They said no work will be done bc mazda corporate techs did not see any reason to check bc no faults or codes are being thrown
Well, they're not out of money here, you are. You've gotta spend your gift card at your beloved dealership, right?
Called dealership. They said no work will be done bc mazda corporate techs did not see any reason to check bc no faults or codes are being thrown and noise is coming from the engine bay.
Made a quick call over to mazda corporate and explained the situation. They ended up offering me a gift card for the total bill of the work required to remove the valve cover and inspecting the rocker arms. Is this how things are supposed to work? Probably not but if the end result remains the same and they check the rocker arm and I'm not out of pocket for it then I guess its fine. Ive just had to make a lot more phone calls than I should have.
That's the whole point, the worst case scenario for them.Well, yes and no. They won't give him the gift card if he doesn't have the work done.
That's the way it is, no code then no problem, and no proactive action like taking something apart to see if anything is going bad. If they don't see it then no problem exists. Yes, it really frosts my socks...Doesn't this just frost your socks these days?
It doesn't throw a code, so there's no need to look for a problem? Total BS, but that's the way these guys are taught to troubleshoot and fix things.
If my wiper blade arm breaks off, it won't throw a code either, so does that mean they won't fix it or look at it?
How about if I get a flat tire? Oops, no code, tire must be OK. Don't bother looking at it.
Sheesh.
Don't blame the dealership though. Mechanics have to be paid, they will not take the valve cover off for free. The dealer, rightfully, has no interest to pay for it. So it is between Mazda and the owner.
Did you contact NHTSA?
Well, they're not out of money here, you are. You've gotta spend your gift card at your beloved dealership, right?
The voucher is expressly to cover the work of removing the valve cover. It was never meant to be for any other purpose. I'm well aware that someone is covering the cost and that the dealership isn't going to do the work for free.
My point with the comment "this probably isn't the way things are supposed to work" was simply voicing frustration over the fact that if there is no code or no noise then there is apparently no problem. This is in spite of the fact that in this case I have documentation that there was an previous issue specific to my car and an associated TSB that outlined instructions to inspect the car that wasn't followed the first time around. I've read on this thread that people can't believe that the dealership doesn't know about certain TSB's. To a certain extent that may be true that techs need to be informed but in reality dealerships are servicing many Mazda models from across multiple years. To expect the service team to know each and everyone offhand for all makes/models/years is unrealistic but I would expect that they at least put a little more effort into investigating the problems that customers bring in.
The bottom line is that the dealership was in a no win situation where Mazda wasn't going to pay for the work based on their corporate technician's assessment and I wasn't willing to pay out of pocket on something I felt should be covered under the powertrain warranty. Mazda Customer Service was quick to provide a solution in the form of a voucher after I raised the issue as a safety concern and explained the situation. Kudos to them.
Today's update is that the dealer pulled the valve cover and found there is an issue with the cylinder #4 "lifter arm". I asked for clarification on rocker arm vs lifter arm and it sounded to be the same thing. Mazda Corporate has asked for pictures and videos from the dealership and will provide input to the dealership on next steps. Stay tuned.
Yes rocker arm is the lifter arm. I really feel this's a very strange experience for you as Mazda has officially sent a service alert to NHTSA, that means Mazda North American Operations have also sent the same alert to all of their dealers. It does instruct the dealer to open the valve cove and check the rocker arm at cylinder #4 if the engine fell into the limp mode when it revs at high rpm and got the misfire code on cylinder #4. I wonder why the Mazda dealer can't follow the service alert to do it and get paid by Mazda? The gift card thing for you to pay the cost of inspection of rocker arm is ridiculous to me.* Today's update is that the dealer pulled the valve cover and found there is an issue with the cylinder #4 "lifter arm". I asked for clarification on rocker arm vs lifter arm and it sounded to be the same thing. Mazda Corporate has asked for pictures and videos from the dealership and will provide input to the dealership on next steps. Stay tuned.