I booked an appointment earlier in the week to get the oil cooler ssp warranty work done on the car.... the booked 10am-3pm when on the sheet it said "about an hour".... i'm like sure whatever i'll just test drive some cars then go shopping.

I test drove a bunch of cars, they didnt have the new turbo 3, or an 09 rx8 so i just did some burnouts in a 2.3GT 3, some ebrake turns in a miata - just had some fun and listened to a few stories about how the salesman blew one of the motors going down an off-ramp about 110km/h. (The oil was sloshed to one side and the pump couldn't suck it up).

Anyways I also had a CEL so i told them to tell me what the problem was and give me a call as i said i wasn't paying for anything. He said sure no problem.

So i get a call to say my car is ready, he was like you need $1,100 + gaskets to fix the CEL and your bill is $180.00 (1.5hours to check the CEL code and 0.3 to give me a new ECU program)

the new ECU flash makes the car run smoother (and idles lower) so its a little different to drive from a stop. (I thought this would be included in a TSB but apparently i had to pay for it). But it doesn't seem as strong anymore... maybe they re-flashed it to be less performance? or they made my car sluggish i'll come back to get the CEL fixed?

The CEL was due to some amperage being too high, and a P2010 which was resulted from a APV motor being gunked up (which is $1,100 in labour +tax +gaskets to "clean")

Apparently it's not covered under the warranty i purchased (Which they didn't even know i had) from mazda. I was told straight to my face that the warranty i bought covered everything except wipers, brakes and tires....

I'm not quite sure what this APV thing is... but surely i'd clean it myself and buy new gaskets... hell... it would save me $1,100.

Long story short... it sucks i paid $180 to tell me what the CEL means. Especially when i told the guy i wasnt paying for anything.

 

what year is your car?
Dealers need your APPROVAL before doing repair work.

This doesn't sound right...

 

well they didn't do the $1,100 worth of work because its 10.5 hours. But they still charged me $180 to plug a computer in for a few minutes to get the error code that said a problem (1.5hours). And then re-flashed the ECU with an updated program and charged me 0.3h for that.

I have a friend that could give me the error code for free, but i didn't know it cost that much to plug a computer in. That's retarded.

I said i didn't want anything that wasn't covered under warranty as i wasn't paying for anything. So... i dunno.

 

the 180 bucks was for the wear and tear on the cars you abused but where not going to buy.

 

haha yea but still maybe only $50 of fun... if i got to bust up the turbo 3 and burn the tires to the rims GTA4 style then ya.

 

That sucks, could have gotten the code read for free and the new PCM flash should be covered under emissions warranty. What's your mileage?

 

u mention APV.

is it APV stuck closed/open/High ?

If thats the case ... you might have a problem.

If ur APV really got *stuck*, to *clean it*, you have to remove the motor, thats probably why they're trying to charge you 10.5 hours of labor.

but if u bought Mazda's extended warranty, everything should be covered, even your *flash*

 

i have 100,000km but am covered under my warranty for another 60k ( i forget my warranty code but its the highest level)

also doing some research and checking a diagnostic manual with symptoms... its almost like they made my car bad... i thought it ran different due to the ecu flash. It use to idle around 1k rpm, now it's low in the 500rpm range and idles somewhat rough - not bad but different ... (As mentioned i thought this may be due to the ecu flash) but symptoms in the manual suggest the APV...

http://69.108.208.137/ryang/modify/r...ineProblem.pdf

My car ran fine, perfectly fine... so now with its less feeling of performance i did notice and this lower "rougher" idle... is it possible they stuck the valve closed? and the CEL was maybe something else like "battery disconnected in the last xx key on cycles"?

 

Well its good to hear that it should be covered... and in that case i should get my $180 back.

I purchased the warranty to not have to pay for these type of things, and would feel swindled and ripped off if it wasnt covered.. As why would i need a warranty if it doesnt cover this stuff.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring better results when i talk to the service manager.

 

many extended warranties are in fact issued by a 3rd party. (even though you 'bought it' at a mazda dealership)

check out the contract, read the fine print. They often have a deductible, maybe that's the $180?! I've heard of a diagnostic fee but $180 is a bit steep.
I think I was quoted $95 to pull a code off my Explorer. Said, "thanks but no thanks" and went to Autozone.

 

I think you need to sit down with the dealer and figure out exactly where every single dollar is going. Get them to bring the tech out and explain it to you if needed. If they're pulling your engine to fix it, 1000 bucks in labor is reasonable. Ask them about warranty deductibles to.

Go into it acting like you're the dumb ****, and the dealer is right, but make them explain every little thing for you. Be nice about it, but don't let them push you around. Then take all the information you get from them, verify it, and if they're giving you ****, file a report to the BBB, or MANO and show them what you found.

 

Digging around for the warranty details i received about 6-7 months after purchase I found it and it's the full meal deal plan they offer for extended warranty.

It says "intake manifold" is covered, it also mentions other air flow sensor devices and various "valves".

it also mentions a turbo and intercooler... maybe i should say they fell off

It sounds promising with everything mentioned in my warranty... so we'll see how it goes tomorrow.