pp13bnos
02-13-2004, 08:53 AM
The Tuesday after the RPNW dyno day, I was crusing to work and had the CEL light come on in my 8. So I get to work, give the closest Mazda dealer a call. It happend to be Power Mazda in Salem. They did'nt have any immediate openings, but said they could slide me in on Thursday. Wensday evening the CEL goes off. But I decide I'm going to take it in their anyways. They run all their test, and pull the codes. Turns out I had a P0420 stored. Lean condition. After the service manager leaves, the tech askes me how I drive the car. I'm like all....uhhhh, well normaly I shift it around 3.5k, and when I get after it, I shift it at 9k+. He's like, no...no...do you do alot of auto crossing? I'm like, No, but I'd like to try it out. He's all, well, did you do alot of driving when we had that ice? I'm like, Yeah, I had one heck of a time getting into my garage. He then says, well that explains it. You had a ABS code. The front tires where 8% off of what the rear tires where. I was'nt shure exactly what this meant...but from what I was gathering, it meant alot of wheel spin. I then told him, I had also did a dyno day, wich he did'nt seem to mind at all. What I realy liked, is that the tech guy had taken me aside to tell me this. He was'nt trying to get me in trouble, or make me look like I was abusing my car. (Wich I never have.) Anyways, I also talked with a guy who worked their. He had a picture up on the wall of his office of him in his Nova(?) doing a burnout at Woodburn drag strip. I asked him if it would void my warentee if I whent out and drag raced my 8 from time to time. He said, No, and that he would realy like to find out what they will realy turned. We BS'd for quite awhile. Overall, I was happy with the service. They said it would take 1 hr, and I was out of their in one hour. The only thing I could complain about was the coffee. :D So, If you guys down south of Portland are looking for a nice place for service, I'd would'nt hesitate to take my 8 their. Sorry for all my ramblings, CJ