Exodus

What do you guys reccomend for the 30,000 mile marker. Local dealer recomends a $450 30,000 maintance. To me that seems like too much dough. I mean what they list doesn't seem worth it......ie

Replace-
Oil & Filter, Air Filter, Spark Plugs, Coolant, Fuel Filter, Trans fluid

And...
rotate and balance tires, clean throttle body, lube doors and locks (not chassi)
Fill vital fluids, and a 10 point inspection

What did you get and how much did it cost?

hughes412

If we have to change out the coolent at 30k I wood bet Mazda is the only person that doesn't run sinthetic in the cars. Most cars now days don't need to change that for at least 60k.

tonkabui

that's about right for the dealer cost for the 30K mile tune up. if you know a shop, have them write you a work order for all those things and do all the stuff yourself.

oil & oil filter, even going to mobil1 synthetic costs me $27 per change. air filter (if you're still on stock filter) is $16. spark plugs are about $10. coolant drain and refill is $15 at most. fuel filter is not done on our cars because it's in the gas tank, and unless they're willing to let you sit there and watch them do it, it's not gonna get done. auto tranny fluid complete drain and refill costs no more than $120 even with redline synthetic. if you're a manual, 3 quarts of 90 weight costs no more than $20. rotation of tires should be done at every oil change anyway. as for balance, $20 from any tire shop will do you good. throttle body cleaning can be done with some carb cleaner and a rag.

so worse case scenario is it's gonna cost you a little over $200 and an afternoon. or you can **** away $450.

kargoboy

Yup, what he said^^ although I've been lazy and haven't done the tranny fluid yet.
I'm at 32k....

Exodus

What about fuel injector cleaning... Worth the money or use a bottle of f.i. cleaner?

Hmmm, so how do we change the fuel filter?

cthom

Tonkabui is absolutely right. If you have any mechanical ability then you can save yourself hundreds. As to the injector cleaner - there's arguments both ways on that. As to the fuel filter, you don't change it. It's inside the fuel tank.

Thurman

your prolly better off with the fuel induction cleaned id do that instead but w/e im a newbie so i dunno ****

INGREXCO

damn truck im glad im not automatic

hughes412

If you have to ask how to change an oil filter I highly suggest leting mazda do the work for you. As far as the fuel injector clean. I used to sell those and while the bottles do more good then bad, they can't clean off the carbon build up. They only way to REALY clean the injectors it to take them out and clean them by hand. IMO!

Exodus

I can handle the oil, air filter, plugs. It's the throttle body and fuel injector that I've never messed around with. BTW you guys have convinced me. I'm gonna do as much myself as possible.

Tonkabui- you think mobil 1 synthetic is best for $$

Roddimus Prime

I'm astonished that none of you guyus live near an express oil change.....$29.99 gets oil change, lubricated doors and hinges, all fluids check and topped off, tire inspection, brake inspection.

$29.99 for an automatic tranny service, including new gasket, filter and fluid.

Spark plugs are $10 and about 30 minutes DIY,

$0 for fuel filter since it's just a screen/grating in the tank.

$59.99 for a Valvoline SynPower treatment which is actually more of an intake manifold de-carbonizer than anything else. (I'd say pass on it until 50K)

$12 for a can of BG's 44k Injector cleaner (pour in the gas tank)

$4 for a can of Berryman' Chem Tool (vaporize into the TB)

so all in all I think you should get out of there with about $86-100 and about 2 hours of your time. if you dont feel comfortable doing it, drive it down to Alabama and I'll do it all for $100!

juddz

...when in doubt about which items to do at 30K (or even 60 or 90, for that matter), why not take a look in the owner's manual? Mazda has done a decent job of listing all of the maintenence that needs to be performed at this point. If I recall, it is all pretty simple stuff.

My P5 is at 30K, and aside from inspecting the brakes, changing the oil, rotating the tires (actually I put new ones on), topping off vital fluids, and checking belt condition and tension, I have not done anything else. I do not recall seeing a trans fluid change for the 5-speed at 30K... that seems awfully early to me. Same for the coolant, which if I recall, is long life type. As for fuel additives, I have not used any... don't need to. I run a tank and a half of fuel through my car every week, hardly enough time sitting around for laquer build-up. And, I run it every day on the freeway, and surely there is little carbon build up (since it burns off at 500 degrees C, and freeway combustion temps are much greater).

The real big pain in the **** is waiting for me at 60K.... that would be the timing belt. But, I will probably knock that one out sooner, when I do the cams. Ditto the water pump, when I do the cams. BTW, I'll throw in a set of aftermarket cams according to the "available money" schedule, which will probably be somewhere around 45K. The cams are not maintenance, but are no less necessary!

kargoboy

I like to play around with my car whenever possible. One thing I never do, though, are oil changes. I go wherever I have a coupon (Jiffy Lube, Pennzoil, etc) and just don't let them try & talk me into anything I don't need.
With the mileage I put on my car I need an oil change about every six weeks and it's just not worth it to me to do myself -- not when they can lube and top off my fluids, check my tire pressure--they even vacuum the damn car. It's worth the 25-30$. To me, anyway.

juddz

I do my own oil changes, always have with this car (except for numero uno). But, good advice, because even though I change my own oil, I never take it down to Murray's for recycling! Trust me, there are about 12 gallons of oil in my shed, in all kinds of milk bottles, cat food bottles, whatever. I tell myself that someday I am going to take it in. But, do I really want to transport that sloppy mess in my pristine P5, and risk a spill? I'll keep it in the shed instead, and someday I will rent a pickup from Enterprise or Hertz to haul it all away.

chiefmg

I just received my Protege service manual on CD (eBay buy!) and after all I have read about there only being a filter screen on the suction of the fuel pump, I checked it out. Sure enough, the screen everyone talks about is the low pressure (pump suction side) filter, BUT there is also a high pressure filter on the discharge of the pump. The drawings aren't very detailed, but it looks like you remove the pump from a housing and the HP filter is in there. I am sure if I went and bought a new one I could figure out how it goes in. However, according to the information I have the fuel filter isn't due for replacement until 60,000 miles.

As for having the dealer perform routine servicing, I won't do it either. I have had several bad experiences, the most recent was when I took my Protege into the dealer I purchased it from for the initial service. When I went to change my oil and filter 3,000 miles later, I found the filter was not even finger tight. How I escaped having it blow off is something I will never know. Besides, I like working on things so it isn't a big deal. Would be nice if I had a garage though!