Ok so I did some searching but I can't really find anything that pertains to my particular situation. I bought my 8 with 31,500 on it. Recently found out that the 30k maintenance was never done on it and I now have 34k. Dealership quoted $750 for the entire maintenance including plugs, filters, fluid changes etc.

My issue is I will need to wait about a month or two to get the $$$ if I want the dealership to do all of that. I looked up the price of the parts and can do it for half the cost myself. I'm concerned though that if I do it myself, the dealership could screw me if I ever need my warrenty because they didn't do the maintenance.

My other concern is driving on plugs and coils that have 34k on them. I redline daily and can't find anywhere that says whether or not driving the car hard on old coils and plugs is any worse than normal driving. I can tell the plugs and coils need changing pretty badly I just don't know if I should be careful until I get that done. Thanks for any advice you can give!

 

no need to change the plugs/ coils, unless they show signs of wear.
Check the DIY forum. It's really not hard to do the maintenance yourself. Just make sure to keep receipts of all maintenance equipment purchases (make copies, cause they tend to fade), record your mileage, and sign in to Mazda USA and record all services.

Ahh, and you did have a n00b question after all :P
Sly, you are...

 

normal price from the dealership. they make their money on the 15/30/45/60 services.
As long as you keep all the records of what you're doing you are technically fine. Take pictures of everything you did and keep them in a file if you need them later.
How can you tell the plugs and coils need changing? What is the car doing?

 

Well to be fair, my question wasn't whether I need to change them or how to do it. I know I do and I know where to get the info to do it. I just don't know if driving on bad ones is hurting my car.

In reference to the keeping of records and pictures, thank you. Exactly what I was wondering. I just don't want to be screwed later down the line because I didn't have the dealership do it.

I know the plugs need changing because I looked at them. They are all black and nasty looking. That's how I know the service was never done because they wouldn't look like that if it was. The coils I'm going to change just to be safe. I have a small chirp noise under the hood when I start the car until it warms up. I have read on here that many people say that is due to coils that need to be changed.

 

remember, if you don't have the records for before you owned it, they can deny warranty work because of that.

 

Yeah I was thinking of that too. I bought the car with 31,500 miles on it so besides the 30k maintenance which I will get done all that would be missing is oil change records right?

The car was certified pre-owned when I bought it. Everything was checked to be in good condition so I'm curious if that can make up for not having oil change records. It makes sense to me that it would, but I guess I won't know unless I have to use the warranty at some point.

 

You can get the service/warranty history from your local dealership. Just ask the service writer to print you a copy. If the car was serviced at a Mazda dealership there will be a record of it.

May alleviate some of your worries about prior owner service.