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2001 Mazda Tribute

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kiselsk

Junior Member
I live in california and in 2001 bought a 2001 mazda tribute. A few days after buying it it stalled and the altinator had to be replace. In 2003 at 47,000 miles the vehicle began to stall when slowing down or stopping. They worked on the computer sensor, said it was fixed, paid nothing since it was under warrenty. Few months later it was stalling again, PCV Hose was replaced. They were going to charge 310.00, but I contacted the area rep and the charges were dropped. On november 7, 2005 brought in for same issue, a sensor was replaced and on the way home on the 8th it stalled. Brought car back same day was given a rental car. 3 1/2 days later they said it was the idle air control valve. On the 16 they called and said they were working on it and would test drive it. They would call back in an hour. I called 2 1/2 hours later, they told me that it was still stalling. Questioned why we replaced the oil pan and asked if we let it sit without oil for days. It never did. Told we needed to replace the bottom of the engine, because of the clutch. Having no oil could have caused damage. They would let me know the next morning. At 4:00 pm they called and said it was running fine all day, that in a few months we would have to get a new engine. They would only charge us for parts and since we had the rental car for 10 days we would have to reemberse them. would this car fall under the lemon law?
 
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What's this about needing a new engine, and running the engine without oil?

One important factor here will be the level of maintenence the car received. Speaking generally, proving any sort of a problem if the car had been operated with very low or no oil would be extremely difficult. In other words, if it had been maintained, it wouldn't have started stalling (now THAT'S oxymoronic).

Do you have more info?
 

kiselsk

Junior Member
A few months ago my husband was driving to work, when he got there he realized that the oil pan had been punctured. A friend helped patch it and he filled it back up. We then got a new oil pan and had it installed. they have asked twice if we ran the car without oil for a long period. I keep telling them we never did. they said that running the car without oil damaged the engine, I picked up the car today and the reciept says that we need shortblock and clurch assy. We have kept up maintiance on the vehicle and have records. It has also gotten good report cards from Mazda every time it was brought in. I was also upset when they told me that we had to reemberse them 300.00 for the rental car, that they would only pay if it had been a problem with the sensor. The reciept I got to said drivability issue, they never told me that I may have to pay. If that was the case I would have refused the rental. Can I fight that and get my money back?
 

dallas702

Senior Member
Your husband was driving to work and "realized the oil pan had been punctured"? How did he NOT notice it had been punctured either right after it happened or when the telltale pool of oil was running out from under the vehicle? If the oil had drained out (which it surely would) your light or guage would have immediately warned you. Did he ignore that, too? Just how do you "patch" an oil pan these days? Anything other than welding would leak immediately. How far was the vehicle driven without oil? Did the dealer explain how the stalling was related to the oil pan?
 

kiselsk

Junior Member
He was only five minutes from work, no light ever came on and he did notice the oil starting to build up on the back windshield. When it come to cares he doen't ignore anything. Oil was still coming out of the pan when he parked at work. A piece of metal was welded on by a co worker so he could get the car home. And again the car never went without oil! They said it had to do with the clutch crankshaft. but when the sensor was replaced they told us that the clutch would need to be replaced soon, it was shot. This is before the IAC was replaced. So how do you explain that they had this vehicle for three and a half days, said they went through the entire car and only found the IAC needed to be replaced. It wasn't till they fixed it and test drove it, still stalled, that they questioned about the oil pan. I picked up the car it STILL STALLS! we can not drive it.
 
whatchamacalits

A "clutch crankshaft", from my understanding, is similar to "muffler bearings", in the sense that neither exist.

I am not trying to make light of your situation, but if you could be more accurate about part names, it would help.

Guess what? This is not shaping up as a lemon case, especially with the hole in the oil pan. They're gonna ask "how did you get a hole in the oil pan?" and "how do you know there was still oil in the engine?"

In other words, there are other perfectly reasonable explanations for the stalling based on how the car was treated and not on how it was manufactured.
 

kiselsk

Junior Member
2001 mazda tribut

Please remember that the stalling issue started 2 years ago, the oil pan was replaced 6 months ago. The puncture was due to debri in the road and according to two co workers he was only a minute or two from work, they state the oil started at the raidroad tracks. That is not enough time to lose all the oil in the engine. He parked and they patched in immediately. This car has been well maintained, we take care of our cars. You said clutch and crankshaft don't go together. This is what the receipt says, " While operating clutch looked at crankshaft, is moving alot" This is what they say. So I can assume they sent the vehicle home still stalling because of a new oil pan? That has nothing to do with maintaining a vehicle, drivers have no control over what is unseen in the road.

I'd also like to add that I have been to mazda tribute forums and seen many others with the same problem. One of the recalls was due to the stalling issue, the computer sensor. That has been fixed twice on our tribute.
 
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dallas702

Senior Member
While operating the clutch one cannot see the crankshaft since it is INSIDE the engine. It may be possible to see a small portion of the flywheel, which is bolted to the back of the crankshaft and makes contact with the clutch disc in order to rotate the gears in the transmission and driveshaft. Neither the clutch assembly nor the crankshaft assembly has anything to do with stalling unless you release the clutch too quickly and stop the engine from turning over. The mechanic was blowing more smoke than a '62 Corvair.

You have either a fuel delivery problem or a spark delivery problem. Either one should be easy to diagnose and repair if the dealer has a competent technician.

If their contention is that the crankshaft is so loose in its bearings that it moves or wobbles, therefore moving and disrupting the crankshaft timing sensor, you would have an engine ready to come completely unglued. If you ran the car without oil for a susbstantial distance/time it would be possible to destroy the bearings...but you would have heard many loud and offensive noises while this was happening, and the engine would have frozen up.

Check the service bulletins that have been released for your vehicle/model.
 
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The "service bulletins" Dallas refers to are sometimes referred to as "tsb's" or "technical service bulletins", and he's right.

A tsb is an alert one step short of a full blown recall, usually available on-line or through the dealer.. It acknowledges a problem (like, stalling) but does not require the manufacturer to notify all buyers.

Mazda will try and use the oil pan issue, so getting affidavits from your husbands coworkers could be helpful.

Dallas: you're an attorney AND a mechanic? Talk about a double threat! If you were better at one than the other, you'd always be covered...

BTW, if a car stops stalling, that would be a redundancy, and if it starts stalling, that would be oxymoronic? I think I need a break...
 
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