Sorry to hear this. Whoever had that car before was a complete hack. I don't know where you live ( update your location) , but in the state of VA a dealer has to issue a valid Inspection sticker on a car before selling it and this does include proper emission devices. Did the window sticker disclaim "as is"? Was it sold to you as a retail or wholesale purchase?
I bought a lemmon/money pit M3HB.. Urgent help/advice needed
3
Hey all!!
[important question right up front goes here] Isnt it required by law that a dealership selling you a car and who is takeing care of registration/title for you, that the car passes safety and emissions before they sell it to you?? I guess my car is supposed to have several catalytic converters and the mazda mechanic only found 1, which he said would almost guarantee a failed test. That might be my only leverage to get rid of my car and get my money back.. All of the "mods" done to the car were from the previous owner who supposedly had is own body shop..
First of all this thread is connected to my previous previous thread I made, in which I was having trouble with rough cold starts on my M3HB
I finally got it in to the local Mazda dealership today to have them look at it.. I thought it was going to be a simple fix but it turns out there is a whole crap load of problems..
Lets start out with the exhaust manifold.
![]()
Circled is the O2 sensor that is supposed to be monitoring all cylinders, but as you can see, with the aftermarket manifold that was put on, the sensor is only plugged into 1 of the cylinders.. The mechanic at the Mazda dealership said the manifold looked as though it wasn't even designed for the car.. The arrow is pointing to a pipe coming out of the manifold with nothing connected to the end..
And it gets better.. Next we have the fuel pump which the service guy said was the only thing he could replace under warranty.. Hour or so later he calls me up and said he cant cover the pump and I need to leave work and come look..
![]()
Your looking at the car underneath where the rear seats go cause that's where the access to the fuel pump is.. What is that covering where the pump goes?? That's right! bubble wrap and a square cutout of a Pizza Hut box taped to the car. and underneath that is the pump
![]()
They put in an aftermarket fuel pump and because its so much bigger then stock, they had to cut the car up.
It looks as though the guy who did these mods didn't know what he was doing, everything looks sloppy, they even found silicon grease or whatever on part of the manifold which the mechanic said isn't even supposed to be there..
The ultimate problem of my car starting so rough is the fact that its not keeping the gas pressurized when my car is off, that all the fuel is being returned to the fuel tank.. It was recommended that I buy a new stock manifold, stock fuel pump, new sparkplugs, fix a broken motor mount, buy the missing necessary catalytic converters and a couple other things..
I see I only have 2 choices right now.. Spend all the money fixing it or trying to get the dealer I bought it from to accept some liability for not finding out all these issues during inspection before they sold the car.. I want to kick my own ass for not being smart enough to see all this shit before I bought it..
Sorry for the long post but any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks alot guys
[important question right up front goes here] Isnt it required by law that a dealership selling you a car and who is takeing care of registration/title for you, that the car passes safety and emissions before they sell it to you?? I guess my car is supposed to have several catalytic converters and the mazda mechanic only found 1, which he said would almost guarantee a failed test. That might be my only leverage to get rid of my car and get my money back.. All of the "mods" done to the car were from the previous owner who supposedly had is own body shop..
First of all this thread is connected to my previous previous thread I made, in which I was having trouble with rough cold starts on my M3HB
I finally got it in to the local Mazda dealership today to have them look at it.. I thought it was going to be a simple fix but it turns out there is a whole crap load of problems..
Lets start out with the exhaust manifold.
Circled is the O2 sensor that is supposed to be monitoring all cylinders, but as you can see, with the aftermarket manifold that was put on, the sensor is only plugged into 1 of the cylinders.. The mechanic at the Mazda dealership said the manifold looked as though it wasn't even designed for the car.. The arrow is pointing to a pipe coming out of the manifold with nothing connected to the end..
And it gets better.. Next we have the fuel pump which the service guy said was the only thing he could replace under warranty.. Hour or so later he calls me up and said he cant cover the pump and I need to leave work and come look..
Your looking at the car underneath where the rear seats go cause that's where the access to the fuel pump is.. What is that covering where the pump goes?? That's right! bubble wrap and a square cutout of a Pizza Hut box taped to the car. and underneath that is the pump
They put in an aftermarket fuel pump and because its so much bigger then stock, they had to cut the car up.
It looks as though the guy who did these mods didn't know what he was doing, everything looks sloppy, they even found silicon grease or whatever on part of the manifold which the mechanic said isn't even supposed to be there..
The ultimate problem of my car starting so rough is the fact that its not keeping the gas pressurized when my car is off, that all the fuel is being returned to the fuel tank.. It was recommended that I buy a new stock manifold, stock fuel pump, new sparkplugs, fix a broken motor mount, buy the missing necessary catalytic converters and a couple other things..
I see I only have 2 choices right now.. Spend all the money fixing it or trying to get the dealer I bought it from to accept some liability for not finding out all these issues during inspection before they sold the car.. I want to kick my own ass for not being smart enough to see all this shit before I bought it..
Sorry for the long post but any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks alot guys
