March Madness

Just so you know...it had NOTHING to do with basketball and everything to do with my MAZDA! It just started acting weird and then it died all together. Could it be the battery? We checked. Checker (where I had bought the battery 18 months previous) said, no. I needed a second opinion so we asked Auto Zone. They said, Nope. But the car kept dying and could only be driven after jump starting it. Took it to the Mazda dealership, after leaving it at the shop for several hours, their diagnosis was that the battery needed to be replaced. Interesting! I took the car back to Checker and although they couldn't get their test to say that the battery was bad, they were just done with me and gave me a new battery. Happy with my new battery, we drove as far as the parking lot exit and, yep...the car was back to its same 'ol issues. We barely made it home. Later that night we jump started it again and surprisingly it was still working the next morning. I drove it to work and was feeling pretty happy that perhaps the car dying last night was just a fluke. Had an event that afternoon, go to get in my car and....WHAT? My car had been hit.

Nothing huge, but my front bumper had a gash in it, and after careful inspection found out it was caused by the car that was parked in front of me. Seriously? They had pulled in too far, hit my car, and then backed up a couple inches and just walked away. No note. Nothing. So bugged! How was I sure it was them? The gash in my bumper was the same shape as their bent license plate. I left a note...no one ever called me. RUDE! But, I took a picture. If this is your car you owe me at least an apology!
Later that night Tyler, who does not claim to be a "grease monkey," worked on my car until he had it running well enough to get it home. Yeah! My man is amazing!!! The next day my dad came up (Thank you, Dad!) to see if he could take a look and make sure it was going to keep working, get it back to normal. He and Tyler worked and worked, but by the end of the night it was still not working correctly. (No pic of Dad...darn the darn!)


Now what? Called Mazda, they still thought it was the battery. Seriously? Called a mechanic, recommended by family and friends, dropped it off the next morning and later that day the car was fixed. For the small price of $950. It was the alternator, the starter and several light bulbs that had blown. Apparently it was the alternator the whole time...but because Mazda couldn't figure that out everything else started to go. Oh...let me also say that the Airbag Light is now permanently on, and if I'm in an accident the airbags won't deploy. Cost to fix that as well? Just a small $750. Um...no thanks. I'll drive like I did in the 80's, without air bags. Wish me luck!

A little history: Before my Mazda6 I had a Mazda 626. Similar story. Mazda couldn't figure out the issues until AFTER it went out of warranty. That was fun. Thanks a lot, Mazda.

Oh, and Mazda, in this case, 2 strikes and you're OUT!