Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod

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Mon 26 Jan 2015 19:32
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - MrsJ

I'm new to this so please bear with me. My 2009 Mazda 3 came to a grinding halt last weekend. My local Mazda dealership has now quoted me £4423 to carry out the work.

I have had the car regularly serviced at my local Mazda dealership. Mazda and the dealership will only pay 10% as a goodwill gesture towards the costs. I've only had the car 23 months and it's still on finance.

The dealership have carried out their diagnostics and found no issues.

Is someone out there that can give me some advise please. I haven't had any problems with the car up to that point. It has the full service history and I am at a loss as to what to do.

Thanks MrsJ

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Mon 26 Jan 2015 20:38
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - elekie&a/c doctor

A broken con rod is a pretty dramatic failure on a modern car and is usually the result of an underlying problem (ie lack of oil).I presume that the engine has been dismantled for the garage to arrive at this result.Can't see how this can be an economic repair unless a s/hand engine can be sourced.Is this a petrol or diesel?

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Mon 26 Jan 2015 20:45
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - gordonbennet

As above, if the maker and dealer can't be cajoled into providing some goodwill (10% isn't even trade discount, so doing you no favours), i'd stop them doing any more immediately, pay them for their time and remove the car to somewhere not charging probably the thick end of £100 an hour, then get a used engine from a write off slotted in.

edit...it's not another Mazda Diesel failure to add to the list is it?

Edited by gordonbennet on 26/01/2015 at 20:46

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Mon 26 Jan 2015 20:56
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - Railroad.
Don't rule out a fuel pump issue allowing fuel to drain into the sump causing a hydrolock, and consequently a broken con rod.
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Mon 26 Jan 2015 21:58
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - MrsJ

A broken con rod is a pretty dramatic failure on a modern car and is usually the result of an underlying problem (ie lack of oil).I presume that the engine has been dismantled for the garage to arrive at this result.Can't see how this can be an economic repair unless a s/hand engine can be sourced.Is this a petrol or diesel?

thanks for your reply - it's diesel. There was no lack of oil, that;s what the RAC guy checked first. The car had only been serviced and MOT'd by the dealer in November.

Could this be a stress fracture???

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 10:54
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - slkfanboy

It’s the responsibility on the dealer to prove you have done something wrong which caused the failure. The response from them is you have done nothing wrong, therefore the engine is not of satisfactory quality and failed. Regardless of warranty the is liability and if you purchased on a credit card or via finance part or full they may well pay up. Legal advise would be recommend failing that.

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 11:10
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - RobJP

I hate to disagree, but the car is 6 years old. That means it is marginal in terms of trying to claim under SOGA for 'not of satisfactory quality'.

I'd be trying to get Mazda UK onside, if possible, and seeing if the amount of goodwill could be increased from the currently derisory 10%.

Failing which, an independent engine rebuilder, or as someone else has said, an engine from a write-off.

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 11:32
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - skidpan

The car is 6 years old, the OP has owned it for less than 2 of those.

He has no way of knowing how it was treated during those first 4 years.

The original owner may have ragged it or simply run it low on oil. The failure now could be the result of damge caused in the past.

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 15:48
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - Andrew-T

The original owner may have ragged it or simply run it low on oil. The failure now could be the result of damage caused in the past.

Really? Doesn't seem very likely to me that a semi-fractured con-rod would wait nearly two years to fail. Assuming that is the genuine reason for the problem, I would guess there has been a flaw from new.

That probably won't persuade the makers to cough up though. Might anyone be pulling a fast one? Lady owner and all that ...

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 16:02
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - Razzy

is it the 2.0 or 2.2 diesel?

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 16:43
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - Railroad.
I doubt it has been ragged from new. With modern Diesel engines governed well within their safe operating limits belting them isn't an easy thing to do. You could've tampered with the pump on an older diesel, but a newer one would've had to have had the ECM altered. As has been said, it's strange that an underlying fault waits so long to happen. Even if the con rod was badly manufactured it seems inconceivable to me that it took this long to fail. My work colleague's Isuzu is at the dealer's now with a broken con rod and a hole in the block. The cause was a hydrolock which resulted from fuel leaking internally and filling up the sump. Ive been informed that it's not uncommon either on this model.
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Tue 27 Jan 2015 19:03
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - MrsJ

It's a 1.6d TS2

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 19:26
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - madf

Mazda diesels are notorious for issues. Read teh HJ reviews.

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Tue 27 Jan 2015 21:49
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - elekie&a/c doctor

Is this the same engine as fitted to Focus/Peugeot models?

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Wed 28 Jan 2015 11:51
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - balleballe

Is this the same engine as fitted to Focus/Peugeot models?

It is indeed. It's the PSA one that has been ridden with turbo issues in the past

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Wed 28 Jan 2015 12:18
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - skidpan

Is this the same engine as fitted to Focus/Peugeot models?

It is indeed. It's the PSA one that has been ridden with turbo issues in the past

Some cars have been afflicted with turbo issues but most have been trouble free.

When you sell the number of cars that have been fitted with this engine (Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, Mini, Volvo, Mazda etc) some are bound to have issues.

We had one for almost 5 years, no issues. The person that bought it form us stil has it, its over 9 years old now, still no problems. But its been well treated from day one and serviced correctly all its life.

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Wed 28 Jan 2015 14:12
Madza 3 - Broken Con Rod - dieselnut

I suspect that although this is a common engine used by many different makes of car, the fuel injection equipment & ECU manufacturer are probably not all the same.

Mazda seem to have had a problem with most of their diesels fitted with a DPF.

They appear to have a problem with their DPF regen strategy that can't cope with all eventualities, perhaps caused by a failed sensor.

Ford seem to suffer more failed turbo's with this engine which are more than likely due to missed or extended services, but could be as simple as Ford used a finer gauze strainer in the turbo oil supply filter which blocked easier.

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