About two months ago I f'd up my stereo trying to install an AuxMod for my Sirius tuner. While I was trying to decide if I should look for a used one, go aftermarket, or bite the bullet and get a new one, my car died and was towed to Marin Mazda. They fixed a whole crap load of recalls (including battery, starter, control arm, airbag, heater core, etc) and fixed my stereo under warranty. Made my day!

 

how are they for good deals on 8s? I'm on the central coast of california and the dealer here I'm sure is very bad at making any good deals since they're the only one for miles around.

 

The control arm and airbag were recalls. The rest were Technical Service Bulletins or TSB's. TSB's are not required to be done unless you are having a problem in that area. The control arm recall was probably just a check and nothing was replaced. You didn't mention anything about the gas tank recall.

 

thats the way customer experiance should always be, glad you had the chance to experiance it.

 

I'm not sure if they have good deals on 8s - I bought the car used from another (non-Mazda) dealer. This was my first service experience with them. Some of the recalls/TSBs had probably been done on this car, but some hadn't. They actually replaced the control arm according to my service print-out. They also knew I'd been messing around with the stereo, and they still got it fixed under warranty.

 

ndrx8, I was thinking about buying an auxmod or similar. How exactly did you mess up the stereo? Did the auxmod cause the problem?

 

There's a post here somewhere, but basically, the plan was to take the headunit out of the car (the write-up said the battery didn't need to be disconnected for this). I couldn't get all the wiring harnesses off, but I got the HU out far enough so that I could access Auxmod/tape input slot. Must have fried something while putting it in. I'd definitely take the two minutes to disconnect the battery next time I do anything with the electrical system.