Just a Nightmare Rant!

[BIOLINK]

Get a Mazda next time.............

I love it Angelo! I have always thought Mazda had a distinctive look and Market. yet each time I look for a car I skip over them. I may need to try one myself.

[Beemerboy]

Today, I plan to call the shop that replaced the T-stat and ask for a refund of all the money I spent $128. That`s on the advice of the BBB. If they are not willing to refund or we can`t come to a agreement, then I`m gong to file a complaint with the BBB, BAR and AAA. AAA lists them as a preferred repair facility.

I suspect he will be willing to find and agreement, since I spent about 500 more bucks to find out his mistake.

[mwtaco]

On Christmas eve while driving to my SIL house, our Camry started to run hot, temp gauge was running about 3/4 up...watched it for a while then it ran into the red. We where about to approach the golden gate bridge. Onto the side of the road called AAA and with in any hour or so, had the car towed to a local mechanic and my SIL two children came and picked us up, plus drove us back home that evening.

Got a call from the mechanic on Monday (surprised he was open) its the thermostat, changed that out. Picked up the car and while driving back it starts running hot AGAIN! Speaking with my neighbor retired Toyota mechanic said it could be the water pump failing. Car has 163K so I changed the water-pump and timing belt, mechanic said you should change the temp sensor..OK...go to pick up the car and he says the number one fan relay is not working and the cooling fans are not coming on..replace that relay..car is still running hot fans are not kicking on.

At this point I`m ready to light the car on fire!

Neighbor and I started checking a few other relays and switches and found the temp sensor on the bottom of the radiator was failing.We pulled the wire and the fans kicked on...however the gauge was still running at 3/4..I did a temp test, testing the water from cold to hot and found that it was at normal operating temperature..

I know have the car at a local radiator place I`ve used many times before. He said upon his first inspection that the thermostat appears to be not open, stuck or not installed right. The upper hose is hot but the lower one where the T-stat is was cool.

I hope he`s right because I`m ready to trade this car off next!


Thanks for letting me rant!

Condolences. Sometimes its not the repair itself that empties your wallet, but rather the workup to get there.

[CT3]

I hope u get your money back. I have to get an egr valve for the wifeys car (again) and that is like $300 just the part.

[Sleeper-6]

I have found a definate lack of true trouble shooters and mechanics out there these days. They seem to have been replaced by "parts changers". Everyone just wants to change the part that set the trouble code without thinking about if the part is bad or it`s indicating a malfunction elsewhere. I`m glad I can do 95% of my own work so don`t have to deal with it as much as someone that must rely on them to do everything.

I love it Angelo! I have always thought Mazda had a distinctive look and Market. yet each time I look for a car I skip over them. I may need to try one myself.

RUN AWAY! My girlfriend drives an 02 Protege. I have never had such a hard time doing simple repair and maintenance items on a car. Fun to drive, but a nightmare to work on. At least that`s my opinion of them