My Mazda6 is currently at its 55,000 miles mark. I bought it at a certified dealership when it was at its 20,000 miles mark. I have serviced it regularly at a Mazda dealership regularly and had no issues with it until an engine check light came up last month. I took it back to the Mazda dealership service and they diagnosed it to be a converter issue and as they did not have stock they ordered it and told me it was fine to drive around until then. It took two weeks for the part to arrive and in the mean time my car started to make some rattling sounds and wasnt running as smoothly. I took it back to the dealership and they fixed the part but they had no clue regarding the sound of my car. They told me to drive around and see if it goes away. On my return from the dealership the car stopped at a traffic signal, the sound became worse and the check engine light turned ON. Now they think it is an engine failure and nobody knows why??? Now it is costing me $7,000 .....I did not have an extended warranty on the car. I am screwed. I called Mazda and they offer a mere $2500 assistanship....Does anyone have any comments on this. I would appreciate if you can advise me regarding what I should be doing regarding the car, getting more help/assistanship etc.

Thanks,
OP

 

I had the same thing. Lost my engine at 81k. Engine blew and 1.5 qts of oil ended up in the cats which also needed to be replaced.
I had dealer service the first 30k, but then I was working in a garage so had no need to have the dealer do the maintainence.
Mazda North America was NO help, denied any problem exists with these cars. I've heard tons of horror stories about how normally maintained V6s fail and Mazda will not take responsibility, even under warranty.

I ended up with a remanufactured engine from a third party and independent mechanic @$50/hr (Mazda replacement engines are also remanufactured) with a 4 year parts/labor warranty. Engine, two front cats, starter, clutch came to about $6500.

 

I have heard numerous complaints on various Mazda boards of premature V6 failures on Mazda6 vehicles. Does Mazda use the same V6 that Ford uses in the Fusion? If so, why don't we hear of lots of failures in the Fusion models?

 

Just to add my experience. My Mazda 6 engine failed after 40K miles. Ridiculous. The dealer wanted $7,000 to replace. The part that failed was one Mazda had replaced - the oil filter. I am still working on getting Mazda to foot some of the bill. Ridiculous.

 

If a Mazda dealership did the oil change and the gasket on the filter housing failed to hold, then it is up to the dealership to pony up for a new motor for you (at their complete expense), not Mazda. Time to talk to a lawyer.

 

What year are you talking about here?

 

Man, i am really sorry to hear about the engine problems. I hope you can get it sorted out one way or the other. I would say if you fail to get Mazda to pay for it, which is the most likely outcome, i would at least take the $2500 they are offering to cut doen the costs.

 

I'm curious about this. I just picked up a 04 Sport Wagon with the 3.0L. I didn't notice it at first, but every time I start, it had a blue smoke from the exhaust and smells like oil. Now the check engine light is on for cat code. I'm worried that I'm going to have to put a motor in this. Didn't plan on that. Great car except for this issue..

 

Sorry to hear it. If you just bought your wagon from a dealer you might look at returning it.
On a positive note, the cat is normally covered by a longer warranty-- something like 80,000 miles.

 

First off, it seems I have heard of more problems occurring with the V6. Which happens to be a Ford engine. I have 75,000 miles on my I4 and it purrs nicely. Sorry to hear some of your guys have problems.