Good Morning Scotty and Crew! I have been casually watching your videos for a couple years. This is my first time writing in, and I'll try to be as detailed as possible.

I love my 2012 Mazda 3 i Touring. I got this ride at 74,000 miles when my previous vehicle died in December of 2020. It has been very reliable, and I am now at 93,000 miles. It uses an automatic transmission. I change the oil every 3,000 ~ 3,500 miles.

During a 3 hour highway round trip on a job, I noticed a small rattle. The car ran fine with no check engine light or codes being thrown, but that sound was something I wanted to check out. Last time, it was just a heat shield that needed tightening.

The next morning, I drove the car into my local repair shop and asked them to take a look. The month prior, these guys had fixed an exhaust leak and put in a new o2 downstream sensor for my emissions test. The head mechanic said I'd have to come back in an hour. I did, and he told me that it was a loose piece of metal in the exhaust. The mechanic tapped the section to reproduce the sound, and explained that what I was hearing wasn't something to be worried about.

They gave me my car keys back, but as soon as I turned the ignition, the dash lit up with tons of warning lights. I got out asked them what on Earth happened while I was gone, and they said they didn't know what I was talking about. I asked them to try and start the car, and the engine simply wouldn't stay running, puttering down to silence each time.

I left the car with them for 4 more days, and they couldn't figure out the problem. Every single component of the car is being reported as faulty in the codes. All they could tell me was that the car wasn't shifting and the reverse idle was very rough. We live in a woodsy area, and the best guess they could give me was that they felt that rodents had been getting into my car, and had damaged a wire and caused a short in the system.

I had the car towed to the local Mazda Dealership to be diagnosed. Two days later, they called me back and told me that they are unable to find any damaged wires, and that no progress had been made diagnosing my car. The dealership tech explained that he wanted more time with the vehicle, and that said extra time would require me to pay $651 in additional fees for him to go forward - not including what subsequent repairs would cost. I understand why, but there's no promise that any further progress will be made.

So my question is: Have you ever heard of such a thing happening to a Mazda? What could be causing this trouble? If I really do have to cut my losses, what would my best course of action be?

I still owe a lot of money on this car due to the inflated market of the time period in which I had to purchase it, and I'd really rather not write the vehicle off and finance another one on top of this loan. At the moment, the best option available to me might be trading in the vehicle, but that still means lots of money down the drain - something I don't have. Scrap companies and the dealership are both only offering me $500 for it.

Thanks again for what you do.