Okay, my car has taken a dump recently and its been a bit disheartening. I took my car into Mazdas and More and it was a bit of a shock. The compression tester they were using was an old box type thing with a little peice of paper that scrolled and had a peice of graphite to make its 'height'. I scroed about 110+ on the front and about 30-40 on the back. Needless to say they reccomended I went with a re-build.



I know a lot may have changed since Ken Durkey left the scene but I was wondering if anyone had experince with the new Ken Jones. I'm not sure how much of the 'old' staff is still arround but apparently Mark would be working on my car pretty much exclusive like. He didn't talk too much either. They didn't charge for the compression test and they seem eager for my business.



Can anyone shead some light on what I should do in my situation? Should I get a new engine or just have this bad boy rebuilt? If so, where? (I'm not sure how accurate fourm searching is when people can leave jobs and all that). What should I look to pay and any other good tidbits. I know this has been discussed into the ground (on the old forum) but i'm looking for insight on my situation as well as a bit of an update.



(This is a re-post from the rx7clubs forum, just making sure I get attention drawn to my self absorbed topic)

 

I have two mark rebuilt motors, absolutely no complaints. you might check with fc/dc and see what he has to say as mark rebuilt his motor also. Mark does good work, the determining factor is the parts that he is given to work with. If you demand cheap prices with used parts, the finished product will not be as good as if you buy all new stuff. One of the problems with durkee was that he charged for new and gave you used. I have not had any dealings with the new mazda and more, but if you get an estimate on your work and are willing to buy new parts, you shouldnt have a problem. pm me if you want to discuss this further.

 

If your talking about Mark Moses, he left mazdas and more about two years ago. He now has his own repair business in Emuclaw. Mt Peak Automotive. He was the best mechanic Ken had back then Thats the only Mark I know of that worked there. You might want to double check, before you get to serious. Some one please correct me if I am wrong.

Hope that helps.

 

I had Mark do some work on my SE and I have no complaints. I don't know if I just got lucky, they were affordable and nice.



Now back to your engine give us a little history on it...



What engine is it?

How many miles were on it?



It is hard to tell what you have to do to your engine and if it is worth re-building before you get into the engine.



What are they quoting you?



Z

 

I'm being quoted 3k on the far outside, but it wasn't too clear without a full inspection of whats going on. To me it sounds easier to aquire an engine elsewhere and bring it to them for the install and tuning. I'm currently a bit lost as all the shops are currently closed.



Engine 149k (Just turned over)

Chasis 149k

 

ha ha mazdas and more....when the old ken was there I had no problem, they replaced my clutch and put lsd rear end in my vert..... so here is my story for two months my first gear would have a loud clicking noise so brought it to them to check it out and they said I needed a total rebuild on my tranny. and i said ok. It was quoted at $1300. So on the 15th of may I brought it in and they told me it would be a 4 to 5 day job. And that would be ok with me cause my mom was in the phillippines on vacation and i could drive her car around. I also had them put in a racingbeat lightweight flywheel. I called the following week and they said they were waiting for bearings and the flywheel and they told me in would be done on the monday the 29th. well that day came and gone. so the next day I called and talked to Arnie the shop manager and he said it was taking SO long cause they were waiting for other USED tranny parts and the flywheel still. And I was like WTF so then I called racingbeat and told them my situation and they told me that mazdas and more had not ordered anything from them. So later that day I talked to Ken Jones face to face and he said NO were not using any used parts but all new parts and the flywheel situation must be a mixup but it has been ordered. Then he said it wouldn't be done till the following week because of the holiday weekend and being understaffed. So again said that would be ok. On friday the June 2 Ken called me and told me all the parts were in and it would be done for sure on Tuesday the 6th. Tuesday morning i called and ken said their tranny expert Bob was not in that day so it would be done for sure Wednesday the 7th. That morning I called ken and ken told me to come at 5pm to pick it up. 5pm came my friend and I went there and we talking to ken and he told us the problems: 3rd gear would pop out and he said bring it back next week so we can fix it. By now I needed transportation because my mom had come back from her vacation. SO I agreed to bring it back the following week. So I drove it and realized it now had an exhaust leak because it was ****** loud. So I went back in and told ken. he was like ok well fix that too. So I took it home and realized that at idle the car would shake alot. So i called and talked to ken, and he said ok we'll look at that too. The next day I washed the car and realized that my racingbeat exhaust was hanging about 2 inches to low. I got under the car and realized that out of the three hangers per muffler that only 1 of each was being used. So drove down to meet my girlfriend for lunch and realized that the car would lurch forward before going backwards....and it did this everytime. So as I started to park and put it into 1st gear and well it engaged and wouldn't move, so it was just stuck there so I turned the car off and called ken. adn told him about the what happend. He got renton towing to come and get me with a flatbed truck. So as it was being pulled on the truck the mufflers drug on the street becuase they were hung 2 inches too low. And when it got dropped off the mufflers drug again...damaging them. So I talked to ken furiously about what was going on. So he promised to have it fixed by Friday so Friday came and it wasn't done again because of parts. So Tuesday the 13 of June comes and that car is done again. But this time around they lost my battery cover, so they gave me this dirty looking one. So the reason they the tranny locked up in first was because the shift fork rods were too long. But everything that I was concerned about was no fixed. So as i was leaving the shop again it locked up in first again.... But I would pull it out with some force this time around. I ran inside and told ken. Ken and Bob came out and told me the problem it was happening again was because of the mazdaspeed short shifter, and i told them that was BS but I let them put a stock shifter and it was fine. I drove it home and suddenly it got stuck in 1st, then it released, then in it got stuck in 2nd...but then it released. But i got home safely and called Ken and told them what was going on and he said ok bring it back next week and we'll see whats wrong with it. But as the next day went by the 1st and second would constantly get stuck then release but by this time it would pop loudly in the tranny when i would shift out first and second. So as i was driving after it had rained some ******* decided to stop in front of me so i had to stop and my brakes locked up and POP there was a huge sound from the tranny and now the car would not move. I couldn't even move the shifter. I had my friend tow me home ( I was in first gear @ 25mph because 1st gear wouldn't release) So this was thursday the 16th. On friday morning I missed work so I could have it towed back to mazdas and more. And ken was there and I was pissed off. But he assured me he would take care of it. The next day Ken called me and told me that the tranny broke because i abused it....! And he told me to come down and look at the part that broke. So came by and looked at the broken USED pinion shaft! And I flipped on Ken I told Ken that that was BS cause it was a used part that broke and YOU told me that NO used parts were being used. Ken told me this story about that ALL tranny rebuild use used parts that look up to factory spec. So we argued about and he OK well send it to TRC so do an analysis on the tranny and he would wait to see what they said before he took any actions. I called everyday and Ken said that the damage looked to be because of driver abuse and would not be covered by them but Ken would work out some kind of pricing for TRC to rebuild the tranny. And i told him i'm not going to pay ****! It was never built right in the first place and you used USED tranny parts when you told me you wouldn't! SO we talked the next day saying we need to talk face to face. But I had no time because I had to work. I went back to that shop on 26th of June and just exploded on the two guys at the counter about how shitty this shop is and how they can't build the tranny right so now they are trying to blame me. They told to calm down and wait for Ken, the two of them went into the shop and I sat in one of the cars in showroom.....they walked back into the desk and a new guy was working asked another at the counter what was wrong with my tranny.... The other guy SAID....well we built him a shitty tranny but we don't know if it's our fault or his fault for it failing...but were going to charge him anyways... I popped out of the car and slammed the door. I looked at them both and said "boy you better look around before you open your ******* mouth" and they both looked at me like they saw a ghost. I walked over to the counter and slammed my hands on it, I was on fire, one of the guys was holding a piece of paper and he was shaking. they told to calm down and they called Ken, later on Ken came and it I started yelling at him about what was said and how the whole shop was a piece of ****. He said ok ok well get the tranny here tonight and It WILL be done tomorrow. As I was looking at him he turned beet red and started to sweat. So the next day My dad came with me and the new guy came out with a box of parts and he told us that these were all the parts that TRC replaced..it consisted of gears ,bearings ,rods and shift forks. My dad said well obviously the other shop took all these parts out because YOUR shop left all these used parts in the tranny. So all of us walked out to the car and my dad turned to ken and said I bet this place is barely running. As we got to the car I noticed somethinghad hit the rear bumper that scrapped off some paint and ken said oh we can fix that and I said NO. SO Ken said Troy we are not going to charge you anything, but there will be no warrantee, I said fine, Ken told me to come back next week so they can take the tranny off and adjust h clutch. I was like **** no your are not touching my again!! SO I got in my car and drove away. This was the 27th of June. Since then the tranny has been great and no problems. I changed my oil the other day and realized they never hooked up my split air pipe and that was a bitch to get back on to the back of the engine. This whole ordeal was about a month and half. I will never go back there, when the old ken was there I heard Mazdas and more was crap and I never had a bad experience, but with this new Ken... I would not trust them ever again. I would be cautious about going there. But I don't know where else to go, but for one don't go to mazdas and more. I was to NICE to them and let them push me around. I had to get angry to finally get some results. It's funny that they answer the phone saying they are tranny experts. I now know that to be not true.

 

Oh damn...well that just dropped my confidence down the crapper. What if I aquired a new engine and just had then do all the install work? You can't really ball that one up?

 

Mark Moses apparently works at Mazdas and More again. (Formally known as Mt.Peak Automotive Mark) So I guess this guy is good at what he does. I have a tight timeline, what do you all think?

 

thanks for your input on mazda's and more. i would like to say i can't see mark like that... yet i have been wrong about other people i thought i new.

 

I don't see Mark like that either. The tranny story doesnt mention Mark, and my bet is he didnt work on the car. That is a horror story, and it shouldnt happen to anybody, especially when na trannys are $150 to $250 used and a couple of hours to r&r......