I have a white, 2004 Mazda3. This is the 4-door sedan, 5-speed, 2.3L with the BOSE/Sun roof package. My car must have been one of the first produced because It doesn't have the 2.3 logo on the doors, yet I know for a fact that this car is the 2.3L. I bought this car used in 2007 with around 73k miles on it. I paid around $10k and I was really happy with it. As of now it sits in my driveway and I put maybe 2k miles on it a year.
This car has been nothing but problems. Sensors, stuck fuel injectors, carbon build-up in my intake manifold,............
I'll jump ahead to how I got money from Mazda for all you folks interested, and then complain about my main problems to anyone willing to listen and help.
I had the final straw last year when my CD player went out. This car was only 6 years old and it had the factory BOSE sound system with the 6-disk CD changer. About 1 month prior to the CD changer crapping out, the ambient air sensor showed up on my CD screen. I don not have the leather/advanced AC package so The right side of my screen is blank. It tries to show the air temp outside, since I do not have the gauge on the car it displayed AMB---. I had just finished listening to CD 6 when the changer began to rotate back around to CD 1. IT STOPPED. The screen shows CD and nothing else. From the point on, I could listen to radio or whatever, but when I went to CD, it shows CD and nothing else...nothing moved. I was furious and went to the dealer. BOB KING MAZDA, our local dealer is full of cheapskates and scum. They have been nothing but trouble. They said it would be about $500 for a used CD changer. I called Mazda and got a hold of a woman and then proceeded to chew her out. I was furious that a car with less that 100k miles and less than 10 years old had a bad CD changer, yet my 1990 Jeep could play cassettes all day long. She asked how much the dealer priced my CD player at and I said around $500 dollars. There was no hesitation from her or in her voice, and she said, "We will send you a $500 Mazda gift card that can be used and redeemed at any Mazda dealer." I about crapped my pants. I thanked the lady, apologized for my tone, and gave her all of my information for the the card to be sent to my house. I went to the dealership with my gift card in hand. The $500 covered the CD changer. I paid $35 for tax, shipping was free, and I paid $100 for them to install it.
I don't know how often Mazda dishes these bad boys out, I do know the card said the amount can not exceed $500, but if you have a serious problem that clearly isn't your fault, there is a chance you can get one of these.
Now for my car troubles
I have one major mechanical issue which is why I rarely drive it. This may be a common problem with a common fix. It all started with fueling up. After getting gas, my car would stall out. It was take forever to crank and then it would act weird, low idle, etc. Before long it was getting worse and killing my gas mileage. I took my car to the dealer and they said one of my fuel injectors was coated in carbon and stuck open. I allowed them to replaced the fuel injector and then paid the total sum of ONE MILLION DOLLARS (*pinky at my mouth). I picked my car up and then proceeded to stall out in the dealership parking lot. It was worse than ever before. They explained it wasn't their doing, but that the fuel lines were gunked up, there was carbon build-up in the intake manifold, and that this was a common problem with the 2.3L. Such a quick response from them. I said, "If this is a known problem, why wasn't there a recall?" They had no answer.
They did however recommend the $500 fuel cleaning service(fuoops).
I had the intake manifold taken apart at my local mechanic and blasted clean. A little help, but not the problem. I cleaned the whole system with the seafoam treatment, a little help, not the problem. I used Lucas intake manifold cleaner to spray inside the butterfly valve of the intake manifold, no solution. To this day, my car runs low, tries to stall, and has half the gas mileage as before.
It feels sluggish until about 5500 rpm. If I open it up to 5-6k, it starts to pull like before but then I shift and it's sluggish again. I know this car has the "drive-by-wire" manifold that runs off an electrical motor and not a physical wire. Is it possible that this device is slow, or somewhat non-responsive? I've about run out of ideas.
This car has been nothing but problems. Sensors, stuck fuel injectors, carbon build-up in my intake manifold,............
I'll jump ahead to how I got money from Mazda for all you folks interested, and then complain about my main problems to anyone willing to listen and help.
I had the final straw last year when my CD player went out. This car was only 6 years old and it had the factory BOSE sound system with the 6-disk CD changer. About 1 month prior to the CD changer crapping out, the ambient air sensor showed up on my CD screen. I don not have the leather/advanced AC package so The right side of my screen is blank. It tries to show the air temp outside, since I do not have the gauge on the car it displayed AMB---. I had just finished listening to CD 6 when the changer began to rotate back around to CD 1. IT STOPPED. The screen shows CD and nothing else. From the point on, I could listen to radio or whatever, but when I went to CD, it shows CD and nothing else...nothing moved. I was furious and went to the dealer. BOB KING MAZDA, our local dealer is full of cheapskates and scum. They have been nothing but trouble. They said it would be about $500 for a used CD changer. I called Mazda and got a hold of a woman and then proceeded to chew her out. I was furious that a car with less that 100k miles and less than 10 years old had a bad CD changer, yet my 1990 Jeep could play cassettes all day long. She asked how much the dealer priced my CD player at and I said around $500 dollars. There was no hesitation from her or in her voice, and she said, "We will send you a $500 Mazda gift card that can be used and redeemed at any Mazda dealer." I about crapped my pants. I thanked the lady, apologized for my tone, and gave her all of my information for the the card to be sent to my house. I went to the dealership with my gift card in hand. The $500 covered the CD changer. I paid $35 for tax, shipping was free, and I paid $100 for them to install it.
I don't know how often Mazda dishes these bad boys out, I do know the card said the amount can not exceed $500, but if you have a serious problem that clearly isn't your fault, there is a chance you can get one of these.
Now for my car troubles
I have one major mechanical issue which is why I rarely drive it. This may be a common problem with a common fix. It all started with fueling up. After getting gas, my car would stall out. It was take forever to crank and then it would act weird, low idle, etc. Before long it was getting worse and killing my gas mileage. I took my car to the dealer and they said one of my fuel injectors was coated in carbon and stuck open. I allowed them to replaced the fuel injector and then paid the total sum of ONE MILLION DOLLARS (*pinky at my mouth). I picked my car up and then proceeded to stall out in the dealership parking lot. It was worse than ever before. They explained it wasn't their doing, but that the fuel lines were gunked up, there was carbon build-up in the intake manifold, and that this was a common problem with the 2.3L. Such a quick response from them. I said, "If this is a known problem, why wasn't there a recall?" They had no answer.
They did however recommend the $500 fuel cleaning service(fuoops).
I had the intake manifold taken apart at my local mechanic and blasted clean. A little help, but not the problem. I cleaned the whole system with the seafoam treatment, a little help, not the problem. I used Lucas intake manifold cleaner to spray inside the butterfly valve of the intake manifold, no solution. To this day, my car runs low, tries to stall, and has half the gas mileage as before.
It feels sluggish until about 5500 rpm. If I open it up to 5-6k, it starts to pull like before but then I shift and it's sluggish again. I know this car has the "drive-by-wire" manifold that runs off an electrical motor and not a physical wire. Is it possible that this device is slow, or somewhat non-responsive? I've about run out of ideas.
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