[danbfree]

I get that, but the code gets stored into the cars computer & the MyMazda app. That's how they pulled the code last time. Why put unnecessary risk of damaging the engine, especially when the next appointment is a week out. Thanks I'm in the 4th gen Mazda FB group but I'll look for the turbo specific one.

First, yes, the exact name to search for I put in quote for you to find if you'd like...

But I 100% agree, that's why I even mentioned the code being stored too and if you full document in video with the warning light on, the milege and get out and show the dipstick there is ZERO reason for them to require that, it's BS! I was flabbergasted myself and pushed back when I heard that is what Mazda is requiring, I would NOT want to keep driving without adding oil at all! Honestly I'm not gonna buy another ICE Mazda again most likely. I also found out their factory fill gear oil is garbage, there are lots of people with failing rear diffs so after I searched for the best match I had Royal Purple 75w-90 put in my transfer case and rear diff at 15k miles and the car feel 300lbs lighter at take off, has far less drivetrain drag in general, I have to use the brakes coasting more now and my mileage has improved 5%. On top of that, their service dept. has been from the top down is telling their techs that conventional oil is better than full synthetic for the turbo when that is literally impossible and they put conventional in mine after I asked for full synthetic. I would have even paid a $10-20 surcharge if I had to on top of the free first 2 oil changes if they were just honest but they just said "We'll take good care of you" and put conventional in anyway, ugh.

 

[danbfree]

When you add oil before taking it back, they can't see if there is a problem or what the problem might be. If the oil level is low enough to damage the engine there is more than a problem with the sensor. If the light comes on again, just check the oil, make sure the engine has oil in it, and take it to the dealer.
Over filling by a small amount, less than 1/4" on the stick as you noted, is common and not a problem. The dealer usually fills from bulk containers. They don't exactly have laboratory grade graduated decanters to measure the oil that goes in to the engine. This is one of those times when "close enough" is good enough.

Sorry, you can pull over and start a video on your phone to fully document the light, the exact mileage you're at and even show the dipstick level too on top of the codes being stored, there is nothing further to see at that point. Pretty much every single '21 turbo engine they made is subject to the TSB, they used a bad batch of exhaust valve seals, they already know the issue. Making their customers drive with low oil is literally ludicrous and after dealing with their garbage stock battery and gear oil I'm never buying an ICE Mazda again.

 

[arathol]

Sorry, you can pull over and start a video on your phone to fully document the light, the exact mileage you're at and even show the dipstick level too on top of the codes being stored, there is nothing further to see at that point. Pretty much every single '21 turbo engine they made is subject to the TSB, they used a bad batch of exhaust valve seals, they already know the issue. Making their customers drive with low oil is literally ludicrous and after dealing with their garbage stock battery and gear oil I'm never buying an ICE Mazda again.

Thats not how this works.....Anybody can take some video of something and claim its something else. You can't fix the problem before you take it in. The dealer needs to actually see the issue, not an interpretation of the issue from a customer who thinks that just because the oil is a hair over the full line or not exactly between the upper and lower fill lines that their motor is going to explode. I imagine that they see customers all the time that think they "know better" and know more than the Mazda trained techs and engineers. So, now, they require the problem to present itself in person at the dealer for evaluation.
Only a complete idiot would drive the car if the oil was low enough to cause damage. Its not hard to check the dip stick. Just because the light came on doesn't mean the oil is that low, or even close. There is a significant safety margin built into the sump capacity and the sensor trigger just for this reason. Show me one example of an owner who had engine damage due to low oil that was a result of this valve seal issue.....

 

[danbfree]

Thats not how this works.....Anybody can take some video of something and claim its something else. You can't fix the problem before you take it in. The dealer needs to actually see the issue, not an interpretation of the issue from a customer who thinks that just because the oil is a hair over the full line or not exactly between the upper and lower fill lines that their motor is going to explode. I imagine that they see customers all the time that think they "know better" and know more than the Mazda trained techs and engineers. So, now, they require the problem to present itself in person at the dealer for evaluation.
Only a complete idiot would drive the car if the oil was low enough to cause damage. Its not hard to check the dip stick. Just because the light came on doesn't mean the oil is that low, or even close. There is a significant safety margin built into the sump capacity and the sensor trigger just for this reason. Show me one example of an owner who had engine damage due to low oil that was a result of this valve seal issue.....

Yeah, it's gonna be a fake video of sitting in clearly my own car documenting the actual warning on the screen, and the mileage and getting out and pulling out the dipstick, showing the level and showing myself topping it off all on the same video, all as some kind of rouse to scam Mazda for an exhaust valve seal job? LOL... Not like the TSB says you get a whole now motor installed free, you could also "scam" them by simply draining some of the oil yourself regardless, but I know I'd prefer not to deal with the hassle of even having to get it done at all. And of course you can't fix the problem before taking it in, but topping it off could prevent engine damage if it is low enough... That said, I have found/heard from a number of people that it can come on when only 0.6qt. low, so you are right in that regard, it's not gonna be a problem driving normally to get to a dealer if its not that far away. But I'm still not gonna like it at all if I'm on a road trip 500 miles from home and I have to top it off for peace of mind only to have to start over in waiting to see if it gets low again in trying to get it taken care of. We are just not going to agree on Mazda handling it that way is the best way to treat its customers; we are entitled to an opinion, especially when its pretty clear the facts they need all can be documented properly on video and through saved codes..

 

[RadDad67]

It’s not as easy has the costumer showing a video to Mazda and now Mazda is going to pay and fix something without making sure the proper steps have been taken. If you were the one paying the bill would you accept a vague diagnosis of let’s try this and see if it fixes it? I work at a ford/Chrysler dealership and warranty claims are not just as simple as throwing parts at something because it’s the manufacturer paying for the repair. If you don’t tell the manufacturer exactly what you did and why you did it then they kick the warranty claim and the bill is passed onto the dealership. That’s why dealerships don’t like to just replace parts when they haven’t verified if something was actually faulty. When it comes to oil consumption it becomes even more difficult especially when customers are messing with the oil level when it’s not at the dealership. If oil consumption is suspected then an oil/filter change is done, the mileage and oil level is documented, and you would usually need to come back so the oil level can be documented again following oil level check per manufacturer specified procedure to see if the oil consumption is higher the the acceptable amount. When the customer starts adding oil during this now the process needs to be started over. The service advisor should have explained better why they don’t want oil added but it’s for a reason. And an oil level that is just slightly lower then the MIN mark is not going to cause engine damage. Manufacturers would not have acceptable oil consumption specs of 1qt/2000miles if it was going to cause engine damage. And yes we had a guy that was draining oil during a oil consumption test because they were trying to get a new engine before the warranty was up. There were no signs of oil consumption and he was showing us videos of him adding oil after we told him to bring the vehicle back to check it so we became suspicious of what was happening so after an oil/filter change and marked the drain plug and oil filter positions. He must not have seen the oil filter mark because the filter was not in the same position and there were tool marks from the oil filter being removed.

 

[CerealKiller]

Been down this road.. sent my dealer OBD2 readings of misfires on all cylinders but the dealership wouldn't do anything until they could replicate it themselves.

The data provided will help but it's not a guarantee of anything.

Sometimes taking it to a good mechanic to perform diagnostics and provide the required proof is necessary to force their hand.
CK

 

[RadDad67]

Been down this road.. sent my dealer OBD2 readings of misfires on all cylinders but the dealership wouldn't do anything until they could replicate it themselves.

The data provided will help but it's not a guarantee of anything.

Sometimes taking it to a good mechanic to perform diagnostics and provide the required proof is necessary to force their hand.
CK

In that case it helps show how to replicate the issue. In the case of a misfire there are several reasons a vehicle can misfire so you can give all sorts of info that may point is a direction but if it’s not currently misfiring it can be difficult to diagnose what is causing the misfire. If it’s working properly at the time it’s hard to find a concern even with extensive testing.

 

[danbfree]

It’s not as easy has the costumer showing a video to Mazda and now Mazda is going to pay and fix something without making sure the proper steps have been taken. If you were the one paying the bill would you accept a vague diagnosis of let’s try this and see if it fixes it? I work at a ford/Chrysler dealership and warranty claims are not just as simple as throwing parts at something because it’s the manufacturer paying for the repair. If you don’t tell the manufacturer exactly what you did and why you did it then they kick the warranty claim and the bill is passed onto the dealership. That’s why dealerships don’t like to just replace parts when they haven’t verified if something was actually faulty. When it comes to oil consumption it becomes even more difficult especially when customers are messing with the oil level when it’s not at the dealership. If oil consumption is suspected then an oil/filter change is done, the mileage and oil level is documented, and you would usually need to come back so the oil level can be documented again following oil level check per manufacturer specified procedure to see if the oil consumption is higher the the acceptable amount. When the customer starts adding oil during this now the process needs to be started over. The service advisor should have explained better why they don’t want oil added but it’s for a reason. And an oil level that is just slightly lower then the MIN mark is not going to cause engine damage. Manufacturers would not have acceptable oil consumption specs of 1qt/2000miles if it was going to cause engine damage. And yes we had a guy that was draining oil during a oil consumption test because they were trying to get a new engine before the warranty was up. There were no signs of oil consumption and he was showing us videos of him adding oil after we told him to bring the vehicle back to check it so we became suspicious of what was happening so after an oil/filter change and marked the drain plug and oil filter positions. He must not have seen the oil filter mark because the filter was not in the same position and there were tool marks from the oil filter being removed.

Yes, if it was a known issue, like this is, then you take care of the problem when the supplier they chose fucked up and provided bad valve seals and you bite the bullet and take care of your customers. It's NOT random things, if it has good compression, then it's the valve seals. If it's giving a low oil light but on the stick it's barely low, then change the sensor. It's not rocket science it's basic ICE tech that's been established for a long time. I feel for the dealerships that want to take care of their customers, so yes, I'm blaming corporate for their policy. But, unfortunately the frustration will have to be handled at the local level. Corporate treating customers as idiots and making them jump thru hoops just to get their shit fixed is the problem, I'm not blaming dealerships that want to be helpful. That said, a lot of other car makers have made shitty decisions over the years, some are going to piss off people in different ways and at different levels and corporate doing this irks the shit out of me. It's clear they are doing the typical Japanese corporation thing of making every decision based on a delicate balance of the bottom line while also trying not to look bad. My car came compromised enough in that way to begin with trying to cater to exactly the right balance of cost cutting in area's they hope most people won't notice and stuffing more features we really don't need that look better to the shallow buyers. It's just a tough time as an enthusiast in these days of feature stuffed SUV's and that same half-assed compromise on the few cars left.

Anyway, I have a '22 not subject to this issue but I just wanted to pass along the knowledge of the subject I've gained through a lot of discussion in the FB groups that didn't make it to these forums, on to the actual fellow enthusiasts and not get caught up debating with shills, so I'll see myself out and un-sub from this thread.

 

[Mailmansgotmail]

@arathol Of course I would check the oil first before putting more oil in, and if it's not below the MIN I wouldn't put more oil in. However, we are assuming most people are car enthusiast or car savvy to join this thread to talk about this. Most people don't even know how to check their oil and let alone change their oil, and we/dealerships can't expect people to do this (if they do, there would be no service department). I am pretty confident the majority of people are "idiots" who don't know how to check their oil as there are a lot of people who lack common sense.

I come from retail so I totally get the service department needs to reproduce the issue as I learned to take what a customer "states" with a grain of salt. However, if the service advisor states an oil drain is not needed to change the oil sensor when it actually is + they tell me not to put oil in when the light comes on even though the service manual states so, then that further cements my distrust of dealerships.

Though they did more than I thought they would do, and yes it could of been a bad service advisor, they could have explained it better. Did I ask more questions, no as I knew it would of been BS, which is my fault. I guess I am the person who likes to check their own oil and determine the problem vs listening to dealership's advice. But I just brought the car in to get it on file in case oil burning was an actual issue. To @danbfree point, yes Mazda produced a car with an issue they know about, however my car is out of the VINN range so the TSB does not apply to me. So I totally get their way about it thinking it is an oil sensor issue, and I hope it is. Also, maybe there is a couple of bad apples of "fake" videos of evidence saying something is wrong with their car, if it is under warranty the dealer gets paid regardless don't they? I guess not at a huge profit but wouldn't it be better to have good customer service then assume the video is totally fake? I mean I heard tons of stories of dealerships doing nothing when there is an actual issue with the car, so I guess it isn't profitable to do warranty claims.

At the end of the day, I'mma add oil if my oil is low, especially if I am on a road trip OR if my appointment is a week out as I drive everyday. Again, the dealership did more than I was expecting, and they were nice about it and treated me well. Only issue was the next steps the SA gave me. If oil burning is an issue, I'll bring it back and show them the evidence, even if I put more oil in; if they want to have me drive another 500 miles to replicate the issue, that is totally fine, as I would suggest the exact same. No point arguing with dealerships especially if the repair is free if under warranty (assuming they do right by us) as they showed me nothing but respect minus some BS answers.

Thanks all!