Hey guys....

I just got the car roughly a week ago. It's an 04 GT manual with 42,000 miles. Everything has been great so far and I love it. The warning light has come on a few times for the auto-leveling of the headlights and I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow to have it looked at. I would like to know if there is anything else I should have them check on while it's there and still under bumper to bumper and powertrain. It's been flooded once by the previous owner's wife and has a newer battery.

I will have them check that:
1) All flashes and TSB's have been taken care of.
2) Dash rattle near steering wheel.

Can you think of anything else? Will they do a compression test for me or will it be an extra cost?

I don't know when or if the plugs, coils and/or wires have been changed. Am I getting to that point?

Car has been running well (to me) lately. It did take an unusually long time to turn over the other day, but hasn't done it again since.

Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I appreciate it.

Chris

 

Rattle around the tseering wheel maybe your engine mounts so have them look at that as well if it already hasn't been done. As for TBS's be specfic with the dealer or they will not look hard to find stuff that maybe TBS related.

 

Congrats on ur new baby The problem you're having has something to do with the crappy Connectors that Mazda use, it breaks over time, water goes in, rust, then u will get the error. MOST DEALERSHIP MORONS still dont know about the problem and might just waste time calling Mazda techline for solution, so it will be better if you can print the TSB out and tell them exactly what to look for, trust me you will get your car back faster.

ok , cut the bull crap let me just answer your question :

Yes you should, you have a 04 so MOST of the TSB applies to your car. you should be still within your bumper to bumper warranty.
There is also a TSB covering that. Again, print it out and tell them to look at it.


They will charge you money unless your engine is having issue and they *suspect* that the engine has low compression. if you still want to do it, usually just 1 hour of labor fee.

You said the previous owner flooded once, if the dealership *did the right thing*, they will replace the *leading plugs* only, and check for the Engine No-Start TSB and replace the correct parts.

Notice that they probably never touched your Trailing plugs? If you're the kind of guy who loves to DIY, you can get a whole set of plugs from sparkplugs.com for about 85 bux shipped, it takes about 1 hour to replace it yourself (if this is your first time) oh, if u really gonna do it, get a bottle of Anti-Seize. (like 3 bux)

You might want to print the Engine No-start TSB out and ask the dealer to replace the parts. Dont tell them *could you please check and see if this applies to me*, Just tell them straight up like *You need to do this to my car*.

Anytime my friend.


There is quite ALOT of stuff that you need to update. lemme give you a few tips, when you're there tell them this,

- When A/C is on and Im idling at a stop light, my car vibrate like my car is having sex or something
- The A/C, sometimes when I turn the thing to cold, it blows hot air, and @ hot, it blows Cold air, replace the HVAC controls please.
- BOTH rear tail light fogs up when rain
- the moonroof rails rattles when its open and Im on highway speed.
- You have to do the Engine No Start TSB, cuz I felt like an idiot when I have to crank my car like 10 seconds b4 it will start @ gas station.

You might want to check the list of TSB and print whatever that applies to your car. Bring all the papers in, your dealership will starting to hate you but who cares ! You like your car more than your relationship with ur dealership isnt it ?

 

Thanks for the tips. I've got a stack of TSBs printed out. What is the main problem with the AC unit that causes the car to vibrate at idle?

 

plugs are easy to do i got mine from sparkplugs.com for 85 bux shipped as he said earlier. Took me about an hour or so but i didn't take off my wheel so that added to the time it took. Plugs for our cars need to be changed more often then other cars (from what i gather here) and should be changed about every 30k miles. My car has 16k on it and i changed mine because i don't trust the previous owner. Glad i didn't as the plugs were black, which is indicative of bogging the engine down / not complete burn.

 

Thanks guys. Can you advise if there is a good DIY manual for the 8 that can be purchased online? I am thinking something like a Haynes but one that other 8 owners use on here.

Chris

 

Thanks for all the suggestions....I went through all of the TSBs and printed off all I felt were applicable. Took in a stack of 5 or 6.....you should have seen the service manager's face!

At any rate, they just called and they'll be replacing the starter, xenon auto-leveling sensors, and tail-light seals tomorrow (had to overnight parts). They also are fixing a dash rattle I had.

They also checked the coils for me.....(said they're okay)

Grand total = $35.00 (insurance on the loaner from enterprise) and the headache of driving a POS Chevy Cobalt while I wait for my baby.....

 

Why does it have to be dealership morons?/ And your issue with vibration at idle with the ac on is your motor mounts.