2013 rod knock

So sad news, my 2013 5 has rod knock, only 41k miles on her, I have owned her since 23k miles without a problem till now.
Oil always changed every 5k with synthetic and napa gold.

I never saved any of my oil receipts, but I did have all of the napa gold oil filter box tops where you write the mileage down and save them.

Mazda refused to cover the cost of replacing the motor and is offering me nothing in the way of support or discount since I didn't save the oil receipts
I don't blame Mazda for denying the claim but I do blame Mazda for building a junk engine, even when new, the 5s never were what you would consider a smooth sounding 4cly

I have never owned a car that crapped out like this, I guess its more of the same old Ford than a real Japanese built car; for a car with a J as the first character in the vin this is really disappointing.

I love the way the 5 drives, but I have to be honest, overall its not a well built car, its noisy (even after all the sound mat stuff I added, it got better but still noisy), Mazda never cared enough to fully correct the rear camber problem, the entire interior is built like its from late 90s early 00s
I always knew these facts to be true, I just so much wanted to love everything about it, its the only thing with sliding doors worth driving really.

I will take the 5 to a independent shop and have a used motor put in and give it to my wife.
I have been driving my wife's 2003 Audi A4 Avant 1.8T for the past 2 weeks and I ended up falling in love again, the car has 162,xxx miles, cabin is whisper quiet compared to the 5, the MPG is the same but requires 91, napa leather recaros and eats up twisty stuff much better than the 5.

I had a brand new CX5 as a rental car for work a few weeks ago, I was so impressed by it I was seriously thinking about picking a new one up, but after what happened with this 5 I don't know if I could do it. I know the 5 and CX5 are worlds apart and the CX5 motor is no longer a Ford but I just don't know if I could bring myself to do it.

Sorry to hear about your issue. I have owned three MZ5 since 2006 (yeah I know that's a lot but I get bored and get the new car bug often) and although the small annoyances are present I never experienced anything engine failure related. Unfortunately since you did pick it up used with 23k on the odometer the damage was probably done from the previous owner and it was doomed, even more if it was a used rental unit. At any rate, sorry to hear about this. Good luck!

I don't think any engine damage could have been fine for 20k miles or so and only show up now .
I know everyone rips on rental cars but major rental car companies follow oil change rules better than most owners.
From what I understand a lack of frequent oil changes is what normally causes rod knock or poor engine building or a failing oil pump.
I have owned a previous Mazda rental car before with no problems so I wasn't worried about it till now.
I am positive whatever happened to the motor was not normal and most likely 1 in a million

Depending on your plans for the car going forward you want to get the most warranty covered used/or rebuilt engine you can. Getting the cheapest thing on E-bay and paying somebody good money to install it is just foolish, you might as well get rid of the car. If you are upside down in the car and have to continue to make payments, you want, nay, NEED to get the return on your investment. Are you positive it is rod knock? I would go to A LOT of trouble finding out exactly what the extent of the damage is before investing in a new/rebuilt engine. I'm glad that you have had a good experience with your Audi, but I'm sure you are aware that an Audi with that many miles on it that hasn't "nickle and dimed" you into the poorhouse is truly a one in a million.

I have been looking at it and the price difference between a reman and a used OEM is minimal, I just don't know if I would rather have a known working OEM built motor or a rebuilt one that has never been run, even if the reman fails they will not cover the labor to swap it out.

Car was bought in cash, I don't finance cars unless its 0% and no fees, the 5 was used so no 0% for me.

I am pretty sure its rod knock, it sounds like it to me and dealer techs confirmed it.

If your a car guy and you know how to take care of cars the Audi isn't that bad, if you know nothing about cars the Audi will indeed steal money out of your wallet at night and have sex with your wife or husband just for fun.
Don't get me wrong its not a Japanese built Toyota but 90% of the Audi problems happen because people don't address little things that end up causing huge problems.
I have seen more than a few Audi's with close to 200k with no engine problems but once again no where near the same amount as a Toyota

how is audi and mazda 5 in the same category? two totally different tiers of cars. believe me I hate german engineering as much as anyone else. but you cant compare the two cars just because you own both. when going to look at new cars usually they consider same categories. cx-5 and crv make sense. Honda fit and 5 maybe. mz5 and audi...uh no. and normally this is where I would defend the car because of the badge...but there is no need everyone on here know whats under the hood. why I got rid of my m3. well that and how much the payment was. but no its not really a mazda. ford engine and suspension and ford or Volvo brakes. ill stick with my real mazda. built in japan made in japan protg.

Holy off topic batman! If it were me i would go with a remanufactured engine hoping that the warranty would protect me from issues going forward. Of course nothing will protect you from the costs incurred in replacing said engine, thats the worst part of your particular situation. I dont know that i would invest in the new engine at all in your case, you own the car out-right and the chances of you ever getting your money out of the car is pretty slim.

Haha I know it came off as a comparison between the audi and the 5 but I was just so disappointed with what happened to the motor; since the 5 has been down I have been driving the audi 200 miles a day for the past two weeks in our sudden 100 deg weather at freeway speeds and I started loving the audi again and if it breaks down at least I wont be surprised lol (and yes I know thats a lame thing to not be surprised about).

I miss my 2003 protege (last year they made it I think), that to me really was a good Mazda, and the main reason why I went with the 5. The only thing that went wrong with my protege was the stupid door lock motor which always happens sooner or later and the intake hose rubber cracked. But the thing I hated about the protege was its protection, no side airbags, no ABS no traction control, yes if your a car guy you don't need TCS ABS blah blah, but if you think your always 100% able to react faster than modern day electronic nannys your fooling yourself, you maybe able to while on a road course but while driving home and tired or on a long road trip...no.

And the 5 is built in Japan, the engineering on the other hand is all over the place.

The thing about the reman is the parts are not OEM they always use aftermarket stuff, im not worried about getting my money back out of it. I use it as a company car and get paid to drive it, I only have to drive it for another year for my company to have paid off the purchase price.

I am going to stick to my plan on fixing the 5 and just giving it to my wife and I start driving the audi, for the cost of a used same gen audi as the one I have I can just pick up another complete car and use as a spare lol

Oh forgot to add the dealer quoted 5k for the motor and 3kish for the labor so 8kish.

I would honestly love to do it myself, I have had the entire front end off and the motor access is pretty easy but the most I have ever done is timing belts, cvs, brakes.

i have owned my 5 for ten years and it has been awesome. The Honda in my garage has made more trips to the dealership than I can count. Drop an AUDI motor in your 5, that should solve your reliability issues.

Tushawn said:

i have owned my 5 for ten years and it has been awesome. The Honda in my garage has made more trips to the dealership than I can count. Drop an AUDI motor in your 5, that should solve your reliability issues.

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good job (thumb)

Good news, she's back and running with a used motor, used motor has 50k cost $950 free shipping install was $2k.

I also bought another Audi a4 (sedan, my other one is a avant, both quattro). Plan is to split my driving between both a4s and give the 5 to the wife. Wife isn't all that happy we now have 3 cars though since parking is a pain lol.