I was driving to work the other day, engine started smoking up bad, had to get the car towed.
Turns out the I cracked cylinder head on my cx5, and even better it’s a known issue, a design flaw and one they have corrected. Yet the people with this problem are left to fit the bill. I have it sitting in the shop with a quote of almost 7 grand to fix.
I can’t afford this fix and I don’t know what to do, I wish I could just total the car at this point.
I love my car, she has been a great car and I have kept up on the services and everything, but now I’m left to deal with their flaw.
I’m out of warranty of course and I’m going to argue with the dealership and Mazda because this is utterly unacceptable and should have been a recall!
And plenty of other people had to deal with it too, thankfully nobody has been left stranded somewhere because of it.
Be VERY careful with this advice. In my experience, those used engines are junk yard engines, often with their own problems. OP would be much better off with a machine shop, or independent shop rebuilding/replacing the existing cylinder head, on the existing block, because it’s a known quantity.
LKQ is one of the biggest providers of used engines to dealerships, and even their “rebuilt” engines are junk. I’ve seen plenty of the aftermarket extended warranties have to throw 3 or 4 LKQ engines in just to find one that’s passable enough to pawn it off on the customer.
Definitely agree! And OP should DEFINITELY make sure there is a warranty on the new engine.
Well, yes, and no. A warranty on the parts (the engine) doesn’t typically include a warranty on labor. So unless the shop is offering a guarantee it’ll run/warranty, I’d personally avoid junkyard engines.
Ah LKQ
Let’s kill quality!
We used them for water damage claims and it was like pulling teeth to get a response from anyone.
Then when they finally responded we would get a quote on some flooring or whatever and it would be so out of whack from the market, we shoulda just went to home Depot and got a quote.
Piece of shit company.
I watched them put like 4 “rebuilt” engines in a car (same car, same job). Mind you, THEY rebuilt the engines. Each one had it’s own, predictable, issues. In fact, at least one of them, they were warned, before the engine was installed, that it would have xxx issue. Sure enough, it had xxx issue, once installed and “running”. Saw the same thing play out MANY times. If it started, and could leave the lot on it’s own power, they didn’t care if it had some “minor” drivability issues. This was all under an extended (aftermarket) warranty.
I also had a customer decide he was going to get a used engine, that he wanted us to install, online (from LKQ), because it was SO much cheaper than what I quoted. Against better judgement I relented, but I warned him, repeatedly, that there was no warranty, guarantee of it starting/running, or any diagnosis on the thing because I knew it was going to be an issue. Customer goes ahead and buys engine (I warned him) and has is shipped to my shop. Engine arrives, and it’s VERY clear it’s not going to run, like at all.
Ultimately, after a lot of back and forth, customer pulled the car/engine from us, and took it to another shop, who happily installed the junk engine. Car never ran. Customer eventually came back to us because other shop couldn’t figure the problem out. Inevitably, customer was big mad when diagnosis proved what I had already warned him of. Engine was junk, and needed to be replaced.
Edit: should also add that that “warranty” they have on their engines, that customer had kept throwing in my face…lol riiiight. They full ghosted customer.