know what it is, but they think it's a bend rod....they recomend new engine. $7000...... I said no and took it to a mechanic. He spent 3 month trying to fix it and no luck. He opened the engine, replace belts, sent the head to a machine shop, open the bottom, changed shims.... He gave up trying and I picked up the car yesterday, with the same noise. The car still runs normal after all this. I am starting to think it could be an engine mount but I'm not sure a mount will give that amount of knock. The sound is consistent with rpm, the more rpm, faster the sound....

Anybody have any ideas before I try to get a new engine?

Ummm... I'd check for a bent rod.

Did your "mechanic" pull the pistons. A broken ringland can cause all of this. If a rod was bent, I doubt it would run, and normally causes a hole in the block.

Does it still smoke?

Forzda1 drove home on a bent rod

How does a bent rod cause your car to smoke?

Uhhhh, cause if the rod is bent the pistons is probably cocked and if the piston if cocked the rings are probably damaged and if the rings are damaged you get smoke.

Umm... I don't think it's possible for the piston to become "cocked" without cracking the sleeves. Do you understand how a rod attaches to a piston?

this thread sucks

I fully understand.
Forzda1 drove home with a bent rod. Scored cylinder and all.
/argument.

When a rod bends, excessive force is applied from the piston to the pin (which allows the rod to move side to side) and then from the pin to the rod. The pin would have to seize in order to cause the piston to become "cocked".

Most likely the scoring in the cylinder came from either the rod contacting it or broken ringlands chewing it up....

The rings are there to take up the extra space between the piston and the cylinder. There is a good reason why people ceramic coat the skirt of the piston to reduce friction; at certain points it will rock back and forth in the cylinder.

With a bent rod, it would likely stay cocked to one side.

Did your mechanic do a leakdown or compression test? Those are the first things I'd look for before replacing random parts like a caveman with a wrench. Noise that goes up with RPM means rotating assembly.

A bent rod can make lots of noise etc and not let go initially. It can also cause smoking because the piston no longer lines up in the bore. A motor mount won't cause smoking.

If you're suspecting a bent rod I would not start the engine again.

Piston to cylinder clearance is mostly less than .005". Not a whole lot of rocking action happening there...

Engine Failure
 

Ok so mazda is rejecting any claims on the engine failure... 45K complete engine failure...are there any good attornys invlved now? Like a class action...how have you guys got this covered by mazda?

In most cases it's out of pocket - especially if the vehicle has been modified. Look for a used engine.

First post and it's about a blown engine. THAT sucks.

Too late now, but anyone who blows up should read "Get Your Blown Motor Replaced Under Warranty!!!" BEFORE you go to the dealer, and BEFORE you post a fucking thing in the public section of a forum that has more private venues........
Good Luck.

i have to ask... if i was to get forged rods say from " eagle" and decided to replace the stock ones, would that make a difference? i know with pre ignition and detonation, the rods are still prone to snap, but im wondering if it will at least lower the risk a bit? also, if the crank shaft has a tendency to have "crankwalk" are there after market parts i can use to get rid of that? i just got a used ms3 not to long ago and im very sketched now because of this thread. and how much am i looking to spend on having the rods put in?:dunno:

What year did you get? Are there any mods on it? What is the mileage?

A built motor will obviously help avoid the issue, but the best thing you can do is have a solid tune. Avoid any knock and keep your AFR's in a safe place. Also try to avoid beating on it while below 3000RPM. I hate saying that, because it's bogus that you have to drive your car in such a way to avoid blowing it up... ugh.

Run a catch can to keep your motor happy as well. The amount of liquids that come out of these motors is crazy.

Bolt up a 3071 to bring your spool up to a safe place in the power band... just kidding, but you should do it anyways :)

Good luck.

its a 2007 ms3 with 32,000 not quite sure what type of mods it has. all i know is it has a turbosmart bov and an intake and full exhaust. works like a charm...for now at least lol

You need to get your hands on a monitoring/tuning device to make sure your car is running correctly. Do a search on this site.

I had a rod go through the block on the highway with cruise control set with those mods installed.

I'd say the best thing you could do is to get a Cobb AP and a custom tune.

You might also want to invest in a high pressure fuel pump upgrade with those mods as well. Some cars have started to run out of fuel (fuel pressure below 1600psi) with those mods.

I'm not trying to freak you out or anything, but if I could do it all over again, my mods would have been in this order:

HPFP and Cobb AP and catch can
Intake and Maf calibration with AP
Turbo back exhaust and upgraded intercooler and custom tune

I am not mentioning non power adders as those are more personal taste although an aftermarket rear motor mount makes the car feel a lot more solid when you are beating on it.

Also, is your BOV vent to atmosphere, recirculated or a mix? This car prefers a recirculated BOV as the air is metered on the way in, but not on the way out when venting to atmosphere. It can cause you to go rich between shifts and such.

I'm by no means a Cobb AP whore or professional, but it is a great tool for data logging to see how happy your motor really is plus you can get a pro-tune or tune yourself. Another tool a lot of guys use for monitoring/data logging is the Dash Hawk if you can find one.

Vibrating Clutch Pedal = Bend Rod?
 

hi i just came across this thread, last week i took my speed 3 to the dealer coz there's a vibration coming from the clutch pedal, they said it was a bad pressure plate so they replaced that under the 60K power train warranty. however, i pick up my car today the clutch paddle still vibrate when i lightly rest my foot on it... and there's a continuous (*thum noise) coming for the block....could it be like what you guys been talking about (bend rod? or the engine is on its way out?)

my car is bone stock with only MS CAI and 51K on it... if its really the bended rod, will it still be cover by the 60k warranty??? should i take it to another mazda dealer to them take a look?? or go back to the one that worked on my car??/

i'm desperate as hell right now....

should be yes

lol bended

SO yes, take it back to the place that worked on my car and Yes it is a bended rod??? detail plz !!!! >< HELP !!!

Bent.

This is just a guess but you'll probably have to wait for it to blow and hope it does it in the next 9k miles. Mazda techs are lazy and probably won't troubleshoot your speculations. They will assume a clutch pedal vibration is merely clutch related and won't look any deeper.

Take care to dealer.
Tell them to do a compression test.
If a rod is bent you'll have shitty compression.

At the dealer right now.... Let's see what they have to say and fix my ride ....

Have them do compression, leak down, and measure rod length.

lol measure rod length. Good luck, bro! Getting a new engine at 51K would be jackpot!

Omfg!!!! Mazda tech. finally realized that there's a vibration in the engine... Transmission coming out again lol... But from all the vid I've seen from YouTube about weird noises coming from Speed3s, it's got to be bad engine mount, or worst yet, bend rod, but the tech. saids all the mounts are ok.... I guess they just gonna do it the hard way =p

mazda tech fail.

http://i.imgur.com/D1kt2.jpg

takes fucking 10 minutes.

Keep taking it ack to the same place for the same problem ASAP.
Then when (not if) it blows you have a record of
a) a reported problem
b) you tried to get it fixed.

Take it in ASAP
and as often as possible until either
a) it is fixed
or
b) it blows up

Truthfully... I aren't pick up my ride until they completely fix it....all im gonna do is to drop by Menlo Mazda, fire up the car and hand the key back to them if it still vibrate...Damn... They charge me for a new set of clutch first time around... Im not going to pay another dime for their poorly designed engine...,

so mazda call me today said that i have 2 bend rods... and "it was due to water gotten in the system and it was not cover by the power train warranty, it will cost $7K to fix it..." so what the hell i'm gonna do now...

You have the CAI installed by the dealership? If you did you could try and fight it stating that CAI are known to cause this but I doubt you will have any luck.

Yet another case where CAI fails and people should get an SRI.

How does Mazda know it was hydrolock? That's just an assumption.

See if your insurance will cover it.

Yes actually Lex hits on a good point. They can't really know if it was water in the system. Did the tech present you with a letter from Mazda corporate or did they just tell you?

If they just told you I would demod and bring it to another dealership. The tech is likely just hypothesizing that its because of water in the system because of your CAI which I am assuming you left on when it was serviced.

dude, your davenport has been fornicated.

Tell them you never drove in the rain or puddles so that's impossible. Or just contact Mazda NA, it's a known problem that rods get bent.

I've already contacted Mazda NA, and they said they will contact the dealership... Or else I'll just sue them through Statefarm.... Will that work???

if u try insurance dump some water on your intake and put water in your spark plug holes to make it look like u flooded your motor hence bent rod

otherwise its fraud

Lawyer up bud. It's your right, and obligation.
Fuck that dealer dry and sideways.
If Mazda says it's hydro lock, what can insurance say to that?

Yeah..."HydroLock" seems to be Mazda's answer to this...My buddy was actually told it was "Fuel Hydrolock" but you have to dump a LOT of fuel for that to be legit.

I think in some of the earlier pages water hydrolock had been debunked as impossible (without other damage). Think some guy actually drove through water and killed the engine, poured water out of his intake...and he wasnt hydrolocked.

"hydrolock" lol damn Mazda tech don't know shit when they made up stuff like that.... It is god damn dry season in Cali. And I have CAI for 5 yrs...And I wash my car extra careful since I know how f***ed up the Mazdaspeed CAI design is... I bet the car wash guy at the dealer hose down my intake when I first brought in for "presure plate" problem... That's how it got hydrolocked.... Now gonna follow up with Mazda NA tomorrow morning ...

He really shouldn't have to worry. The Mazda technicians told him he hydrolocked his engine!

unless you have mechanical break down coverage for your motor, or your car was in a flood, your insurance ain't gonna do shit. if you drove thru a deep puddle with a CAI, your couch is fornicated.

Ah... Had a buddy who hydrolocked his lowered BMW. Insurance paid for a new motor.

The problem was I had never drove my car in deep water and it hasn't been raining in NorCal for atleast 4 months... The only way it could get hydrolocked is from the dealer when they blast the hose at my CAI and blame me for it....

last week i took my speed 3 to the dealer coz there's a vibration coming from the clutch pedal, they said it was a bad pressure plate so they replaced that under the 60K power train warranty. however, i pick up my car today the clutch paddle still vibrate when i lightly rest my foot on it... and there's a continuous (*thum noise) coming for the block....took the car back to the dealer next day, 3 days later they—call me said that i have 2 bend rods... and "it was due to water gotten in the system and it was not cover by the power train warranty, it will cost $7K to fix it..."

"hydrolock" Mazda tech don't know anything when comes to stuff like that... It is dry season in Cali. And I have CAI for 5 yrs...And I wash my car extra careful since I know how poor the Mazdaspeed CAI design is... I bet the car wash guy at the dealer hose down my intake when I first brought in for "presure plate" problem... That's how it got hydrolocked...

*** Advise Please****


Update: contacted Mazda NA and still waiting on their reply from Menlo Mazda ...

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Help me out post this link to Mazda Facebook page!!!! 1000000 Thanks !!!!!

On August 31st 2011, I took my 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 to Menlo Mazda of Redwood City service department because there's a vibration coming from the clutch pedal, they inspected my transmission and said it was a bad pressure plate so it was replaced under the 60K power train warranty. However, I pick up my car on September 7th, 2011the clutch paddle and the car still vibrates and at idle, also there's a continuous (“thum“ noise) coming for the engine block, but the service manager George from Menlo Mazda told me it is normal because “It is a new clutch”. However, I still feeling the car is not running correctly so I took it back to the dealer next day on September 8th, 5 days later they call me on September 13th, told me that my car have 2 bend connecting rod in cylinder number 3 and 4 in the engine, stated that "It was due to water gotten in the engine which causes Hydro lock and it was not cover by the power train warranty, it will cost $7K+ to fix it..."
Therefore, I would like to know how water could’ve got in to the engine when my car was going in to the dealer for a Pressure Plate replacement that ended up with bend rods. As we all know, it is dry season; it hasn’t rain for at least 4 months in the area where I live that would significant enough to cause water damage to my car and engine. The ONE AND ONLY reason it is possible that my car was damaged and touched by water is when the dealer washed my car and blast water in to the induction system after they replaced the pressure plate, which is the only cause to this problem. And now Menlo Mazda is denying the fact that the “hydro lock” damage was cause by their carelessness to customer’s vehicle, which I am absolutely not paying for the damage that was clearly cause by Menlo Mazda. And demand Menlo Mazda and Mazda North America to fix my car base on original manufacture specification with Mazda original parts only. Otherwise, I will pursuit this matter through legal action.

Derek Wong,
September 14th 2011

I was also told Fuel Hydrolock and they tried to fight their way out of it. Problem is the dealership in my case started the engine AFTER it was blown up and towed into the dealership. They tried to tell me they found gas on top of the piston....I'll bet you did. It can't move...Fail and I busted them on that, bam new engine.

I don't think my old engine was ever quite right anyways :/ Also it took almost 3k miles from the time of the fully bent rod to boom in mine since they wouldn't admit that it was a problem.

I had a dealer like that with my last car, which, uh lets just say it had some assembly issues. Anyway, more than once I would drop off the car with a detailed list of problems to fix, walk around the car, go back inside and give them back the keys so they could actually, you know fix it. One time it was a mechanical issue that couldn't be seen so I started the car, heard the noise leaving the driveway, then backed up at a delightfully unsafe speed and parked it right in front of the service manager's office door.

THAT go his attention. Hell, it got everybody's attention. Took them like 4 more days to find the real problem though...idiots!

Fortunately the nearest Mazda dealer has a tech that owns a Mazdaspeed Miata so they have him handle all the Mazdaspeeds that come in. I only had 1 warranty issue with the car and it was minor. But at least I learned who will fix my car now if I can't. FWIW, I asked him how many of these engines he's seen toss a rod. One. High volume dealer, too.

Update!!!!!!
Good news !!! Mazda rep. And Menlo Mazda are agree on further inspecting my engine oil to determine rather or not the damage was cause by water or warranty issues. Service manager will contact me tomorrow afternoon about the inspection.