The Mazda dealership is recommending a fuel system/ throttle body flush for $165. The engine is running fine and my mileage is the same as it was when new (29 mpg.) Is this service needed?
Here’s the scoop on that particular service.
Not needed.
No if the car is running fine . If you want to do something then buy a bottle of a good fuel system cleaner like Techron and run it thru a tank of gas .
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Agree with all the above. It is just a high profit service for the dealer unless you are having driveability issues.
Thank you for your reply! The Mazda dealer mentioned their service also cleans carbon from the cylinder heads and valves. Is that something that should be done?
Jeffrey Luber
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I bet it’s not in the recommended services in the owners manual. It’s a wallet flush, if the car’s driving fine.
As others pointed above, “if you have driveability issues” is quite a good indicator on if you need it or not.
As you get closer to 80-100K miles, you might want to do what they call “air induction service” if you have “SkyActiv” engine (which most likely you do have).
The reason is that these are “Gasoline Direct Injection” engines and they do not have a luxury of the injector cleaning the back side of intake valves, where the recirculated piston block-back gasses (and oil fog) are slowly but surely building up deposits.
Given you are on the top of your oil changes (both time and mileage wise!) and use high-quality oil, Mazda’ SkyActiv engines are quite good in not getting a lot of these deposits, but if you get sluggish response on high RPMs and/or reduced MPG, this issue is on the suspect list.
My local dealer charges $200 to get intake valves and throttle plate cleaned and they push it like a “every 50K service”, but at 95K our ngine still breathes just fine.
I find it odd that people will go to the dentist every 6 months for a cleaning and exam when there’s nothing wrong with their teeth and yet find preventive maintenance on their cars to be nothing but a “wallet flush.”
Waiting to maintain your car until it starts to run poorly is like waiting to go to the dentist until your teeth hurt.
The SkyActive engines have been shown to not be particularly susceptible to intake deposits, but it does happen over time. Other GDI engines, in my experience notably Kia/Hyundai and Mini, develop excessive deposits quite easily and I recommend an induction service on those every 30,000 miles.
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That is an induction system cleaning, direct injection engines can be prone to excessive carbon build-up on the back side of the intake valves. It seems that most people are willing to wait until the engine is misfiring before having this service performed.
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