VICS concern proposal

[woofy]

Hi all,

I had a friend come up this week and excitedly tell me that there is a big fault with SP20s where the butterfly valves come loose and kill your engine. Apparently more and more people are seeing this and suffering horrible consequences and the reputation of SP20s is dropping like crazy. And yes I've seen the ones happen on here, but please send your details to me as well, there have been so many that I have to leave the onus on you to let me know the whole deal.

I've had a chat with the Mazda HQ guys numerous times as well as two dealers, it appears they see it lots, but the recall for the 2003 onwards models may have been just to cover the ones still under warranty and may not have been the whole truth.

It is definitely not limited to just the VIN numbers they recalled but in fact across the entire range. The prospect of a dead engine is not nice, and I'm about to go an get them to check and tighten our SE20 before hell breaks loose but I'm not impressed with the action (or lack thereof) of Mazda. Therefore I would like to document and put forward to Mazda a "letter of action" to get them to at least offer a check at a discounted price if not free, as this is not a small fault, and they need to be held accountable.

So I would like as many of you with SP20s to send in your VINs (by PM if you want), brief details and maybe a contact number for me to add to the letter. I'l post up a copy of the said letter before sending so if anyone is unhappy with their name being on it, they can get it removed. If yours failed, even better Mazda are making out that noones has failed.

So to start, send details as per below. If you can get friends with them to pass on the details please do.


eg

2002 323 Sports edition, VIN number XXXXXX, First name, last name. Contact number, 89,000kms, had it fixed/checked yes or no (was yours dodge?- especially of interest here is if it was outside the VIN but you found them loose. worried about it?), or had yours ruined? Details of costs involved.

I'd suggest PMing most of the details to me, but feel free to post in reply the basics here if you like and let me know if you have sent the details. I'm not going to wait forever for everyone so be quick. I have written up the skeleton of the letter, and will post in a few other Mazda forums and collate the data.

[marcs_sp20]

So if this letter of action actually gets someones attention, whats gonna happen to the people thats just had it fixed, can they be deemed "at fault" and get some sort of compensation... Cause as u know, i lost out, $3300 & without a car for near 6 weeks...

Anyways a PM shall be hitting your inbox soon (gathering info)

[woofy]

You know Marc, they will probably never claim to be "at fault" After the talk I had on the phone with them they very well knew what was going on, and you could tell they were sticking with the original VIN numbers and pretending nothing else had been happening. In the case of people who fall within the VIN numbers they will probably say its their own fault for not bringing it in, but outside of that, they really have no excuse. I would be happy if they just include it in routine servicing at close enough intervals to pick it up.

I tend to like to bring to their attention facts, if they say its not happening, it would be good to have cold hard evidence to prove the contrary.

[spedwards]

2003 SP20, just ticked over 5 years 100,000 KMs when all hell broke loose. 3 screws backed out, one butterfly let loose and destroyed the others, only two scews were found when checking the IM after engine replacement. All up it cost me probably a touch over $2000 to get going again ($180 thread repair and $200 coil pack after spark plug incident, $1295 replacement engine plus other bits and pieces along the way) and a very very long weekend

When I spoke with my local Mazda after the incident the guys wished me luck and said that if it was serviced religiously at a dealer I might be OK (of course we hadn't...). Thought I'd give Fair Trading a go before getting on Mazda Australia and they said there was basically nothing that could be done legally as the car was out of warranty and the official recall hadn't covered my VIN.

I think if anything happens it would only be if you can successfully guilt them into action. Might be worth getting onto A Current Affair and getting Eddy onto the case!

I'll PM details when i get a chance to check the VIN.

[70NYD]

i wish you guys the best of luck. i liek the current affair idea. as much as i hate that show, public shaming allways works on corporations

[arden]

Ill email you my details tonight dave!

[FOX33N]

PM Sent

Because the Only Problems i have had from this car is recalled Problems, Which my Vin Number is Not Under- but it should be, I'ts Stuiped!!!
Coil & Now VICS, Good choice is cars Cassie..lol

EDIT: I sent a Email to them, Expressing my Unhappiness, and that my car should be fixed by mazda under the VICS recall.

Cheers
cass

[zappy65]

DO IT DO IT!!!! I would love to screw over Mazda with this stuff, i think its rediculous that Mazda can say it only happened on a certain VIN class when all the others are falling to bits and the same thing is happening...Mazda Aust. should indeed re-imburse or pay for the repairs/ inspections. This proves how much corporations care about their customers...certainly alot less then money :P....

[marcs_sp20]

Originally Posted by zappy65

DO IT DO IT!!!! I would love to screw over Mazda with this stuff, i think its rediculous that Mazda can say it only happened on a certain VIN class when all the others are falling to bits and the same thing is happening...Mazda Aust. should indeed re-imburse or pay for the repairs/ inspections. This proves how much corporations care about their customers...certainly alot less then money :P....

If I were to get back what I had to repay the dealer to fix ($3300), that'd be a big woot woot!!!

Yeah I also like the ACA idea aswell, I mean i can remember a bloke having soo many probs with his Mx5 & also someone with a lemon XR6T, got a lot of hype and in the end the car manufactures coughed up...

Anyone watch ACA last night? My old work was on there (dixon homes) for being assholes to families that were promised built houses ...

[woofy]

I'll give them a reasonable chance to respond at first, and if nothing comes of it, I will them move onto the next level.

[marcs_sp20]

Any news woofy?

[woofy]

Yep and no, haven't sent it, but need to revise it. Can't say too much, but I know exactly how many cars have had the prob, and how many fell outside the VIN range recalled.

Just this tidbit, its not as many as you think, but enough that they are lying if they deny none ever have.

[FOX33N]

I had Mazda Call Me about the Complaint i put in.. they didnt know anything about VICS, & said because my car wasnt in the selected Vin Numbers there isnt alot they can Do. But i Dont have VICS anyways!!

[DVS]

apart from people on forums i wonder how many people out there not on forums have had the same issue who are unaware of this

[marcs_sp20]

Hey woofy anymore word on this (even if its over 2 years old now... )

Reason I brought this back up was that we have had 2 near deaths from 2 QLD members - Mad Mat & Ice88 both having found screws in the head!

Cheers
Marc

[spedwards]

Damn, it strikes again!

How did they go getting them back on the road?

[marcs_sp20]

both were found before all hell broke loose, so no HUGE bills like you and I have encountered

[SuperMazdaKart]

Sounds nasty... What does their fix involve? threadlocking the screws?

Maybe put a piece of mesh screen between the throttlebody & intake manifold to catch any flying screws.

[spedwards]

That's good to hear, definitely something you want to catch sooner rather than later.

[Ice88]

Originally Posted by SuperMazdaKart

Sounds nasty... What does their fix involve? threadlocking the screws?

Maybe put a piece of mesh screen between the throttlebody & intake manifold to catch any flying screws.

The screws and butterflies are actually in the intake manifold. VICS changes the runner length depending on rpm. Was soooo lucky.

As for what needs to happen yeah they have to take the intake manifold off, remove the screws and locktight everything before assembling again.