Thanks jtsanders. Wish I did live where you are. I’m in upstate NY. Buffalo area. And as for asking people who they use, the few (3 or 4) I did ask use their dealer, so they’re no help. I don’t know how else to find someone, let alone someone good. I even asked the guy at my dealer if the guys that work there do anything on the side and he said no, mainly because with the cars today all being computerized they’d have to have the equipment for that and that’s expensive. (Although he did say my car isn’t as computerized as they are now, it being 16 years old.) And if they do do it, they only do it for friends and family. So that didn’t help either.
I really want to keep this car if possible but it’s not looking good. I saw a video on Youtube where a guy is swapping out the engine from my type of car with a Ford Fusion engine. He said they’re the same platform? Wonder what that would cost, if I could even find someone to do it.
IMO you can use silicone for that gasket or cut it out of the gasket material mentioned in another post. I think the service adviser is telling you what he hears from the mechanic on the job, tempered by shop rules instituted by the manager. Another possibility is that they want to screw you out of the car and sell you another. They will fix it for next to nothing and sell it for a big profit. I’m not commenting on the probability, just mentioning that it’s possible. You have to decide about likelihood.
The dealer won’t fix this 16 year old vehicle and put it on their lot. They will just send it to auction or sell it with a group of other trade ins that they want to get rid of.
I don’t think this guy wants to do me any harm. I believe he’s an honest guy and I trust him. He went beyond what I think someone who didn’t know and deal with me for 16 years would do when I had a shattered rear window. He went through 3 different companies to find a replacement (since Mazda didn’t have them) and found a junkyard in Texas that had the window and shipped it to him, and a company actually came out and replaced it right in my driveway. He’s done things like this before, where someone else who I didn’t have this kind of relationship with wouldn’t do. So likelihood is nonexistent as far as I’m concerned.
JoeMario - found the first valve seal but not the cover gasket at Twisted Tuning. It came back as “no products for FEL-PRO VS50706R” Where else do I look for that one?
JoeMario - found the valve cover gasket at AutoZone. Thanks very much for finding these for me. I’ll show them to the dealer guy and ask that he get them.
Okay, per your request I will post this on this thread instead of your duplicate thread.
Regarding oil usage “not stated to me”. Your car? You calculate the oil usage.
JoeMario - So I showed the service guy the pictures of the gaskets you gave me and he’s gonna show it to the mechanic who works on Mazdas and ask him if those are the gaskets needed, and if so, he says he can get one but not the other (the one from Twisted Tuning), which I will get, and they’ll install them and see if it takes care of the leaks he says I have. Will have to wait until Thursday when the mechanic is in to see if those are the gaskets needed.
You have so small an oil leak that it doesn’t even leave a spot on the driveway…if I understood you correctly. I don’t think I would bother with the valve cover gasket.
Find yourself a Japanese repair shop as suggested!
I got a text from someone who’s trying to help about something called a crate engine. Anyone ever hear of that and would it be a good option (again, if I can find someone to actually put it in).
I don’t put oil in the car, I just take it in every so often for an oil change. They don’t tell me how much they use, so I don’t know how to calculate that.
Why is it so hard for people to realize that checking the oil level is something that needs to be done on a regular basis. Most vehicle manuals say to check every fuel fill up. Since I don’t drive much I check it on the first and 15th of each month . The same with the tire pressure.
It’s not a problem at all. It’s never run dry. There’s never been an issue with being low on oil. The problem is there’s an oil leak, which has nothing to do with there not being enough oil. I do regular maintenance, sometimes more than is called for, so that’s never been an issue or a problem.