Maintenance at the dealer

[monstar]

I bought an '08 Sport GT back at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb, and was told after the paparwork that I should bring the car into the dealership (any dealership) at least once every year (for oil changes, issues, etc.) for the first 3 years so that they can check the car and ensure that the warranty is not voided.

Now, I am about to reach the 8,000km mark, which according to the Mazda service schedule, I am suppose to bring it into the dealership to have them to do their magic.

Having said that, my questions are:

1. Is it true that I HAVE to bring my car into the dealership at least once every year for the first 3 years so that they can check to see if I have done anything to void the warranty? I don't remember reading anything that states I have to... although there might be a sentence or two that I have missed. I was about to bring my car in to either do the first scheduled servicing (i.e. 8,000km maintenance), or just an oil change... but if it this is just the dealership's preference, then I would rather not do so.

2. As for the 8,000km servicing, is it a must? What I mean is that I got my own mechanic that knows alot about M3s, and I change my oil every 3,000-4,000kms. Would Mazda say that my warranty is void if something happens and they check the records and found that I have never went to get the "scheduled - Mazda" maintenance/servicing?

Thanks for the advice.

[SonicBoy]

Just keep all your bills and receipts to prove that you serviced the car.

[Caz]

You might want to bring it in to the dealership to have any of the TSB's taken care of. Last time I took my car in there were 3 things they fixed/replaced for free.

[dentinger]

ive never taken my car to the dealership, cuz i do all my own work (oil changes, etc).
and so far, i havent had any real problems with the car, so im not too worried about the warranty at the moment.

[monstar]

so it doesn't really matter if you service your car at those "Mazda" milestones (i.e. 8,000km, 24,000km, etc) as a Mazda dealership?

Maybe Jeff from MOT can answer this one... :)

[whiteomega]

Bring it in for TSBs and the like, as Caz has mentioned; otherwise, as long as you prove to Mazda that the required routine maintenance was done, they shouldn't void your warranty. That means keeping all your receipts *and* having the mechanic note in your maintenance book what was done, and when. If the mechanic didn't, then at make sure you have all your receipts and work orders.

[monstar]

cool... thanks guys.

[Mazda3X2]

2. As for the 8,000km servicing, is it a must? What I mean is that I got my own mechanic that knows alot about M3s, and I change my oil every 3,000-4,000kms. Would Mazda say that my warranty is void if something happens and they check the records and found that I have never went to get the "scheduled - Mazda" maintenance/servicing?

Thanks for the advice.

Just some information on your oil change interval. You may reconsider changing your oil every 3 - 4000 km's. The following text I pulled from a post on Supramania.com. The "Motor oil, lubricants and filtration" section there as some great information that I found extremely helpfull and I thought maybe someone here would find it equally as interesting.

Originally Posted by ://www.sae.org
"Title: Extended Oil Drain Intervals - Conservation of Resources Or Reduction of Engine Life (Part Ii)"
After reading that you may never change your oil again at even 10,000 miles!

There are millions of miles of oil analysis that not only prove short duration changes increase wear but also result in a lack of additive activation in the motor. If you own a Jiffy Lube then I would expect you to subscribe to the "3,000 mile Mentality" myth.

Oil addiitives are activated by heat and pressure. Due to the additives having to hold up over time ie longer than 10,000 miles the formulations take a certain period of time to become active in protecting the motor. Draining the oil at lets say 3,000 miles simply means the additives have just become active at the point you are draining your oil! In other words you are increasing wear by about 500% doing 3,000 mile drain intervals!

Oils that carry the extended drain ratings such as 506.01, 507.00 etc mean that the additives are formulated to remain active for periods up to 2 years, 40,000kms or 640 hours of usage. Oils like Mobil 1 0w40 are formulated to withstand 400F sump temps WITHOUT breaking down and losing viscosity. Furthermore the oils cannot break down due to the PAO makeup of the oil. These oils do not rely on elastomers like the conventional oils do. This means that the oil can fully protect your motor at any temperature without the conern of thermal break-down and thinning out of grade.

If you doubt the 10K oil change intervals perform an oil sample at 1,000 miles. Most cars with a fresh sump of oil will peak out at the 1,000 mile mark. After that the wear metals may increase by only 5-10% over the course of 10,000 miles! Nearly 90% of the engine wear occurs in the first 1,000 miles on an oil change! Increasing oil change frequency increases the duration your engine spends in the activation period of the additives and greatly increases the damage in your motor from failing to follow the guidlelines of the manufacturer.

Just looking at iron in a VW motor typical readings are around 20-35ppm after 15,000 miles of use maximum on a motor that has more than 60,000 miles. The oil filter is not capable of filtering this much metal simply because the wear metals are so small they can't be filtered from the oil. Also because there is so little wear metal you do not get wear as a result of the metal being suspended in the oil.

Dispersants require time to bond to the wear metals and byproducts in your engine oil. As byproducts such as soot (gasoline or diesel make soot just different sizes which discolor the oil) are created additives coat them and prevent them from clumping and becoming larger. Typical soot particles in diesel oil are in the nanometer range in terms of size 10 times smaller than what any bypass filter can even capture which is rated at 2 microns absolute. Your oil filter in your motor is rated at capturing particles in the 7 micron range with only a 75% first pass rating...Bottom line is your car would last forever if you change the oil every 20,000 miles and NEVER replace the oil filter simply because your motor is not making enough metal or by-products to ever get captured! Oils especially those for diesels can handle upwards of 8% soot, that my friend is a LOT of soot! to put that in perspective a typical motor after 25,000 miles without an oil change or filter change will only have 1% soot in the oil. This oil will appear tar black yet the oil still has 80% of its rated levels of protection remaining!

Most oils are limited by time in the sump rather than miles due to sulfur in the fuel. Most gasoline motors can safely go 2 years between changes when using quality oils formulated for extended drains such as Mobil 1 0w40 and Truck and SUV 5w40. These oils along with those sold as VW 506.01 have very high TBN ratings that neutralize acid formation for upwards of two years (1 year in diesels due to higher sulfur content wich causes the acids).

Heres the deal, forget the myths about frequent oil changes and basing your perceptions on how the oil looks. The best advice is use a quality oil and drain it at the specified interval. The worst thing you can do to a modern car is overmaintain it, yes this is possible due to the very specific regimine that VW engineers figured out to keep your car running at peak performance with maximum durability.

[Olestra]

Just in case people take the article the wrong way and think it's ok to extend your service intervals,
Please don't do your oil changes at 10k miles or even 20k miles as the article suggests is "safe" if you use a high quality oil.
The article is concluding that it is safe to do the oil changes at 8000 KMs and changing your oil at a higher frequency will not be beneficial.

So just stick to the service intervals stated in your owner's manual and you'll be safe. And as stated in the first few posts, the regular 8k intervals are necessary for warranty, just that it doesn't necessarily have to be done at a dealer.

I wanted to clarify incase this article mislead some of our members. IMO, dangerous article to post...

[Olestra]

Also, I'd be skeptical about this article, they seem to pull numbers of out their a**. Like the 500% figure? I tried to do the math with their other ambiguous numbers and it's not even possible.

[Mazda3X2]

Like the post says.....and recomends. "The best advice is use a quality oil and drain it at the specified interval." There is nothing misleading about the information. It was simply posted to give information about doing oil changes too fruequently and how that may prove to be more harmfull than good.

[Olestra]

Like the post says.....and recomends. "The best advice is use a quality oil and drain it at the specified interval." There is nothing misleading about the information. It was simply posted to give information about doing oil changes too fruequently and how that may prove to be more harmfull than good.

After reading that you may never change your oil again at even 10,000 miles! ...Bottom line is your car would last forever if you change the oil every 20,000 miles and NEVER replace the oil filter...

No, not misleading at all.
The "Best advice" comes at the end of the article and ppl will most likely only read half the article.