Geez, your dealer must read this forum !!!

 

Y'know, that wouldn't surprise me a bit! And I'm sure w/the Internet such a big part of the world these days that they have people that monitor the various websites related to their businesses. Just go to the Quick Links tab> Who's Online and look at all the "guests" viewing at any given time of the day or night.
Once when I was at my dealer (thankfully a few and far between experience for me) the "customer use" terminals already had us loaded in the history files. I began typing in the address to check in and kill some time, and it just came up on it's own. SOMEBODY that was there got "on."

 

I am sorry you have had this experience, and hopefully once they fix it to your satisfaction you can enjoy your new car. What year 3 did you buy, and what model is it? I am also new to Mazda and recently bought a 2009 6 I Sport with 6spd manual. The reason I ask is the 3S and the 6 I share the same powertrain. My 6 has almost 700 miles on it without a hitch so far (knock on wood). Your story worries me a little, especially after reading about past clutch issues with the 1G 6 from members on the forum. Good luck.

 

FFEMT6,

My purchase was a 2010 Mazda 3 i Sport. I drove off with 28 miles on the odometer. The clutch was burned out at 78 miles.

As I searched the Internet, I found many hits where a dealer would not replace a clutch after a few thousand miles. The service manager would always say that the driver had abused the clutch.

With only 78 miles, the sales manager and service manager said they would replace the clutch under warranty and make me happy.

This story should be over, but there was one strange conversation. The service manager called me the next day. He said that he did not see anything wrong with the clutch.

My home is 30 miles of interstate from the dealership. He asked me what gear I had driven home in. I was surprised at the question. I thought for a moment said, "4th gear". He said, "That was the problem. You should have been in 5th."

I thanked him for the information. I told him that I had always thought that moving a clutch in and out wore it out. Now I learn that just driving the car in gear wears one out.

The gear ratio of 4th is 0.970. The gear ratio of 5th is 0.755. .970/.755 = 1.28. 1.28 times 78 miles = 100 miles. If I had only been in 5th, I could have gotten 100 miles out of that clutch. My bad!

 

Add to your correct reasoning and arithmetic the fact that the lower the gear you're in, the less the wheel load torque is transmitted via the clutch to the engine driveshaft, then that pathetic argument is patently nonsense. Are these people serious when they come up with this stuff, or are they just mouthing off something in accordance with some corporate doctrine?
If you suspect your clutch is not what it should be, check for pedal free play, firm resistance to application, and a snappy return on release. If those are OK, then that means the clutch plate is as fully decoupled from or engaged with the drive plate as you the driver can make it.
If in the linkage, or inside the clutch actuating mechanism there are losses, frictions or obstructions which prevent the clutch fork or springs from applying their full mating pressure to the drive plate, or if the clutch spring forces are just too puny to do the job, or the lining load bearing material or area is insufficient, there is not a thing that you, the driver, can do about it.
Now if you'd done that trip to the dealer in FIRST instead of FOURTH gear, the load that poor clutch of yours had to transmit back to the engine would have been reduced by the gearbox ratio between fourth and first, so you didn't do just one bad, you did two: you listened to that **** and bull story about FIFTH gear too!
So next time, you listen up to this forum boy, and you keep them gears in FIRST, you hear?
Y'know, sometimes you don't know whether to laugh, cry, or just s**t and go blind !
Have a great day !

 

I totally agree with oldeng LOL. Well, thats providing I had a clue what it all meant. I wish I had half the knowledge about automotive mechanics that most members on this forum have forgotten in their lifetime. I do understand that the story your dealer was trying to feed you about 5th gear is ludacris however. So this means when I first got my 6spd manual, and drove in 5th forgetting about 6th on the interstate on a few ocassions, I should be expecting some sort of clutch failure any day now. I hope they get this resolved soon for you.

 

I'm not an expert, but have been driving our new mazda5 sinse march 2008. I have three children, am the only driver, and by no means abuse my car. From time to time will suddenly get this awful burning/fish stench throughout the car. Started the first month we had the car. Have mentioned to dealer on several occasions as we bought the service package as well. They told me it was probably undercoating and such burning off, and would eventually stop. Last week noticed that the car had no "pickup" when changing gears and would rev high. Immediately took it into the dealer (halifax, ns) and told them the problem. Service manager said he has never heard of a burning/fishy smell before. They called me and said the clutch had slipped, needed to be replaced, was entirely user error, and would cost me $1275.00 as this was a "wear and tear item" like brakes, not covered by my warranty. Called Mazda canada head office, was told that they defer to the service manager, so essentially, I have no recourse.

Also lost power steering on two separate occasions, which is covered, and they replaced the power steering column. As well, bushings had to be replaced, made a knocking noise.

Our other manual transmission has over 100,000 km's and the clutch is perfect. Never had this problem with a vehicle before, and pretty sure that this is not caused by "user error" as they would like me to believe.

Oh, and just for fun, they couldn't finish it on Friday, so I am carless for the long weekend (thanksgiving). They did offer to rent me a vehicle for $29.95/day. I think I would rather walk than give another penny to Mazda....

 

Lorigo33,

The service manager said that he had never heard of a burning/fishy smell before. I must question his truthfulness. Here are two webpages:

http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148584
http://askville.amazon.com/SimilarQu...use-smell-died

Doing a find on "clutch" will show you that a fishy odor signals a burning clutch. If you smelled it in the first month, then the clutch was slipping when your Mazda5 came from the factory.

The action by this dealership raises at least two issues -- for Mazda. First, by intentional bad problem diagnosis, the dealership is making you and other customers doubt the quality of Mazda. Second, the bad diagnosis does hurt the quality of Mazda. Mazda must be getting defective clutches. Either the source is defective or the installation is flawed. By the dealership denial, Mazda will never know Mazda has a problem. The service manager told Mazda that Mazda just has bad drivers.

I wish I could get through to Mazda and tell them that they have a clutch quality problem. Mazda should have fixed your clutch that first month.

 

Add one more Mazda 5 clutch burnout. My 2008 has 31K miles and clutch is likely toast (but not confirmed by mechanic yet). Slipping like crazy in every gear.

Before buying this Mazda (new), I had not driven a manual for about 8 years. So when I noticed first gear clutch 'jumping' or stutter, I thought it might just be my own fault, and that I'd eventually learn to find the sweet spot. However, that never seemed to happen. The only way to avoid the problem was to start out with high rpm and let out clutch very slowly. Of course, this became worse over time and now the clutch seems shot.

After reading the many complaints, it seems gene_sammons is correct. This is a Mazda defect (parts or installation) and not driver error or normal wear.

Since Mazda (like any other dealer service department) is committed to avoiding the problem and pushing the blame onto the customer, where does one go to make sure this problem is being recorded and tracked?

 

I bought a Mazda5 with manual transmission in May. The car has done just 7500 miles and the clutch needs replacing. The dealer says it is not covered by warranty but there is a 1-year, 12,000 mile warranty on all new cars, right? My wife and I have driven manual transmissions for 30 years so this is not down to "bad" driving.