MX-5 OC Forum

 Hi there everyone,

Apologies to start my life in this forum with a bit of a question, but...

I have just traded in my R-Limited Mk1 for a 20th Anniversary (10 plate) mk3.5 and I am having a bit of an odd time with it to be honest. I took my old mk1 to a dealer for an MoT after years of getting specialist help without issues and they reckoned it would cost a whole load of money to get it through the MoT. Wanting an ISOFIX seat, better stereo and liking the 20th Anniversary edition I took the opportunity to trade it in and get a "proper" Mazda warranty and a newer, trouble-free car and parted with £12k for the privelidge.

Issue is that on the day I picked it up, less than a mile from the dealer on the way home, the EML light came on, so I turned around and took it back. The dealer booked it in and said that sounded odd, and after looking at it the car was returned with the light back off again. The car was then left in the garage for a few days and not driven, but the next time I drove it, again within a mile the light was back on and upon ringing the dealer it turned out that they had simply reset the thing the first time (apparently in line with Mazda instructions)

Then I left the car with them a second time and had a call to say that they couldnt fix it... apparently this is a "common software issue that Mazda has had reported to them and is currently writing a fix for" The stupid thing is that clearly the car is not brand new, so does every mk3.5 MX5 have the EML light on ? and if not (which is likely) then why wouldnt they simply replace the ECU with one that works ?

I escalated this to the Mazda UK customer assistance number (to be honest I simply didnt believe the dealer by this point) and the guy who initially took the call sounded puzzled, agreed that it should work fine, told me he had never heard of this fault, gave me a reference number and told me that they would look into it. After 4 more days Mazda UK rang back to confirm exactly what the dealer had said that this was a software fault and that it had been reported to the factory for someone to write a fix for it. Unfortunately neither the dealer or Mazda UK could give me any answer on how long this would take (I asked the day, week, month, year question and they werent committal to any of those timescales) and so I am now left in a position which is a little absurd...

Basically I have a 2 year old car, still under warranty, which is broken from the dealer and they cant / wont fix it... ???

Has anyone else had this ? Or am I as I suspect actually just being taken for a ride and should be complaining daily until they start changing things ?

Surely my logic that not every other MX5 on the road drives round with the EML light on permanently holds and that therefore it must be something on my car ?

Any comments or suggestions very much welcome!

 take the car back, get a car to use while they fix it.  if you have got one of their cars they will soon fix it. if they will not do this get your old mk1 back along with the cash you parted with and go some where else.

 Oh and welcome to the forum

 Hi and welcome ,

You could probably reverse the deal depending on how much you want to keep the car. If something serious was happening to the engine you wouldn't be alerted with this light stuck on permanently.

It does sound very odd. Be interesting to read the codes and see what has tripped it.

 I would get down the dealers pretty sharpish and ask for a refund, explaining that under the new rules for MOT the light would fail the MOT therefore you are technically driving a car that should not be on the road. Although the car technically does not need an MOT it is still an offence to drive an knowingly unroadworthy car (I know this seems a bit dramatic as the car is probably fine, but ammo is ammo in a fight with the dealer). If they dont deal with it effectively then I suggest you get straight onto trading standards.

I would simply reject the car. Its so soon after buying it and I'm certain with buying a used Mazda from a dealer you can within a month simply 'change your mind' no issues and well this has a 'small' issue!

There's plenty of cars on the market for that money so you should be able to get another sharpish

As for known issue..this is the first post I've seen regarding an engine check light on a mk3.5 so it isnt a common fault

mal jones:

 take the car back, get a car to use while they fix it.  if you have got one of their cars they will soon fix it.

Ha ha yes they don't like that. I'd arranged to collect our car from a dealer repair but just as I was leaving I got a phone call to say they'd not been able to get a part despite it being booked in for 3 weeks.

I said, "oh that's ok, just give me a ring when it's done then". Five minutes later they rang again to say they didn't realise I had their loan car and they needed it back  "Oh really?" I said. 

Ten minutes later they called a third time to say they'd got the part from a new sales car to fix ours... amazing what they can do

Rich M:

mal jones:

 take the car back, get a car to use while they fix it.  if you have got one of their cars they will soon fix it.

 

 

Ha ha yes they don't like that. I'd arranged to collect our car from a dealer repair but just as I was leaving I got a phone call to say they'd not been able to get a part despite it being booked in for 3 weeks.

I said, "oh that's ok, just give me a ring when it's done then". Five minutes later they rang again to say they didn't realise I had their loan car and they needed it back  "Oh really?" I said. 

Ten minutes later they called a third time to say they'd got the part from a new sales car to fix ours... amazing what they can do

Couldn't agree more in how well it motivates a dealer when you have one of their cars whilst they "fail" to fix yours, a few years ago we had a persistant and recurring fault on our brand new A3 TDi sport, so much so it was at the dealers every month or so, I'd tried to get them to admit it was a bit of a "friday afternoon car" or "pup" but they kept resetting the computer, clearing the fault and saying it was fine.

Each time it happened I'd insist we had a replacement car (as it was our family transport and 2 adults, 1 child and a dog don't fit in our other car, the MX5) cutting a long story short in the end they gave us a demonstrator A3 2.0T Cabriolet when ours had the fault yet again, so I just said in a polite but very firm letter to the dealer principle that we're keeping this till you either fix ours properly or replace it with a new one at no cost to us... We even went on a 3week Caribbean holiday whilst their now needed A3 Cab was parked up at the airport.

When we got from our jollies, surprise, surprise they'd ordered us a brand spanking new replacement car, better spec and newer reg with a generous trade in allowance in our favour - and that one never skipped a beat in 25k miles, so I was definitely right about the first one.

As for advice for the OP - I'd take it back and either insist on a refund or get them to give you replacement car whilst they fix that one.

NickGun:

We even went on a 3week Caribbean holiday whilst their now needed A3 Cab was parked up at the airport.

nice one !....sometimes these dealerships need reminding just who it is that keeps them going !

 Thank-you for all the advice everyone, was nice to know that this was not simply a "common fault". Thought I would take the time to update everyone on this as it may well come along in another guise over the coming weeks and months...

After my last post I decided that rather than trying to unravel the whole deal I would see it through as I really like the new car in every respect apart from the EML issue. Mazda UK confirmed that an ECU software fix was DEFINATELY required and even sent me written confirmation that it was totally fine to continue to drive the car.

After 6 more weeks with no news, I got a little bored of waiting, and took the car to another Mazda dealer and paid £58 for them to run the diagnostics and give me a copy of the paperwork as I thought this might come in useful later on. The code returned was p0131 relating to the air flow sensor / oxygen sensor circuit being out of range with a low voltage input. The technician informed me that in this scenario they usually change the O2 sensor first and then re-check for further fault codes. They also let me know that there were no technical bulletins, or advisory notes to dealers concerning this, which would usually be the case if a software issue had cropped up and caused deviation from the "normal" sensor replacement procedure.

So I rang Mazda UK to inform them of all this, and they again opened a case, rang back after a few days and told me that after re-checking this DEFINATELY was a software fault and a fix would be developed in Japan by the end of June for certain cars that demonstrated this behaviour. They also said that they would not pay for the dealer to replace any other components until the "fix" was released.... Case closed again.

So I waited diligently until the end of June and low and behold I got a call to get my car back in as a "technical expert" was visiting all the way from Japan and was in the dealership for the day with my "software fix". The dealer came to pick up the car and I called later in the day to be told...

The chassis number of my car was not one of those affected by the software bug after all and so this would not make any difference. They then changed the Air flow Sensor as dictated in the repair procedure and this cured the problem. Apparently even though my car was not affected by this software bug, apparently one does exist and a new technical bulletin will be issued shortly as according to the dealer mine was the first car they thought was affected, and the first to be seen by the "technical expert".

So...

now I am at least happy that after 3 months I finally have a car that works... having said that, I am also mighty ****** off at a few things:
1. There are only really 2 things that commonly go wrong on this circuit, O2 and MAF, so if it isnt one, then why not change the other in the first place ???
2. What is the point in having Mazda UK as an escalation of customer service if they simply believe the dealer over the customer and shut your case without any investigation at all ???
3. I am now out of pocket for the investigation fee at the other dealer, no loan vehicle was ever offered at any stage, and despite Mazda UK's assurance that the light would not cause further damage, surely having the fuelling out for this length of time will knacker my cat converters.

Lessons are:
1. As others have indicated above, ALWAYS take a loan car from the dealer for the duration and make sure it is as much of a pain for them as it is for you.
2. Dont even bother ringing Mazda UK as they are a total waste of time and space.
3. Dont expect any offer of good will from either the dealer or Mazda UK even if you are waiting over 3 months for them to fix the issue.