Was dropping my car for Service...

[darin]

This happens to be the second time I've typed this:

Was dropping off my car for service yesterday when by some fluke the service manager got on the topic of Politics...


Ninny-Service Manager: You see they almost got Cheney the other day?

dmp: Well, not 'almost' - but yeah...too close.

Ninny-Service Manager: I wish they would have GOT his ass!

dmp: Wha? Why?

Ninny-Service Manager: Because he and the president are getting our soldiers killed

dmp: Don't you think it's the largely-Iranian TERRORISTS who are doing the killing?

Ninny-Service Manager: Well they got us involved!

dmp: So you wish the VICE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES would have been KILLED because you don't agree with the war? That's a bit EXTREME isn't it?

Ninny-Service Manager: Yup - and Bush too! He should be taken out! He LIED to get us into this war JUST BECAUSE they threatened his Daddy!

dmp: Now that just doesn't even make SENSE, and you know it. What did The President LIE about?

Ninny-Service Manager: We aint found no [sic] WMDS!

dmp: The President never said Iraq HAD WMDs...He said we are going to war to ENSURE Saddam doesn't have WMDs. But isn't that a GOOD thing? Isn't it GOOD that Saddam - the MADMAN - was lying to the world?

Ninny-Service Manager: But He didn't HAVE any! Bush said...

dmp: Wait a minute...Bush said we THINK he has WMDs. Clinton - both male and female said they THINK he has WMDs. John Kerry said he thinks Saddam had WMDs. ALL of FREE EUROPE said he had WMDs...HELL...even SADDAM said he had WMDs. Saddam was told by the UN to PROVE HE DID NOT have WMDs. He failed to do so - So our President and others PROVED it.

Ninny-Service Manager: Yeah! and THEY are all gone or pulling out!

dmp: That tells me OUR President has enough SACK to keep fighting - and NEVER give up on the People of Iraq. That's noble.

Ninny-Service Manager: Well this all boils down to dollars. And oil.

dmp: I thought it was about Bush being mad "they" wanted to kill his dad?

Ninny-Service Manager: Bush just wants money for his oil buddies. Bush and Cheney.

dmp: Oh - So now it's about OIL eh? Well, Bush is a MISERABLE Failure then. Because if he wanted to get IRAQI oil to his AMERICAN oil buddies, we wouldn't be paying $3 per gallon for gas now, would we? Did you know Iraq - using it's OIL REVENUE recently paid of MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of dollars of international debt? WE aren't getting Iraqi Oil revenue - Iraq is getting it. So maybe that is the point - Us being there to help Iraq keep it's oil out of the hands of terror groups and countries. Maybe you're on to something eh?

Ninny-Service Manager: Well, I'm a disabled Veteran and there is NO way I could support this war!

dmp: Thanks for your service! I too happen to be a disabled Vet and I'd give my LEFT TESTICLE for the chance to stand side-by-side our BRAVE Soldiers and be a part of something BIG like what's going on in Iraq. I'd GLADLY sacrifice MORE of my life and my body for the sake of my God, My Nation, Democracy, and the GOOD people of Iraq.

Ninny-Service Manager: Better YOU than me!

dmp: Maybe that's true. Maybe people like me ARE better than people like you...

With that, the phone rang and he went to answer. Over his shoulder another worker there was pointing at me and giving me a BIG thumbs up. :)

[5stringJeff]

Word.

[CSM]

Is it possible you ran inot our very own Psycho??????

[Mr. P]

I hate running into MORONS like this! Good job, dmp!:clap:

[mrg666]

when you come across folk like that you are meeting the tabloid heads
they believe everything they read in the papers, and there feeble brains cant sort the crap out so they believe it all they are defunct and are incapable of having an origional opinion

[trobinett]

Better he "ran" into you than me.

[darin]

I told 1Lt(p) Watada about my encounter - even HE was suprised at the guy; but said he sees that from all sides.

Yup - I agree with him there. Sux.

[-Cp]

I think folks like him and others who say they with the President and Cheny were somehow "knocked off" - should be invested by the feds.... After all, by his own admission, he's a former vet - he'd have the know-how of using various weapons etc..

Yeah... he should be investigated - perhaps a little "White glove" treatment and black helicoptors would do him some good..

[Pale Rider]

Find a different dealer to get your car worked on at.

Nice job. I'm proud of ya brother... :salute:

[glockmail]

I'm really surprised the dealer would put up with an employee like that.

[Abbey Marie]

Wish I could have repped you. Awesome job! :clap:

[Sitarro]

I don't believe I would have left my vehicle with a person like that. I have found that these types can't have a discussion, it becomes an argument immediately and then they are serious enemies that won't let it go. How sick is someone that wants to see our President and Vice President killed out of total ignorance? I certainly don't remember this kind of hatred of that gigilo Bill Clinton.

When a lot of people I thought were friends of mine found out that I actually like our President they refused to even discuss it with me. To this day if I do try to have a political discussion with leftist they either start the lalalalalashit with their hands over their ears or they immediately start parroting the same shit that service manager did. It is truely as if they don't possess the capability to think on their own and they want it that way.

[darin]

Well - the Car-issues are what drove me to that Dealer Service Shop...They're doing a great job of fixing the car - BIG Back-story there...

[darin]

Back Story:

November of 2006 I suspected my car's cat was 'going bad'. I'd noticed a decent loss of power in the upper-regions of my car's powerband.

After, I noticed my car being symptomatic of the 'bad engine' (Nopower after freeway cruising). While the car was in the shop for the engine transplant I asked them about the Cat, too. He said the cat 'was fine' and re-installed it on the car.

From day one, with this new engine, the power up high seemed 'strained' - as if the engine was yanking all sorts of timing. Two months later, after a couple thousand miles, I went to dyno my car - the symptoms of no-top-end power were worsening.

The car made a WHOPPING 137whp (http://www.sph33r.net/upload/files/16/rx8jan07dyno.jpg) - down SIXTY (peak - down more than 100 at some points in the rpm range).

Armed with this data, I took the car again to Mazda and showed them a dyno of my car with the previous engine - and newer cat (they'd replaced for me the FIRST time the cat went bad). 197whp.

They had the car a week - more than a week, actually. They said the car passed EVERY test mazda asked them to performed and they could find NO faults.

It didn't MATTER I had evidence of a problem - The dealership said the regional Mazda warranty guy said since the car passed every test, the dyno was irrelevant.

I asked of the Mazda Service writer "do I have to physically REMOVE this cat, and bring it to you, so you could SEE it's bad?"

His reply led me to believe even THAT would not do anything since, visually bad or not, the Cat passed their "Pressure Test". He said the exhaust system recorded NO back pressure.

Fast forward to last Saturday. I had an independent Performance Exhaust shop pressure test my Cat. When the tech got under the car he asked if it'd been checked before. Mazda told me they'd got less than 3psi back pressure with the car. The tech told me "How did they check it? One is supposed to drill a small hole just in front of the cat - then weld it shut when you're done, and I don't see ANYTHING under here"

He got me in the car and held up the pressure gauge as I rev'd the car out of gear. The needle shot up to 20-25PSI!!!

Also - just from about 5 rev's, out of gear, to redline and back, the cat got GLOWING hot.

My car was making 20-25PSI at times, BEFORE the cat. The tech told me a 'normal' cat should read 0psi back-pressure there...but even up to 3psi is 'within spec' most of the time. He said he'd recommend IMMEDIATE replacement of the cat.

I called Mazda on the way home. He even tried to discount Saturday's test with "If it's not the test Mazda calls for..."

Monday the Service Manager at the dealership told me the district Mazda guy "washes his hands of my car's problems" and would "No longer authorize ANY repair or diagnosis." The Service Manager told me my only other option was to call the MazdaUSA tech line, which I did yesterday.

The Tech guy took my info. He was aloof - said there won't be much he can do if the dealership can't replicate the problem or find the problem. I finally said "Look - I have DOCUMENTED independent sources showing my car is not operating as it should - not operating as the car I paid for."

"Well" the tech line guy said, "if we can't find a problem using OUR tests..."

"Maybe your tests are wrong? I wonder what the EPA would think about Mazda allowing a potentially BAD pollution-control-device to operate on public roads SIMPLY because they were too bull-headed to drop the piece and LOOK at it? What is it going to take to get mazda to simply DROP my car's catalytic converter and LOOK at the damn thing?" The Tech line guy said "Well, just to drop it and look? that sounds reasonable!"
"Of COURSE it is. I never wanted ANYTHING but FAIR treatment. I don't require Mazda to do ANYTHING but their job."

I hung up with Mazda Tech and waited.

Mazda Tech line called yesterday:
"As a gesture of GOOD WILL we'll agree to authorize having the cat removed and visually inspected, and tested further. Now, keep in mind, Mazda considers your dyno test as NOT valid; and would dismiss ANY attempt to have a car repaired based on a test such as that."

My reply to his Dyno comments were this:

"I'm not asking them to accept my dyno as 'proof' - but taken in context it is CERTAINLY 'evidence' of a problem with my particular car. Compared, in context, to 4 OTHER rx8's test results - on the SAME day on the SAME dyno, a REASONABLE person should conclude my car is NOT running right. Definitely not producing the HP Maz. claims; at least in relation to OTHER cars of the same year and model."

He just ignored it.

Last night after work I dropped my car with another local Mazda Dealer. He said he'd call me in the morning.

I got the call about an hour ago:

"This is Randy from Russ Dunmire Mazda: We're going to NOT only replace the cat - which has a cracked and plugged catalyst, we're also going to replace all four coils and spark plug wires, too! I think we can get it fixed for you by tomorrow!"


"No...The Cat is FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!! REALLYY!!!!"

Don't give in people. Don't Settle. Never take NO for an answer.

[glockmail]

My wife buys a new car every 2 years, and I go about 4 or 5. That's a lot of cars in the last ten years. When I have a problem I tell the service manager right up front- don't you dare waste my time- have the part you need, or think you need, when you call me in, and get it fixed right the first time. I'm looking for my 3rd dealer after the last issue.

[5stringJeff]

Lol... Mazda got:

<img src="http://image.debatepolicy.com/is.php?i=362&img=riot4.jpg" border="0">

[Gaffer]

First thing I would be saying to the mazda dealer is that I will remember this when its time to get a new car.

[KitchenKitten99]

We don't even take ours to a dealer anymore (overpriced, and often replace parts even when they're not sure it will fix it) even if our Impala was still under warranty, we'd still take it to a local place we go to ( www.andysservice.com ) that is privately owned. Andy himself used to work for GM/Cadillac and knows his shit, and never jerks us around, as he personally works on our Caddy, and we usually get his son for our Impala. They only replace a part if they're 100% sure it will fix whatever the issue is, and if they don't know for sure because it may be one or more of several things, they will be straight up honest and tell us what the best option is. Even if it means we don't do anything right away and wait to see if the problem gets worse. We could easily save $10 ($24 vs $34) on an oil change by taking it to a jiffy lube or some other place, but we'd rather give our money to Andy's. Plus neither Andy, his son, or any of the mechanics talk to women customers like they're stupid, but always make sure we fully understand the what, how, and why about any repair.

I wish all mechanics had this shop's ethics.