Shane Southwood

Review of H.E. McGonigal and Button Dodg...

This is of a past experience with the dealership j...

This is of a past experience with the dealership just after they opened their 'new' location.

I purchased a 2006 MazdaSpeed6 from McGonigal in Kokomo, IN with 42,2xx miles in April 2013. I always do my own work and am extremely technically knowledgeable about cars in general, especially so with Ford/Mazda and even more so with this particular engine (2.3 DISI MZR Turbo).

The car was rock-solid and had been well taken care of, so I bought it after a bit of haggling and made arrangements to bring my trade and pick it up the next week. Everything went smoothly.

Fast forward to my first 'free' oil change 5 months later in late September or early October at only 300 miles on the car (150 of which was driving home from and back to the dealership). Oil was changed in 10 minutes, I was shocked at how quickly it was done. They provided my brand of oil and charged nothing extra. I drove the car home (60+ miles), garaged it.

Three months later (December 23rd), I decided to put some miles on it and drive it 100 miles to visit my mother near Terre Haute, IN for the holidays. I had to return to Indianapolis on the morning of the 26th for a meeting, so I went over the car checking the tires, adjusting pressure, checking the oil, coolant level, changing the wiper blades, etc to make sure it was road-worthy before leaving.

The trip there went smashingly, the car drove great. Upon arrival, it was parked and didn't move until the morning of the 26th at 7:00 AM when I left to return to Indianapolis.

I drove from Shelburn, Indiana to the Speedway at Allendale Hill in Terre Haute when the oil light suddenly started flashing and then stayed on solid in heavy morning commute traffic. I pulled off of the road as quickly as possible and shut it off at the station. The engine was knocking horribly from the time the light came on solid to the point it was parked (approximately 1 minute).

Once the car was parked, I popped the hood and pulled the dipstick to find it devoid of oil. I opened the trunk and pulled out the 1 of the 5 quarts of Mobile 1 oil I'd taken to the dealership with me for the oil change and began dumping the oil in to see if it was burning oil, leaking oil, or something else. I didn't notice anything until I walked to the rear of the car to get another quart and saw oil streaming down the grade of the parking lot to the rear of the car. Something bad was wrong... and I needed to document it for the 'lifetime powertrain warranty' and the extended warranty I'd purchased (which they claimed they forgot to include in the financing three days after I brought the car home).

I called AAA, had the vehicle towed to a garage in that I trusted and willing to take a look. Three hours later, I received a call stating that they found the oil drain plug laying on the splash shield/pan below the engine, that they'd cleaned it up, refilled it with oil (noting that I only had 500 miles on my 5000 mile oil change interval) and that it was noisy on startup but once the pump primed the engine was quieter.

I immediately called the dealership and was told a manager would call me back. Nothing. The next day, I called again and a manager answered the phone. I spoke with him, explaining the problem and mileage when it happened and he audibly laughed saying "It seems kind of funny that the drain plug just fell out several months later!" (focusing on the time, not the mileage) and then made an accusation. I gave him a chance to make the situation right, but he continued to state that his techs couldn't forget to tighten a drain plug. I threatened legal action, we agreed that I would drop it off for a week for them to 'look at' with no guarantee of anything.

On the way to drop the car off, the engine seized. I had trouble believing a service department that could not tighten an oil drain plug and outright called me a liar and accused me of trying to scam them could do anything beneficial for me in the way of engine work or replacement. I purchased a new long block from Mazda and replaced it myself.