My Mazda 3 2008 power steering failed yesterday. The Mazda service department told me the date they have currently on new pumps is August 20th. They have 8 cars waiting to get fixed with the same problem.

 

ya so i have not had my 08.5 for a month now and they told me that it may be another few weeks before the power steering pumps come in....i have called the head office to let them know that this is a huge **** off as i bought that car for what it offers....the hatchback, the practicality. they put me in a Mazda 6 which is cool, but now i am paying more for gas because it has a 75 litre tank instead of the M3s 55litre tank, so i told them maybe they should compensate this.....they declined, also, Mazda only pays 35$ a day for a rental which is 100 kms a day or 1400kms a week.....that's not so bad, but the customer has to pay anything above....now that its summer and i have trips planned to go around and use the car i don't have, i may be hit with a bill for extra milage....that is bs...i called the head office and they said that Mazda is not responsible for my travelling plans....so now i have to cancel these plans because i am not going to pay for extra milage on my rental and now reading that i may not have my car till the end of august is pretty lame...i dunno what to do with this huge inconvenience but this whole paying for a car i don't have sucks, i went to the dealership to grab some cd's out of my car and there are three other M3s with the same problem there. not to mention my car is covered in birdcrap and filthy. anyways if any one else reads this and has the same problems lets hear them.

 

My dealership has been the opposite.
My rental is actually through Enterprise, my dealership does all their rentals through them because Enterprise buys from them.

So I don't get hit with extra charges.

Also I drove by my car the other day and it looks like they washed it.

 

some of you people have bad mazda car dealerships around you lol. I can't believe some of you didn't get a loaner car. And also to the people who have been without their car for a while, I can't believe they weren't willing to compensate you with your monthly payments or gas or something. When I had this problem I called mazda corporate and they offered to compensate me for my car payment. (were willing to pay at least half my payment, $430 a month)

 

Galpin Mazda here in Los Angeles footed the bill for my car, and even upgraded from a Mazda3 hatchbackl to a Mazda CX-7 when I told them I was going on a camping trip. It was awsome. I almost didn't miss my car at all.

THere was no limit on miles and only had to pay for gas.

I'm so sorry to hear that some of you had really bad expiriences with this.

 

Latest update on my wife's 3. Finally got it back on June 25th, was at the shop since April 24th. The dealer fixed the door dings, detailed the car, and turned the rotors before we got it back. Called Mazda corporate today to let them know that we received the car back and they offered to send us a check for two full car payments as that was the amount of time the car was in the shop. I am leaving this situation happy. My dealership and Mazda treated us right so we will be back.

 

I got my 3 back today, after only 18 days in the shop which is better than I was told. I'm so happy I could $hit!

 

Dear All,

Reading all these posts about the Mazda3 2008 power steering pump failure and folks waiting for the pump since April 2009.I was worried but lo and behold, I got my car back with the new/repaired pump in less than 10 days. However there was more to it. I took it back on Saturday July 4th and only on Sunday when I drove it on highway, there was another surprise awaiting me. If I apply the brake on speed more than 50 kms/h the whole steering was shaking and wobbling so I took it back on wednesday July 8th and after 90 minutes, I was told that the brakes need servicing and I will have to shell 196 $ plus tax. I lost my head and after a lot of haggling, they agreed to do it free of cost but yes, I wasted 4 hours. Now it looks and works fine.....not ready for any road surprizes....and yes....i will have to sit for the G test again.

Good luck folks who are still waiting!!!!

Regards
Vidya Dhar

 

What things led you to notice issues with your power steering pump? When I am outside of my wifes 08 3 (2.0 I Touring Value) and when she is pulling out of the driveway, I tend to hear the pump when it is turning. Not sure if hearing the pump outside of the car is normal, just doesn't seem normal to me.

 

Go the Virgin 1's sticky near the top of the "general tech" section of this forum entitled "Premature Power Steering Failures in Late Model Mazdas".
I listed some does and don'ts to avoid pump problems. For the record, it is normal to hear a whine from the pump when it is under load; it is abnormal if the whine becomes an loud attention-grabbing issue.
You can do the medecine dropper test too. If the fluid is red and doesn't have an acrid smell, you're fine. If it's brown and has a burnt smell, you are not.