Help,
ive just had the NC3 Mot’d and serviced at a main dealership (twickenham) and on the drive home the exhaust starts to blow… Taken it back to the dealership who are telling me that the need to replace the whole system as its snapped at the cat converter and want to charge £1400 for the privilege. Am i being scammed?
Looking at prices for these parts (new) and most likely Mazda OEM from a dealer, no you’re not being scammed.
Best form of action would be a secondhand replacement (cat) but what if that’s about had it’s day.
You can only get a few quotes from likely exhaust centre type places for the complete lot.
NC3, MK3.75 2013 - 2015?
Bad luck to have a broken snapped exhaust on such a recent vehicle. The problem I have is that I can only find the exhaust spec for the NC1/NC2 which is maniverter, underfloor cat, mid section and back box. The MK3.75 would seem to have a later system as not specified on bosal or Klarius catalogue. I doubt the aftermarket produce the parts you need so they have quoted you a Mazda dealer price.
In you position I would visually check the issue and try to work out why the part has failed prematurely. Given the price I would be tempted to get a weld repair. Failing that I would look for a breaking car for good used parts. £1400 sounds a lot but that is dealer prices for you, particularly where such a recent vehicle has no aftermarket supply.
Feel free to PM if you require help with this.
Sounds about right from a dealer. Is this price for both cats ?
If the manifold cat’s okay the 2nd cat can be done away with negligible effect on emissions. I replaced the old system from the manifold cat back
with a Japspeed stainless steel mid section (including a built in sports cat) and Cobalt stainless rear end for well under £400 - DIY fitted.
Now it sounds like a sports car instead of a sewing machine.
Seems a bit odd that it was fine until it was serviced? I know its a bit skeptical but could they have damaged it during the service / mot? Surely otherwise they should have spotted it during the MOT test?
Quote:- its snapped at the cat converter
If it has snapped then could it be welded?
Sorry, I’ll rephrase that:- If it has snapped then it could be welded.
Paul G
Thanks for all the swift replies.
I’m with the Grumpy Badger, why wasn’t this picked up during the MOT and service, but they say it was fine then I must of hit something on the way home…
I’m being told it cant be welded as its too far gone… I have pictures but haven’t work out how to upload them yet.
I drove around to the nearest Kwik fit for a second opinion and they say only the centre part need changing and only want £400, so booked in there as I couldn’t do this my self.
Once again thank you all that responded, some time is just nice to know there are others out there who can help.
Glad you got it sorted. I was going to suggest dropping her in to Merit on the A308 just up from Sunbury Cross and getting a quote for a centre section. Went in exactly the same place on my previous NC1, but that was at about 70,000 miles. Still can’t understand why MKG3000 wanted to change the whole system.
Yes - and, IMO, they probably broke it too. If it had happened to me I don’t think I’d go anywhere near the place again, and I’d tell the world who they were and what they’d done.
You are probably much more diplomatic than me - but it does need some complaint raising, especially as it’s the quickest rotting exhaust I’ve heard of since the 1980s.
Hope you get sorted -Colin
You don’t say what year the car is.
My NC is an early 2006 which lived in the north of Scotland for the most part and the whole exhaust was solid apart from light surface rust. The only reason for replacing it for a stainless system this year was for a better soundtrack, I suspect your dealer’s running short of work.
Just fit a go-perform system for less than that
Don’t say that, I’ve got both my cars booked in in the next week…
Having said that, my 18 year old MX5 is still on it’s original exhaust and it’s about the only thing on the damn car that hasn’t rusted or been repaired. I’ve been willing for years for an advisory for me to justify a change of exhaust! Perhaps this is my lucky year?