Hey guys,

Surprisingly my check engine light came on tonight after I give it the utter-most care endlessly with no obvious reason why it occured. Do mazda dealers charge you for asking them what's wrong and if so how much on average?

Yes, they charge your left arm and right leg.

I do not know where you are but here they charge around 140 or so just to diagnose it. Just go to Autozone ant they pull the code for you for free. Then post it here and there are lots of knowledgeable people here that can help you with that.

Yep, bump for Autozone. cheapest and they know what they are doing. Too man times I have talked to a Mazda mechanic and I know more about Rotory's then they do. My take is, I would want to know they were experts.
I believe you would think similarly due to the fact you also like to baby your car.
Good luck mate.

I had a similar problem a while ago and I couldn't find any Australian equivalent of Autozone that do diagnostic like this.

Takahashi was kind enough to use their diagnostic gear on my car when I drove out to meet him. I've since bout myself a cheapo $20 ebay scanner which lives in my car.

Your best bet is to find a member you can visit who can help you.

I'm pretty busy in general during the week, but I'd be happy to help out if you want to organise a time to come visit after hours near the city.

The rotary needs to be driven hard. If you baby it then problems occur. Track days are good for the car.

skc

The rotary needs to be driven hard. If you baby it then problems occur. Track days are good for the car.

skc

Agreed, guess what my dealer told me when i test drove it, he said " you shouldn't rev till 8, that will damage the engine of the car, are you serious bout buying it?"
I look at him, and smile ..
30 mins later .. deal .. i m rotary member after all :)

The rotary needs to be driven hard. If you baby it then problems occur. Track days are good for the car.

skc

Don't TOTALLY agree with this, I think they really do need to be treated well and babied on occasion...

I think of the RX like a really really good girlfriend. You need to make sure they are happy and feeling good and warm before you take them out,(giong out cold with either is a bad thing) always be gentle and check from head to bottom to make sure no problems are occurring....and once in a while smack It hard and ride it!! :rock::fingersx:

Don't TOTALLY agree with this, I think they really do need to be treated well and babied on occasion...

I think of the RX like a really really good girlfriend. You need to make sure they are happy and feeling good and warm before you take them out,(giong out cold with either is a bad thing) always be gentle and check from head to bottom to make sure no problems are occurring....and once in a while smack It hard and ride it!! :rock::fingersx:

I agree that you have to go through the warm up process and make sure the fluids are up and leads and spark plugs are good, etc.

I drive the car normally on most occasions however, on most rides I will make a conscious effort to rev the car out to at least 8k rpm at least once. However, it is at the track days that the car gets a real workout and you notice that the car is more responsive on the roads soon after. Visually, you will see a very clean tail pipe as all the carbon deposits have been burnt off.

skc