People are going to jump all over my ass for what I'm about to say, but I think it needs to be said:
We are no better than Mazda if we "unmod" a car before taking it in for waranty work. It is fraud, plain and simple.
Yes, Mazda screwed up with the PCV system on this car and they need to step up, admit the mistake, make a retroactive and proper fix through TSB or outright recall. They'll probably never do it.
We do have rights under Magnusen-Moss and under most state consumer protectection laws. It is difficult and expensive to enforce those rights.
I think I can speak with some honesty on this point, as I do have intake mod (albeit a MSCAI), but more importantly I am totally voided under my engine warranty and maybe entire drive train for the catless dp/rp.
That's a conscious decision I made. When making these type of mods, it is truly "pay to play." If we are not willing to pay, we should not try to escape our role in contributing to the problem through mods that are likely to make the smoking worse, like my catless dp/rp.
These are high performance cars. Manufacturers and dealers know we drive the piss out of them, mod them to the hilt, frequently race them and that we are going to wear them out faster than the general public. They also know they sell most of them to male drivers under age 30 who statistically are going to be much harder on a car. It's a fact. They are skeptical of warranty claims and I'm not sure that skepticism is unfounded.
BTW: I do have a catch can. I'm not sure that it is really a part of the fix, but it does seem to be beneficial. I get almost no "smoke" 95% of the time, and only a brief amount if I let the car sit at idle for a long time.
This MS3 is the fifth turbo car I've owned. Three Saabs and a Volvo before. All purchased new. I modded all of them soon after purchase, including catless downpipes and in some instances, aftermarket ECU's with higher boost levels. I drove all of them hard, frequently seeing triple digits on the speedometer. To one degree or another, they all "smoked" soon after the catless dp mods. None of them had turbo failures or engine failures, however, except for one car I kept for over 100,000 miles. It did develop turbo shaft wear at a bit north of 80,000 miles. I ordered a rebuild kit and rebuilt it myself.
I did break an engine mount on one of the Saabs the first month I owned it -- during a hard launch at the dragstrip! My dealer did replace the mount under warranty. I told them what happened and they did this as a customer courtesy. They wanted to keep my business. They did not have to, and I know that.
If we are going to complain about the problem with the PCV system, let's at least be honest with our mods when we return to the dealer and be prepared to pay to play when we mod.
We are no better than Mazda if we "unmod" a car before taking it in for waranty work. It is fraud, plain and simple.
Yes, Mazda screwed up with the PCV system on this car and they need to step up, admit the mistake, make a retroactive and proper fix through TSB or outright recall. They'll probably never do it.
We do have rights under Magnusen-Moss and under most state consumer protectection laws. It is difficult and expensive to enforce those rights.
I think I can speak with some honesty on this point, as I do have intake mod (albeit a MSCAI), but more importantly I am totally voided under my engine warranty and maybe entire drive train for the catless dp/rp.
That's a conscious decision I made. When making these type of mods, it is truly "pay to play." If we are not willing to pay, we should not try to escape our role in contributing to the problem through mods that are likely to make the smoking worse, like my catless dp/rp.
These are high performance cars. Manufacturers and dealers know we drive the piss out of them, mod them to the hilt, frequently race them and that we are going to wear them out faster than the general public. They also know they sell most of them to male drivers under age 30 who statistically are going to be much harder on a car. It's a fact. They are skeptical of warranty claims and I'm not sure that skepticism is unfounded.
BTW: I do have a catch can. I'm not sure that it is really a part of the fix, but it does seem to be beneficial. I get almost no "smoke" 95% of the time, and only a brief amount if I let the car sit at idle for a long time.
This MS3 is the fifth turbo car I've owned. Three Saabs and a Volvo before. All purchased new. I modded all of them soon after purchase, including catless downpipes and in some instances, aftermarket ECU's with higher boost levels. I drove all of them hard, frequently seeing triple digits on the speedometer. To one degree or another, they all "smoked" soon after the catless dp mods. None of them had turbo failures or engine failures, however, except for one car I kept for over 100,000 miles. It did develop turbo shaft wear at a bit north of 80,000 miles. I ordered a rebuild kit and rebuilt it myself.
I did break an engine mount on one of the Saabs the first month I owned it -- during a hard launch at the dragstrip! My dealer did replace the mount under warranty. I told them what happened and they did this as a customer courtesy. They wanted to keep my business. They did not have to, and I know that.
If we are going to complain about the problem with the PCV system, let's at least be honest with our mods when we return to the dealer and be prepared to pay to play when we mod.
