Anyone else's 3????

[shaggin'wagon]

Hey everyone.... I haven't posted in awhile but I have been having some problems with my 3! I bought my 3 on January 24, 2004, and haven't had the best of luck (not including all the damage done to the body, by keying, egging, 2 door dents, and a piece of tire i hit on the freeway). Anyways, first I had my gas cap relaced due to the lack of pressure, had my glove box replaced twice, still does not shut properly. I have had my check engine light come on 3 times. First was the gas cap not keeping pressure, second was purse valve (whatever the hell that is) and a vacuum hose, and this last time they don't know what needs to be fixed, the code is saying that there is a leak in the evaporation system, but they can't find it. The dealship sent out two guys from corporate mazda and they had "suggestions" for a fix, so they tried one part, didn't do anything. So now they have 3 parts on back order to see if they will fix the problem (meaning I am going to have to leave my car again). All this and there is no promise that this will fix what is wrong. Plus when I first got the car I had that weird AMB reading on my stereo forever, which has since been fixed. I am known by name by the Dealship Manager, Service Manager, and the whole service department. Last week when I went to have my car check out for the most current check engine light they didn't even make me wait to figure out why it was on before they gave me a rental (my 3rd retal so far). Anyways I was wondering if anyone else is having similar problems????? I LOVE this car, but I swear it is cursed!!!!! I would love to have it go under lemon law (which it can if the "Check Engine" light comes on an unreasonalbe amount of times) and get a new one or a 6! I know that it will never happen, but ya never know. Sorry this is soooooo long but I need to get this off my chest!
shag' (blah)

 

[r1ceburner]

Lemon law

Hey everyone.... I haven't posted in awhile but I have been having some problems with my 3! I bought my 3 on January 24, 2004, and haven't had the best of luck (not including all the damage done to the body, by keying, egging, 2 door dents, and a piece of tire i hitt on the freeway). Anyways, first I have had my gas cap relaced due to the lack of pressure, had my glove box replaced twice, still dose not shut properly. I have had my check engine light come on 3 times. First was the gs cap not keeping pressure, second was purse valve (whatever the hell that is) and a vacuum hose, and this last ime they don't know what needs to be fixed, the code is saying that there is a leak in the evaporation system, but they can't find it. The dealship sent out two guys from corporate mazda and they had "suggestions" for a fix, so they tried one part, didn't do anything. So now they have 3 parts on back oreder to see if they will fix the problem (meaning I am going to have to leave my car again). All this and there is no promise that this will fix what is wrong. Pluse when I first got the car I had that weird AMB reading on my stereo for ever, which has since been fixed. I am known by name by the Dealship Manager, Service Manager, and the whole service department. Last week when I went to have my car check out for the most current check engine light they didn't even make me wait to figure out why it was on before they gave em a rental (my 3rd retal so far). Anyways I was wondering if anyone else is having similar problems????? I LOVE this car, but I swear it is cursed!!!!! I would love to have it go under lemon law (which it can if the "Check Engine" light comes on an unreasonalbe amount of times) and get a new one or a 6! I know that it will never happen, but ya never know. Sorry this is soooooo long but I need to get this off my chest!
shag' (blah)

At what point does the lemon law take affect?

 

[mazda3zoom]

i havnt had any problems with mine, except 2day i was driving and my air bag light came one and they cleaned off some corrosion and its fine now. isnt every state lemon law different? i think in Michigan its if u have it in more then 3 times for the same thing. i dont know what the law is in Cali. but if i were you i would definately find out and see about gettin rid of that car (for another mazda3 of course.lol) keep us posted if anything new happens.

 

[PeteyBoy3K]

maybe your gremlins are real

If it keeps getting keyed and egged and now things just randomly keep getting snapped, cracked, broken, and scuffed.. I'd say you just have someone who doesn't like you and takes it out on your car.

Any downstairs neighbors or ex's you catch glaring at you?

Sounds like it's time to wire an apparatus that charges an ignition coil and sets it to discharge through the car frame (naughty).

You also should have gotten a book from the dealer that has each states lemon law

 

[frenzy2223]

My glove box is broken too. It wont close unless you pull the handle out! I had my Check Engine light come on once and they replaced some faulty airbag sensor!

 

[BrewMaster]

this is my first post here but I'm thinking about buying a 3 so I've been lurking for a while.

anyway, you can check out your state's lemon law here. it sounds like shaggin'wagon's 3 is headed for lemon status.

 

[splitvizion]

Sorry to hear. I had to have the airbag sensor and my evap system fixed. There was a leak in the system and they had to wiat for the parts to come in . I had to wait about 10 days to have the car back. No probs since. Hope that yours is just a fluke. Hopefully they will ba able to get you going on the right path with your car. I think that if you continue to have problems that you might wanna really look into some sort of a lemon law proceeding. Good luck.

 

[Dave2521]

At what point does the lemon law take affect?

takes affect when they cant fix the SAME problem after 30 days in the shop. or it is in 3 times in a row for the same problem.

 

[BrewMaster]

takes affect when they cant fix the SAME problem after 30 days in the shop. or it is in 3 times in a row for the same problem.

Dave2521, actually that is not true for California. I encourage you to look at the link I posted above for state by state laws. they are different in each state. for California it is actually 4 times in the shop and 30 days total. There is a lot of wiggle room in the 30 days so it is hard to get a vehicle lemoned on that. Better to wait for 4 trips to the shop:

"The same nonconformity has been subject to repair four or more times by the manufacturer or its agents and the buyer has at least once directly notified the manufacturer of the need for the repair of the nonconformity."

California's Lemon Law

 

[Dave2521]

true... I know in Arizona its 3... or at least last time i looked i thought it said 3... .... Also i guess in arizona if your "new" car is sold to you new when it was a demo that goes towards the lemon law.... in my case. I told my parents i really wanted a new car told them everything i wanted... the weekend before i got my car i told them i wanted to go out and get a Mazda 3. the next day i get home and its in my driveway get it in and notice there is 1.4k miles on it and asked if this was a used car. and the dealer said it was considered new untill 5k miles are on it. I was pissed because i wanted a car with like a mile or two on it. Car runs pretty good but i still feel it was a demo car. I notice every now and then it doesnt want to go into first gear going from nuetral. and sometimes it doesnt pop into 5th gear.... when i get it back from the shop (in the shop because the left side of my car got to close to a fire.... friends car caught on fire in the parking lot at work!) and if i still notice it im taking it to the dealer for a look over. though ive had it for about 3 months now and i know its too late now or at least i think.

 

[BrewMaster]

yeah, i think in CA a car is considered new until 6k miles. not bad, but i'm with you, it ain't new if it has 1k miles on it. my truck had 52 miles on it when i bought it, which is the way it should be. but hey, your folks bought you a car which ain't a bad thing.

and just so we don't have any misconceptions out there, AZ is 4 times or 30 days:

"The same nonconformity has been subject to repair four or more times by the manufacturer or its agents or authorized dealers during the shorter of the express warranty term or the period of two years or twenty-four thousand miles following the date of original delivery of the motor vehicle to the consumer, whichever is earlier, but the nonconformity continues to exist."

AZ Lemon Law

 

[sndsgood]

well this years models will have a few more problems since they are the first year off the line, but you sound like you just got a bad one.

 

[r1ceburner]

I think that what need to be more concerned with is not how many problems that a first-run of cars has, but how responsive Mazda is to fixing them.

How have your dealer experiences been?

 

[3 owner]

Problems with the 3

I purchased a 3 in late november 03. I've got the GT in Titanium.

There's a few documented (Mazda has a record of them) problems with the 3. First is the Airbag sensor, and your dealer should have a fix for this one. The next is the glove compartment, from what they told me there is currently no fix, but they are suppose to be working on one. I was told just hold out the handle when you close the compartment door, close it firmly and release handle. A problem that I notice but isn't on Mazda's list is I had an electrical flicker. All the lights in the center console and the radio/CD player went out, the radio stations and trip counters reset themselves. That happened for about ten minutes, then the next day just the lights went out, but nothing else, I restarted the car and everything was fine. I called my Mazda Dealer and they documented on their sheets.

A little weird but a great car, I still get a smile getting into that car.

 

[3Chick]

You also need to check your owners manual about the lemon law. I went through this with a Ford that I owned and because I hadnt notified Ford Corp. in writing 3 times of the issues, I was screwed. In the back of the manual there is a list of adresses for this stuff, use it, my dealer also made sure to point them out and reitterate this to me.