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Franco Caution
Jul 18, 2003

Wicked. Tricksy. False.

Having rented a couple newer model mazdas, the flat key looks cool until you touch it. Then it feels really cheap.
I think I prefer the 2012-2019 Mazda Fobs. Even the Switchblade ones from the early 2000s felt better than the new ones.

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Dr. Garbanzo
Sep 14, 2010
I don't mind the newer fobs. What does annoy me is it occasionally ends up behind my wallet in my pocket and then the car has a spaz cause it can't detect the key.

Had to get 2 tires replaced on my 3 today after I took a flap out of the sidewall of one of them. Thankfully I was able to find somewhere kinda close that had the Toyo R51A's that the car came fitted with. They lasted 80K Kms which isn't too bad at all. Set me back nearly 600 for the pair though which is not so nice but at least it's sorted before a long drive on monday

Cygni
Nov 12, 2005

raring to post


There are some truly wild Mazda accessories in there... actually gonna try the keyfob panels too, as well as some precut protective film for the piano black center console. Thanks for the link!

Volguus
Mar 3, 2009
My wife today took the CX-5 to the dealer to change the oil (no, I do not know, have the tools or the space to do that). I, as always, told her to just say no to whatever they're trying to sell her. She, like a good wife, did just that. It turns out that they recommended replacing the rear brake pads, since the current ones have 4mm left.
How long can she drive with them? Those have to be changed, of course, sooner than later, but I wonder how much should we hurry.

Dr. Garbanzo
Sep 14, 2010

Volguus posted:

My wife today took the CX-5 to the dealer to change the oil (no, I do not know, have the tools or the space to do that). I, as always, told her to just say no to whatever they're trying to sell her. She, like a good wife, did just that. It turns out that they recommended replacing the rear brake pads, since the current ones have 4mm left.
How long can she drive with them? Those have to be changed, of course, sooner than later, but I wonder how much should we hurry.

I got told mine would need replacing at the last service and they were 4.5mm from memory. 3mm is the change over threshold but it seems that the current gen mazdas chew through rear pads cause on my old car at the same km's they still had 6mm left.

MA-Horus
Dec 3, 2006

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

Yeah my rears are at 3mm and fronts are at 8mm, I'm at 120k km.

Just did my spark plugs today, the bracket on top of the 2.5 turbo is a pain in the rear end, the hoses do not want to shift.

kefkafloyd
Jun 8, 2006

What really knocked me out
Was her cheap sunglasses

Franco Caution posted:

Having rented a couple newer model mazdas, the flat key looks cool until you touch it. Then it feels really cheap.
I think I prefer the 2012-2019 Mazda Fobs. Even the Switchblade ones from the early 2000s felt better than the new ones.

Yeah, it has this hollow plasticky feel, which is unfortunate. I also got one of the colored panels (soul red) and it makes it look cooler, but it sounds even hollower when tapped.

The buttons are also easily triggered in a pants pocket.

Colinrobinson
Apr 10, 2005

Yeah I'm not positive what my deal is either, so I just sort of keep on truckin'
Current generation Mazda3 (BP) question:

After getting new tires on and an alignment immediately afterwards (5 days ago), my automatic dimming of the instrument panel and center display no longer works. I can manually switch the center display to "Night" and have it dim, but there's no force option for the instrument panel LCD in the car's settings (that I can find).

All of my actual light detection sensors appear to be working -- auto headlights turn on and off as expected, auto high beams turn on and off as expected, turning either of those functions off then on again doesn't have an effect on the interior lighting going dim for "night time, don't blind the driver".

I've googled this and checked reddit, the few people talking about this in current or previous generation Mazda3s seem to be soothed with "just turn down the brightness with the manual buttons behind the wiper stalk" -- but my manual buttons don't do anything with single presses or with holding them down for a few (or even many) seconds.

I imagine leaving the car powered down without the key nearby so that eventually the computer goes into sleep mode may reset things, but that's not really an option with life happening and driving being necessary.

Anyone else run into this? Again to be clear, all actual functions for headlights/high beams work just fine. Is it likely the computer was used for talking to the alignment machine and it's not fully out of diagnostic mode or something?


(Also Pilot Sport 4 AS tires are so much better than the OEM toyo All Seasons)

Aexo
May 16, 2007
Don't ask, I don't know how to pronounce my name either.
My 2013 Speed3 the speedo and tach brightness were a turn knob and the music display was a push button, if not the same stick/knob/button thing, then each were on either side of the middle hump of my speedo/tach panel, I believe. Though I think one stuck button thing was for odometer.

Aexo fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jan 17, 2024

Dr. Garbanzo
Sep 14, 2010
Nah in the current gen its a single button rather than a knob. Might be worth checking in the settings to see if somethings gone wrong in there. A reset to factory from the same menu may also fix it. One thing I've noticed with mine recently is the proximity locking function has become inconsistent in that sometimes it works and othertimes it doesn't. Doesn't seem to matter if the key is in my hand either it just won't lock. It's going in for a service on Friday so I'll mention it to them and see if they can fix it.

Fabulousity
Dec 29, 2008

Number One I order you to take a number two.

Dr. Garbanzo posted:

Nah in the current gen its a single button rather than a knob. Might be worth checking in the settings to see if somethings gone wrong in there. A reset to factory from the same menu may also fix it. One thing I've noticed with mine recently is the proximity locking function has become inconsistent in that sometimes it works and othertimes it doesn't. Doesn't seem to matter if the key is in my hand either it just won't lock. It's going in for a service on Friday so I'll mention it to them and see if they can fix it.

The battery in the key fob could be getting weak enough to impact detection range outside the car but not so weak you get a warning when sitting in the driver seat. It might be worth replacing it quick just to see if it resolves the issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEI7RpO5_ek

Nohearum
Nov 2, 2013
The windshield washer fluid level sensor appears to be broken on my 2018 3. Shows low levels even after refilling. Anybody ever replace one of these on their 3rd gen? Can't seem to find any YouTube videos of the job.

Racing Stripe
Oct 22, 2003

I bought a 2017 Mazda3 back in 2019 and I decided it was going to be the first car that I really stay on top of the maintenance for. Now, every 5-6K miles I take it to the dealership and let them do whatever they say is necessary. I feel a little bit like a sucker doing this, but OTOH the car has never refused to start or suffered a failure of any kind while I was driving it, and I've put about 60K miles on it. Also, the dealership often just does the maintenance schedule stuff and doesn't find some surprising extra thing that needs fixing, so I figure they're not going out of their way to charge me for extra stuff, at least not every time.

Today, they said the CV boots are leaking, and while they're fixing it, they might as well replace the axle. This is not because moisture/dirt has gotten into the CV joint, but because an axle just needs replacing every so often. The car is at 111k miles, and they want to charge $1100 to do this. I tried looking up how frequently an axle needs to be replaced, but Google is giving me a bunch of cv boot, cv joint, cv axle stuff and I can't sort it out. I'm also curious whether this is a fix that could be done cheaper by an independent mechanic. I'm a little worried about stepping out of the Mazda ecosystem, but if I could save $200+ for a straightforward repair, I'd probably do it.

opengl
Sep 16, 2010

Racing Stripe posted:

I bought a 2017 Mazda3 back in 2019 and I decided it was going to be the first car that I really stay on top of the maintenance for. Now, every 5-6K miles I take it to the dealership and let them do whatever they say is necessary. I feel a little bit like a sucker doing this,

You are indeed a sucker if you are blindly letting the dealer sell you whatever they want. Do what it says in your schedule and nothing more.

The Aardvark
Aug 19, 2013


We have a 17 3 with 107k miles on it and havent had any issues with the axle to indicate it needs to be replaced.

Kia Soul Enthusias
May 9, 2004

zoom-zoom
Toilet Rascal
CV boots do go bad and sometimes it's just easier to replace the axle than hope your boot repair job is good, but I would ask that too in the stupid questions thread (it should just be called small questions thread!), as their advice is going to be more current than mine. The axle itself is gonna be fine though, so that part is just a lie.

opengl
Sep 16, 2010

They want to replace the whole axle because it's simpler than loving with a boot/grease and it makes them more money.

Axles do not need to be replaced periodically, no.

Racing Stripe
Oct 22, 2003

opengl posted:

You are indeed a sucker if you are blindly letting the dealer sell you whatever they want. Do what it says in your schedule and nothing more.

What should someone who doesn't want to be a sucker do in the following scenario? I go in for the 110,000 mile service and they perform that service, but they also say that the brake fluid needs to be changed. Do I say "that's somewhere on the service schedule, and I'll get it done when the Mazda service schedule says I'm due"? That seems easy enough if that's the solution.

But what about when they send me the video that the mechanic records of the undercarriage, and he points to the CV boots and says they're leaking, and I can see from the video that this appears to be the case. Are you saying that this isn't on the service schedule, therefore I should get it done somewhere else? I'm not trying to poke holes in your advice, but sometimes something that isn't on the schedule does actually need to be fixed. What should I do in that situation?

Kia Soul Enthusias posted:

CV boots do go bad and sometimes it's just easier to replace the axle than hope your boot repair job is good, but I would ask that too in the stupid questions thread (it should just be called small questions thread!), as their advice is going to be more current than mine. The axle itself is gonna be fine though, so that part is just a lie.

Okay, thanks. I don't know much about cars, but "the axle wears out and needs periodic replacement" sure doesn't sound right. I'll ask over in the stupid questions thread for more info.

regulargonzalez
Aug 18, 2006
UNGH LET ME LICK THOSE BOOTS DADDY HULU ;-* ;-* ;-* YES YES GIVE ME ALL THE CORPORATE CUMMIES :shepspends: :shepspends: :shepspends: ADBLOCK USERS DESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY, DON'T THEY DADDY?
WHEN THE RICH GET RICHER I GET HORNIER :a2m::a2m::a2m::a2m:

Look for a highly rated independent repair shop in your area and have them take a look. Even if they agree with the assessment, a new axle from them will be exponentially cheaper than from the dealership.

opengl
Sep 16, 2010

Racing Stripe posted:

What should someone who doesn't want to be a sucker do in the following scenario? I go in for the 110,000 mile service and they perform that service, but they also say that the brake fluid needs to be changed. Do I say "that's somewhere on the service schedule, and I'll get it done when the Mazda service schedule says I'm due"? That seems easy enough if that's the solution.

But what about when they send me the video that the mechanic records of the undercarriage, and he points to the CV boots and says they're leaking, and I can see from the video that this appears to be the case. Are you saying that this isn't on the service schedule, therefore I should get it done somewhere else? I'm not trying to poke holes in your advice, but sometimes something that isn't on the schedule does actually need to be fixed. What should I do in that situation?

I'm speaking to regular maintenance. Follow the schedule in your owner's manual because dealers love to come up with their own "recommended maintenance" schedule that surprise will end up costing you tons more than if you just followed the manufacturer's recommendations. Yes, if they try to sell you something that's not due, say so. Don't be a doormat.

Of course when something breaks like your CV boot it won't be in the maintenance schedule. This is not maintenance, but a repair.

opengl fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Feb 7, 2024

Racing Stripe
Oct 22, 2003

Okay, thanks. I'm going to be more careful about knowing, when I walk in the door, exactly which scheduled maintenance I'm due for and I'll only get that stuff done.

Steely Dad
Jul 29, 2006



It really is worth it to find an independent shop you trust. In my case, I go to the local Miata specialist, and he does a good job on my CX-5 and never tries to hit me with fake bullshit. I’ve even taken my kids by a time or two to check out the race cars he works on.

MA-Horus
Dec 3, 2006

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

I think I'm done with my dealership for maintenance after they forgot to reinstall a caliper bolt after brake service.

Mind you they're refunding the cost of the service, but jesus guys.

Nohearum
Nov 2, 2013
Apparently the battery in my 3 was leaking for a while and the acid/crust ate a good chunk of the paint off of the battery retaining bracket. Not sure why so much acid made it's way out the top of the battery. Swapped the battery out for a new one and cleaned the acid crust off the bracket. Hope it won't happen again.

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Colinrobinson
Apr 10, 2005

Yeah I'm not positive what my deal is either, so I just sort of keep on truckin'

Colinrobinson posted:

Current generation Mazda3 (BP) question:

After getting new tires on and an alignment immediately afterwards (5 days ago), my automatic dimming of the instrument panel and center display no longer works. I can manually switch the center display to "Night" and have it dim, but there's no force option for the instrument panel LCD in the car's settings (that I can find).

Update: Forcing a hard computer reset through unplugging the battery did the trick, hope it doesn't happen again!

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