Tried to get some warranty work done today and got denied.
 

I hate dealing with stealerships! So I take my car in because my turbo is making a sound similar to a supercharger when it is spooling and producing boost. I know its normal to hear the turbo but I usually can only hear it at night with the windows down, but now I can hear it windows up or down & around other cars - its LOUD.

I take the tech for a drive and he hears the supercharger whine type noise and then we drove a 2011 they had on the lot (with 50 hard miles on it) and neither one of us could hear the noise on that car. I asked why my car would suddenly just start doing it randomly out of the blue after 11,500 miles and they couldn't give me any answer. So the service adviser tells me that they cant do anything because its "normal" and that I would have a check engine light if I had a small boost leak or if my turbo had a bent impeller shaft (I specifically brought that up to see if he would say it would or wouldn't have a check engine light).

I'm not a car mechanic but I am a technician and I seem to have a better grasp on the word "troubleshooting". So they sent me on my way, but I did call Mazda HQ and complained... just seems to me they don't want to do the work on a car that's covered under warranty (also paid for the extended warranty).

For the record - my issue is when I go full throttle in 2nd or 3rd gear (it happens in all gears but those are the easiest to hear) from 3000 rpm to 4000 rpm once the turbo has full boost you can hear this terrible whine. Also the 2011 feels so much different than my 2010 - the shifter feels vague, and the clutch felt like mush compared to the 2010's muscle building clutch LOL.

go DL the service manual on here, print out the ENTIRE DTC list and bring it back in. ask the service manager to show you the possible CEL that would be attributed to the turbo failure.

I just had mine replaced under warranty.

First, a suggestion. Go to a different dealer

Second, a question. Do you have an aftermarket intake or tip or both? Is so, remove them.

But basically, I heard the same thing from my mazda dealer... "We can't replace the turbo until the unit FAILS". In essence, if your car still drives ok, even though it makes crazy noises, they are going to be reluctant to fix your shit. I had the whining noise too (for over a year), but not until it started smoking would the dealer consider a replacement. But once it did smoke, they replaced it with very little hassle.

The 2011 feel that different? I thought it was the same clutch

Wouldn't surprised if your car feels different because its broken in. As far as turbo noise, go to a different dealer if you can.

Nope no mods, its stock - I had a boost gauge but took it off for other reasons. Oh and the car has 11,500 miles...

I'll try another dealership, but was thinking to replace the bpv gasket first? I ended up calling Mazda hq and they will be calling me back sometime I hope lol. I just felt like they were doing what they could to just not do anything.

Dealers amaze me- they get paid by mazda to replace parts via warranty! All the tech does is claim the new part fixed the issue, regardless if the part is defective or not.

The mechanics get paid for being at work not for work compelted. At least that's my understanding.

the DEALERSHIP gets paid from mazda, but MAZDA as a company loses money on warrenty work.

i'm sure dealerships have "target goals" and such to reach each month/year/fiscal year.

Humm not sure about all the dealerships, but around here they get paid for the job not for being there.. And they get paid by book hours not actual hours.. So if the job says 10 hours and they do it in 6 bonus. They get paid for 10.. if it takes them 15, then they are screwed they still also only get 10..

Precisely. Techs make no money by standing around.

The techs who are hourly usually do very limited diagnosis work. But the ones that do get paid anyway. The techs that flag hours usually get paid <1 hour for diag work. I doubt they looked at it for more than an hour so chances are they got paid accordingly for their time.

Either youre not telling us the full story, or you simply have an incompetent service department. See another dealer. Its not a normal sound.

Exactly... it IS the full story, and it made no fucking sense to me what so ever for them to admit they heard the noise on my car and not on the other car, but then say "its normal".

Im going to another dealership tomorrow - I have called Mazda USA and they opened a ticket for me after I told her what went down.. she seemed very genuine about wanting to help after hearing my story.

I ran out of time today and had to leave the dealership after they told me to kick rocks, otherwise I was going to talk to the owner or manager.. Hell my mom drove 20 miles to come give me a ride back home and basically made that drive for nothing - that pissed me off too. We never got any sort of apology or anything from them. Their customer service was the worst I have encountered.

I will see how the other treats me tomorrow in dealing with this issue... I sincerely hope its better. I just need to take my oil change paper work with me - the other dealership has done all of my oil changes for me.

Maybe if you had your mom bring the car in, you would get service.

There's really not many places for a stock car to leak boost from, if in fact that's what it is. You can go over all of the clamps to see if any of them popped off or are loose. Also check the vacuum line on the blow off valve.

As long as the dealer documented that you brought the car in fo this, yet nothing was found, you're ok. This way, should situation get worst, you have some leverage.

If you believe that it's a boost leak, and cannot find the problem, go grab a boost leak tester and check yourself. Also, pull the Stock turbo inlet pipe off and see if there's play on the turbo, or oil.

Good luck. Report back.

1. don't get your mom involved.

2. you basically brought your car in for a noise. period. no cel, no change in driving experience, just... a noise. why go corporate with that? where do you think your corporate ticket is going? "guy bring car in for noise, no other issue..." your car is 100% stock right? no worries! that's what a warranty is for.

apology? for what? sorry, we don't think anythings wrong with your car? carry on, citizen?

i just laugh sometimes when people think they'll go 'straight to the top' with their little issue. i'm sure james o'sullivan is losing sleep over the noise that sometimes-within-a-few-rpm-only-in just-this-gear-under-a-full-moon happens in your car.

go ahead, google james o'sullivan.

James O Sullivan FTW.

Oh ok so ill just wait for that CEL for my turbo failing !!!!!LOL!!!!

As far as my mother goes, go fuck yourself; she was there to give me a ride to my house since Mazda had no loaners available.

I love this community SARCASM. Most of you are great, but the others are just straight up dick bags. :tool:

fixed:banana:

Take the intake off and check your turbo. This is why my turbo whined...
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMAG0285.jpg

I bought my car used, from a mazda dealer. Just make sure you check everything because obviously my dealer missed this shit before they sold the car...

Maybe that was taken in the wrong context when I mentioned maybe have your mom bring it in for service. Service advisors always, always treat women better than they treat men.

Have you pulled the TMIC off yet to see if your turbo looks like MS3inDC's?

in all seriousness, what outcome did you expect?

"hmm, slight noise, car runs fine, no CEL...tear down the ENTIRE transmission."

"nope, not the transmission. tear apart the motor and don't charge the customer a thing - we'll just eat all this labor. no other work to be done here."

hard as it might be, TRY to put yourself in the position of the service manger. in your little world, this noise is like THE BIGGEST THING EVER. in the grand scheme of things...not so much.

if your turbo fails or your transmission explodes, you have a documented dealership visit for an unexplained noise. you're car is 100% stock, according to you. you're good.

edit - your mom

+1

+2 for op's mom

Like everyone said get that inlet pipe off and check for shaft play/oil. You do not want to be driving around on Turbo doing the howl of death for long. Bad things can happen. I did that on my old talon when the T25 went and ended up cleaning out my intercooler that was stuffed with oil and pieces of blade. Luckily my engine was spared. It is always a good idea to check the problem out your self before going to the dealer. Take pictures it will help you out.

Update?

Bump.

Update?