complex

It all started when i took my car to be serviced for squeaky breaks and a routine oil change.One day later after i got back my car i noticed a light on the dashboard, i looked it up and it is something called headlight auto leveling malfunction.I went back and told them about this and they refuse to fix it and basically blamed it on me.Being that at this point i need to take matters in my own hands, i need to know how i can reset/recalibrate the leveler.All i know is that the problem is in the left rear.What i need to know is which part is it and what do i do with it?

Glyphon

how did they say it was your fault? where you mucking around with it before? if not, i'd take it to a different dealer and/or contact Mazda of North America (look in your manual for contact info).

complex

I dont want to get into details but they looked hard enough to find a reason to blame it on me.At this point i dont think any dealer will help me under warranty.
This is why i said i need to take matters into my own hands.Does anyone know how to recalibrate this thing??

Go48

If you did nothing to cause the problem, it should definitely be repaired under warranty. Contact Mazda North American Operations at 1-800-222-5500 and calmly explain what happened. If you check the owners manual it clearly says that if a problem cannot be resolved with a dealer to call MNAO.

complex

I contacted them already and they got in touch with the dealer and they(mazda na) are basically siding with the dealer and dismissing whatever i said, cant provide details.

This is the only thing i can come up with from google...

Posted by Jalal28 on 08-26-04 07:01 AM:

For those interested, I called a friend of mine's brother who happens to be a Mazda technician out in CA. He told me that there is a 12mm bolt at the rear of the car (on the driver's side near the exhaust). He said to put the car on the lifts, raise the car and unscrew this bolt. Lower the car back to the ground, give it 30 seconds and then rescrew the bolt back in. Evidently the car needs to recalibrate itself as the autoleveler is set for factory springs and height... problem solved.


Can anyone verify if this is the way to go about doing this?

KYLiquid

there are sensors on the rear, when you have the rear wheels off, or are under the car you can see it, its attached to the lower rear control arm.....its a little black box with a little piston coming out, like a shock absorber, there is also a thin wire going into it.....once your back there you will see it and can disconnect it and it will reset, that will help if it got messed up, but not if the sensor, or motors in the headlights are broken.

Did you install some aftermarket suspension, or open up your headlights to modify them?

complex

I will look for that but what about this 12mm bolt? does it have anything to do with this? i dont think its the headlight, its most likely a problem in the rear of the car.

zoom44

it could be the sensor is broken. did they say what is wrong with it- "the problem is A and we can fix it for X amount of money. " or did they just say "we're not touching your car because you broke it messing with your suspension"?

complex

They said "we have to look at it to see what the problem is, and it will cost you $108 for this+whatever amount it cost to repair it" so i said "NO way this should be done under warranty, i didnt have any problem until i brought the car into your dealership!" and i left it at that.One thing i forgot to mention here, when the problem started the light would come and go frequently.there was a point where it left for 1 week, now its back and it hasnt left for a while.

zoom44

what was their reason for it to not be covered under warrenty? how many miles do you have?

complex

Im well under the 50,000 mile warranty period.like i said, i cant get into any details about theyr reasoning.All i need is somebody to tell me a sure way to recalibrate this thing..

zoom44

need to know all the facts before helping. cant help without knowing the reason.

how long has it been like this total now? weeks? month?

complex

one month, do you know how to recalibrate it?

zoom44

can you tell me the reason it was not done under warrenty?

complex

at this point, no.How does it matter?

zoom44

because i believe it is helpful to know and understand the whole situation and all the facts before deciding on a course of action.

but here i put together a couple of things while waiting

zoom44

there is also a front sensor and a control module.

complex

thank you very much! would this be the bolt that the poster i quoted was talking about? will this process recalibrate the sensor?

zoom44

i cant say yes or no because i have no idea whatsoever what is wrong with your auto leveling system.

complex

i cant say i know for sure either.this is just the first step i want to take to see if it resolves my issue.i will know more in the coming days.

cleoent

No one can accurately help you unless you tell us what they are blaming the problem on, do you not get that?

If you installed new suspension, it could be that you damaged the sensors, it could be that the new suspension messed with the ride height which throws the sensor off.

Maybe you raked your car and are embarrassed? There is no reason for speaking in code, and if you are serious about help then stop being retarded and let us help you.

complex

I UNDERSTOOD THIS THE FIRST TIME.

That is absolutely uncalled for, i did NOT call anyone names - DO NOT call me retarded.

I came here not to tell my story and get a resolution with mazda, rather to figure out how to recalibrate the damn sensor myself OK?

LostAngel

Dude...simmer down a bit. Zoom has been very helpful on your situation. You keep not wanting to 'go into details'. This tells us that you did something wrong. Most of us won't care nor call you stupid if you accidentally did something wrong...only mazda would care...which it looks like they already are against you by siding with the dealership. Could this have anything to do with your aftermarket alarm/audio system...that caused mazda to refuse to touch your electrical?

StewC625

Just why in the hell can't you explain the details? Man, you want help but you don't give us anything to help you with!

"Can't go into details right now" ... code for:

1) I modified the car and screwed it up, and if I tell you all, you'll give me ****.
2) I wrecked the car and you'll tell me the bad news I don't want to hear from Mazda.

You want help - Zoom is asking perfectly legit questions to help you.

Good luck on your own!

snap-on

If you didn't know before I hope you know now.

This is a tough crowd. You can't come in here with an issue and only post part of the story. Many of these guys/girls have been here for years as you have. Did the sensor malfunction? Was it ripped off?

What happened?