Am I correct in suspecting this? (TO bearing?)

[sir slack-a-lot]

I have a 2004 Mazda 3 with the 5 speed. It is still covered under warranty and a problem has gotten much worse lately. Foolishly, I have heard this sound for a while, but I really had no idea what it is, and the dealership basically told me to go away when I brought it in before with this concern. Whenever I start the car, while I still have the clutch in, I get a whirring sound. Once I release the pedal in neutral, the sound goes away. So far this is the only time I encounter it, and usually once the car is warmed up the sound disappears. Sounds pretty much what is described here. http://www.carcare.org/Manual_Transmission/throw-out_bearing.shtml

Anyhow, I phoned the dealership and they seem to think that this is only covered in the first 12 months or 20000km ("adjustment period"). Since I'm well past that, I don't know what to do. It doesn't seem to be a big deal at this point, and doesn't affect the driveability of the car.

From what I can understand, this can prematurely wear out if you sit at lights or traffic with the clutch in. However, I have never done this, and if I ever have the chance to go to neutral and let my foot off the clutch I do it!

I honestly think that if this is the throwout bearing, that it was screwed up from the beginning, since this isn't a new noise.

If I have to pay to have this done, any idea how much it may cost? If I'm paying for it, I'd rather not have it done at the stealership!

Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you!

Mike

 

[AcuraTech]

Yep. Sounds like a bad throwout bearing.

What kind of schemes is this dealer pulling? They "basically told me to go away" when you took it in the first time? Now they're saying its out of the "adjustment period"? I've never heard of such a thing. First of all, they should have fixed it the first time around by replacing the throwout bearing. There shouldn't be ANY noise from the trans when the clutch is pushed in. Second of all, the car is under warranty. Warranty means any non-wearing items that break or go bad get replaced for free. Period. A throwout bearing is not a wear item and should be clearly covered under warranty.

Seriously, you dont want to know how much it will cost to get replaced. The part isn't that expensive, but you have to take out the transmission to get at it. That means a lot of labor cost.

If your car is still under warranty you shouldn't have to pay anything.

 

[Quest]

IMHO you shall do 2 things:
(1) go find a reputable shop to determine the noise. If you cannot tell, find someone who can. It's equally as foolish to let things deterioriate while waiting for warranty to expire.

(2) go find another dealership who "cares". No 2 dealerships are the same and some has a stronger tendency not to "care" about their customers or warranty-related repairs.

Lastly, don't casually jump into conclusions if you don't know what exactly the issue/problem is. Too many owners misguided mechanics into performing unnecessary repairs; and too many "greasemonkeys" haphazardly resort to trial-n-error in servicing a noisy vehicle...guess whose lose in this game??

Q.

 

[AcuraTech]

+1 to Quest.

He nailed it.

(Yeah I work in a dealership so I know the games they play)

 

[sir slack-a-lot]

Thanks for the replies. You're absolutely right in saying that I let the dealership off the hook too much and I didn't pursue it enough. The biggest problem is was replicating the noise. I did bring it in twice while having a few routine things done, and they simply stated that they could not hear anything. Whether this was true or not, who knows, but I do know if that if the car has been driven once that day the noise does not tend to appear on subsequent starts.

I'll absolutely pursue this further with the dealership, and if they won't resolve it, I'll find another one to deal with. I don't know if they are just being a pain because I didn't purchase the car from them, but this is quite possible. I'm moving back to BC in the next few weeks, so I can always hit up one of the Mazda dealers out there. I can't revisit the dealer I bought it from (Edmonton, another place where I used to live).

About the "adjustment period" thing - if you check the Mazda Canada site, there is some "adjustment period" of 12 months/20000km, which I was told this falls under. However, I should remind myself that I was talking to some I know is just a "service advisor" who just mans the phones and I know for a fact doesn't really know what she's talking about.

Quest, thanks for the advise - I don't want to be taken for a ride by the dealer, so I really appreciate your last paragraph. Should my strategy be to go in there and tell them I hear a noise, and let them figure it out? I certainly won't allow them to do anything that isn't going to be covered under warranty, especially since I think this should be on their tab.

The bad habit of diagnosing things when I really don't know what the heck is going on is a function of being a pilot I guess...aircraft mechanics seem to hate it when you pull in and say "there's a problem, fix it!" with no idea where they can start, so you get in the habit of trying to provide them with a possible area to check in order that they don't waste their time. I should forget about doing this with cars!

Thank you very much for your help!

Cheers
Mike