I noticed on my recently bought 2016 ND that the engine felt rough when starting and there was some vibration felt through the gear lever. At first I thought it was a dodgy plug but on looking carefully I discovered that the LH engine bearer had cracked through the hole for the rubber mounting and the engine had moved about 5 mm to the off side of the car. I think this happened whilst cornering a little briskly round a sharp bend.
Northampton Madza supplied a new bearer on next day delivery and I noticed it was a modified part with thicker material around the mounting hole. Perhaps this had been a known problem. Fortunately fitting it was straightforward although slightly fiddly. Has anyone else had this break?
It is a common issue, I’ve seen several that have broken. Mine has been fine so far but with mine being turbocharged i’d imagine its potentially a harder job to replace. Yet another Mazda screw up that they should be sorting FoC.
I’ve got a beer fridge on which the condenser fan failed after about 6 years. I bought a new fan and replaced it myself. I had no expectations of Adexa replacing it FoC. I would imagine that the fridge had a 1 year warranty, which I would have accepted when I bought it. Maybe if I bought a brand new fridge today, the fan would be more hard wearing last longer and maybe the new fan I bought is a better fan but why should I expect it FoC?
Components do fail, we shouldn’t be too harsh on manufacturers (automotive or otherwise) when they do should we? If people want extra piece of mind, they should look into extending their warranty.
I’m rather impressed that following a “fiddly” removal you had the inclination to put the old and new parts, on what looks like quite a nice table, to photograph them.
Goods are meant to be fit for purpose. When I buy a car I expect it to last at least 10 years with reasonable use and maintenance. Failure of components that are not defined maintenance or consumable due to design defect should be covered by manufacturer and a recall. Exceptions would be rare failures due to unidentifiable manufacturing defect or use outside “reasonable” and due to lack of maintenance. Most manufacturers try to avoid this interpretation.
Hmm, it’s difficult to tell from a single photo, but the fracture seems to run across between the ends of the webs.
Some speculation then based on unfortunate past experiences. I hope I’m wrong.
I assume it is an alloy casting, because if it was steel the innate elasticity would have helped it survive vibration much, much longer, perhaps indefinitely.
If the webs went fully past the bolt hole then it becomes more rigid, less flex, and thus has significantly longer life.
The new version seems to have the same uniform thinness right across the bolt zone.
So in the absence of extended side webs to stiffen it past the bolt hole, I expect it will fail as well.
This time the crack might go around that sharp cut-away curve at the end of the thick part.
Except it will be after a bit more time because of less flex in a bit more metal.
Hello Richard, The car had been in a minor bump that set off the DHS but not caused any structural damage or set off any other air bags so I was happy to buy it as a Cat N to replace my NB. ÂŁ4700 for a 2016 Sport Nav 1.5 was too much of a bargain to be missed! The bearer is an alloy die casting and the break seems to be a clean fracture. I had driven the car about 1000 miles since putting it back on the road and am certain the break occurred after some tight bumpy bends in Wales. At 47,000 miles the car drives beautifully and I am delighted with it.
Hmm, the alloy seems quite a coarse grain, what we used to call “muckite” at work.
The break looks like a clean one-shot pull, not so much a flex fracture. It might have started on one side of the bolt-hole in that minor shunt but been held together by the bolt’s clamping action, then finally shaken loose by your Welsh enjoyment.
But please ignore my idle speculation. I’m well out of date on modern metallurgy.
I like that BOFI solution, but it will be more NVH though.
