Mazda's Plus

Review: Took my car in, had oil change done. Picked up car and after driving a block, realized the car made a horrible sound, immediately brought it back. They checked it and said that they should have put a thicker oil in it. (what??) I believe that they did not put oil in the car. The car was there in Nov. as well. Said that it needed a ECM and Throttle body because they said it was throwing off codes. They looked into more, found the tensioner chain broke. I believe this was wrong with it at first. That the first parts were not necessary. They were just throwing parts on it. Now they are saying that they found a bulletin that could be part of the problem. I believe it was no oil is part of the problem. I have not authorized no more work. Please advise.Desired Settlement: To put my car in order like it was when I drove in. I believe there is major problems now with the car because of no oil being in the car.

Business

Response:

[redacted] has been a customer of ours since 2005. We have done many repairs on her hhr and the recent two are being called into question. On November 13th 2013 she brought her vehicle in complaining of no power and hard shifting. The check engine light was on and there were a multitude of codes in the system. When the technician was monitoring engine data, numbers would go positive and then negative and fluctuate profusely. Normally data on a vehicle stays positive and never hits negative integers. The technician recommend replacing the ecm and the data was inconsistent and indicated ecm failure. After replacing the ecm, the data responded back to positive integers, but the vehicle would still not accelerate. The technican checked throttle body angle and compared it to the throttle pedal position sensor and found the throttle body was not opening all the way. The technician then recommended replacing the throttle body. After replacing the throttle body the vehicle still lacked power, but the data on the scanner showed everything as positive and no codes were being thrown. The technician removed the valve cover to check timing and round the timing chain tensioner had broke and the timing had jumped. I am enclosing picture of the jumped chain, and valve cover and cylinder head. In the pictures you can see the the sludge build up. The customer was shown these pictures via text message and in person. We had to remove the oil pan to get pieces of the broken tensioner out to prevent engine damage. Technician remarked about how much sludge was in the bottom of the pan and in the pickup. We cleaned the valve cover, oil pan, and oil pump pickup and re-installed the new pieces and started the vehicle and everything ran smoothly with no check engine lights. Vehicle had proper power and all numbers were in spec on the scanner. Customer was told that they needed to stay on top of the oil changes, because it can cause damage to engine. The sludge buildup causes oil passage ways to get plugged up and causes the engine to starve for oil This week customer brought vehicle for a charging system problem, Customer asked for free promo oil change and technician completed both jobs of replacing alternator and completing oil change. Test drove vehicle and vehicle was charging and engine sounded normal. Customer picked vehicle up and drove off and came back withing 5-10 minutes claiming to hear a noise. Tech Checked oil on dipstick witch was topped off and wondered if the vehicle needed 20/50 instead of 10/30 because lifters sounded noisy, on some vehicles when they are not maintained dirt and deposits and get in the lifters and make noise, usually a thicker oil will help to pump the lifter back up and quite noise. Told customer to leave vehicle overnight and they could pick up in the morning. Technician checked vehicle for bulletins and found a bulletin from gm that this model vehicle has a oiling port in the cylinder head that can get blockages which will cause vehicle to make noise. The bulletin describes exact problem with this vehicle. I will enclose a copy of the bulletin as well. Service writer called customer to inform them that this was a possible problem, and that further diagnosis would be needed to check if cylinder head was reviving oil. Customer immediately declined and told service manager not to touch vehicle and someone would be down to talk to them. Her children came and vehicle was towed out. Her kids were given a copy of the bulletin and shown the same pictures that I am enclosing in this email. I have checked her service records within our data base and the vehicle has a 123701 miles on it, and I show 16 oil changes in the course of those miles, which is an average of 7731.31 miles in between oil changes done at our shop. We recommend doing oil changes every 3,000 miles, which is the mileage amount we put in the window sticker after each service. If the customer had done the oil changes we recommend she would have completed 41 oil changes. I feel that the difference of missing 25 oil changes in the cause of the blockage in the cylinder head. As the pictures show the vehicle is heavily sludgged up due to lack of maintenance and is more then likely the cause of the blockage and noise the vehicle is making now. I can also provide all maintenance records we have on file if needed. I do not feel like we should be held responsible for the customers lack of maintenance on the vehicle. Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions. Thank you for your time.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:

I wish to clarify in response to driving for 5-10 min after picking up vehicle. After driving down parking lot, I realized it was making noise, I immediately came back to see why is was making noise. Also This vehicle has an oil monitoring system that bases its oil changes on vehicle driving condition with in specification through GM.

This is the worst shop in Modesto. Do not take your cars to this shop. If you like stories then take your car to this shop. They had my car here for 11 work days and didn't fix it, kept telling me stories my dad went to take my mom to the airport, my dad went racing, I am short handed one of my guys is buying a house, one of my guys got hurt had to take him to the E.R
This place sucks. If you don't need your car fixed quick then take your car here and enjoy the stories. Go to [redacted] on Nedham in Modesto. This Guys have no respect when it comes to fixing your car. I Would not recommend them. Took My Car to [redacted] and they fixed it in two days. Mazda Plus had my Car for 11 Work days.
Worst Mechanics ever

I have taken my 30 year old Honda to Mazda's plus and customer service and repairs have always been top notch.

Marge Leopold