$400 (ish) as a dealership qoute is an amazing price. A regular mechanic probably wouldn't beat that by very much.

It's ~ $200 in parts (filters, oil, plugs, trans oil) then you have to pay something to have all that stuff done if you can't do it yourself. The $600-1000 that dealers try to rob you of is insane. But as long as people don't know that they still charge it.

And why does everyone complain about plug costs?? $20 buck each vs. what - $12 for a part that is not the OEM spec?? Seriously - $20-30 bucks makes that much difference??

 

I agree. I wood not pay more than $250 dollars total, and thats going to jeffy lube for the oil, differentiol and transmission fluid change ($150). As for chaging brake fluid, I have never done that, or pay to do. As for tha caving filter, it takes less then 1 min to change and what about 5 min for the air filter$100, and the tires, get then rotated at discount tire, they do it for free, and went they do that pick an eye at the brake and inspect them and am not joking if they want my money they will let me walk around and see what there doing to my car.and for the spark plug I was going to change them at 50'000 miles, but sence I got a new engine at 45,000 miles, I got new spark plug for free!!!

 

^
Jiffy lube is a BIG no no. Search around.

 

I see coupons from local shops that price out the 30k maintenance for $180. ASE certified.

 

Not Mazda tho, right?

 

I just reached 30k miles on my RX8 today so I made the smartest move of changing my air freshener from pine to tropical scent.

 

The issue with the spark plubs is principle as much as anything. Why pay for Iridium that doesn't do its job. Iridium is used to make the plugs last 100K miles, but their fowling way before that. The electrode has worn down, but it's so covered in unburnt fuel and oil that it may as well be. The RX-7 plugs are identical in all respects except they use a platinum plating instead of Iridium, or straight copper if you go back to the FC's.

Copper plugs 25-30 thousand miles (worn) $
Platinum 50-60 thousand miles (worn and fowling significantly) $$$
Iridium 100-120 thousand miles (fowled at 50 thousand, useless before they're worn) $$$$$$

Hell at 20-30 bucks a plug difference, that's 2 tanks of gas.

 

Wow that is a lot of money for 30k service. My dealership did not charge that much but they do not change the plugs either. FWIW my dealership wants the plugs swapped at 35k and charges $292. How much is your dealership charging? You guys seem fairly tight up north so you may want to purchase the plugs online and swap them yourself. I may be purchasing two sets of plugs so let me know if you are interest in the 2nd set. You can have them for cost + shipping to you

 

Unless I just couldn't find the other plugs cheap, you are mistaken. I paid ~$20 per plug for the OEM spec, and only found the "7 plugs" at like $12 per. So the $20-30 difference was total for all 4 plugs. $80 for 4 (2L & 2T) vs. ~$50 for 4 non iridium.

 

Nope not Mazda...but the one I went to for my last couple oil changes has a couple people who worked at Lee Johnson Mazda's service center. Does our warranty only cover work done at Mazda dealerships or any ASE-certified place?

 

My assumption was Mazda service only, but I'll have to read the book.

pdxhak - Both dealerships were about the same as yours on plugs and labor.

 

 

Hmmmm, I guess the Iridiums have come down in price. When I swapped mine, they were going for 50-80 bucks a piece.

 

As long as you can prove the service was done, it doesn't matter where. It's federal warranty law.

 

I think kristopher_d answered your Q, but I'm not sure if that was what you meant or not. Scheduled maintenance work (the stuff in the manual) can be done anywhere as long as you keep some documentation of everything. Warranty work (ie - you have a problem that is covered under warranty) needs to be done by Mazda/ASE (iirc)

I ordered them through Advanced Auto along with other stuff needed for the 30 k service and they were $20 each. 30 k was done in early December 07.

 

I tried to order though advanced auto and they were not $20 for my zipcode. I'm not sure why the charge more for certain areas though. Also I went to one of their brick and mortar stores and they wanted $40 per.

I'm going to order them through BHR.

 

Ok yeah that's what I thought. I have a coupon for that local place here in Bellevue for $179.99...wheee!

 

Just checked the website, and it was indeed Advance Auto. I may have told them they were ~$20 online, now that I think of it. I went in to see what they charged for K&N filter, plugs, and Redline Trans oil. I had looked on teh web and mentioned the pricing I found. Can't remember off hand which items I mentioned - def the filter, probably the plugs, too.

So perhaps they price-matched all of it?


EDIT: Nope. they are listed (though it is based on my zip code) as 19.88 per L & T OE.

Strange that it would be that big a difference based on area.

 

hhmmmm . . . kind of strange. There are actually 4 hits for the search on Advanced, 2 each for leading and trailing. Same plug, same part number (RE7C-L & RE9B-T) but ship time is different as is pricing? Um, yeah, I'll take the ones that get there faster and cost half as much.

and the bottom result when clicked says the "original price" on the 31.99 is 48.07. double


*************
Product Description Availability * Price

Part No.
6700
NGK Spark Plug: Plug No. RE7C-L
Laser Iridium Spark Plug: Oe Style; Leading; Gap @ .048
Warranty: 2YR REPL

* Ships in 1 day

$19.88


Part No.
6701
NGK Spark Plug: Plug No. RE9B-T
Laser Iridium Spark Plug: Oe Style; Trailing; Gap @ .048
Warranty: 2YR REPL

* Ships in 1 day

$19.88



Part No.
RE7CL
NGK Laser Iridium
Laser Iridium Spark Plug: Oe Style; Leading; Gap @ .048
Warranty: Limited 3 Month*


* Ships in 3 days


$31.99



Part No.
RE9BT
NGK Laser Iridium
Laser Iridium Spark Plug: Oe Style; Trailing; Gap @ .048
Warranty: Limited 3 Month*


* Ships in 3 days


$31.99

 

well like I said, I stay around my car to make shore they do the work., and now that am getting my new condo with a garage, I will be doing it my seft, again!!!

 

The problem with Oil Change chains is that they work on a volume model. For the most part, the kids working there are into cars and want to do a good job. But they are young and get distracted, and they're being made to go as quickly as possible. All may look good from 20 feet away, but if the filter gasket sticks to the block, they wont notice, and neither will you, untill there's 3qts of oil in your driveway, if you're lucky. For the most part they're okay for the average consumer. If you're really picky, or you're hard on the car, find a reputable full-service garage or do it yourself.

 

I can't be reading this right... The only difference between the $470 and $920 quotes is the spark plugs? U-Mazda is charging $450 to change your spark plugs?! I know these are expensive plugs, as the rest of this thread has discussed, but even at a retail of $40 each that would still be almost $300 just for the labor. They are already going to have your car on the lift for the rest of the service and I can't imagine that it takes a qualified tech more than 10 minutes to change them. Somebody please tell me I missed something...

 

You are probably not reading it right. The 920 is from one dealership, the 470 is from a different dealership w/o plug change. It's doubtful that stealership #2 would charge another $450 to do plugs as well.

Basically it should read as an example of how insane some of the dealerhsips are when putting together their pricing. There's already a couple of price quotes in the thread that show a huge difference in pricing from one dealership to another for the same work.

 

OK guys... I'm in negotiation with U-Mazda and Lee Johnson as I type! The other missing factor is alignment. Lee Johnson doesn't include it and they charge $139.95. U-Mazda does include it and it's like $120 or so.

Plugs at UM are $252, LJ price is about $300, Doug's is $260. UM said labor alone for plugs is about $95.

 

4 wheel alignment is $65-75 at most tire shops. It may vary by location, but I doubt the great north west is more expensive than New England.

No regular mechanic you can use to do the plug swap? Those dealership prices are all ridiculous.