Took the 8 in yesterday for regular service. The service manager called me and said there was a recall item for something about the fuel tank and that they would take care of it. Turns out it was the excessive heat build-up issue and my paperwork said the remedy was a reprogram of the engine control module. I know there are a couple threads about this recall but my question is what exactly did the reprogram do? I'm wondering if it leans out the fuel settings because after I picked up the car I noticed a definite gain in power, especially in the mid RPM range. It seems to have much more torque/acceleration now. I have the M flash already and no mention was made of a new flash. Anybody else have this done yet and notice a difference?

 

Shazoom,

There isn't a whole lot known as to exactly what the new flash does.

The belief is that it somewhow prevents the car from idling high should it flood... (something to that extent) Zoom44 is looking into it and will be updating the Recall thread.

You might have been Group 2 which means they just reflashed your car and sent you on your way. Check for the sticker underneath your hood...

 

Thanks Jedi, I hadn't thought to look for the sticker. The paperwork mentioned the recall, said the fix was a reprogram, but didn't call it a "reflash" by name. Whatever it did it made a difference in power for sure

 

hmm wher eto begin-

last first i always like reprogram is the same as reflash. its two different languages which can be frustrating at times. we call it flash and service advisors go "hunh?" its just a different lingo means the same thing.

nobody has yet reported taking their Mflash car in and having flashed to the newest flash for the recall. many people have noted changes in power delivery when going from M to N to P etc. but you may have skipped all of those and gone straight to the recall flash or you may have only gone to the one before recall flash. since we dont know for certain you were on M before and you have not given us a way to know what level you are on right now we have nothign to compare against.The effect you are feeling may simply be because of the resetting of the computer NVRAM etc. that happens everytime the pcm is flashed. since you skipped a bunchof levels it could be from the changes made for intermediate flashes and not the change made from the last to the newest.

how do you know you were on M? when was your car built? if you believe your car was on M because you had a flash then that suggests to me that your car was built prior to the last production date before the fire which was Dec 20th 2004. If this is so then your car is a GROUP 1 car and since the dealership has neither parts for nor instructions for GROUP 1 cars there is no way he performed the entire recall requirements. If he has placed a sticker on the car saying this has been done he is in violation of federal law and could lose his business. and get a nice hefty fine. and possibly go to jail if your car was to catch fire and kill someone for negligent homicide. because he has lead you to believe the recall work was done when it wasnt. furthurmore since the recall doesnt show in your vin search yet there is no way to close the issue with mazda so they will continue to believe it hasnt been done so there is no way he will be paid for the work under warranty.

big breath charlie.


However there is the slimmest of chances that you were under the MSP04 program. if so you may have had M flash or N etc done at some point but never had MSP04 done and closed in the computer. that has happened to alot of people. So when you went in they found MSP04 needing to be done according to your VIN records. So they did that work which tells them to Flash the car to the lastest and greatest. The bulletin originally was for the M flash but since it says "or the newest flash available" they would have given you what ever is in their WDS as of their last loaded update. this seems more likely what they have done.


are there any indications on you paperwork as to what "recall" they did a bulletin number like 04-2345 or MSP04? Is the a flash file number or part number such as n3zhxxx-x? You need to get it straight so you understand what has been done or not to your car.

 

your only over in forest grove? im in tigard what dealership did you go to for service?

edit - oh yeah you bought from Tonkin. is that where you ended up for service? skip that. after you get it straigthened out with them what they did exactly stop going there. the Master Tech that worked there couldnt stand the place and now works at Premier Mazda. they also have a new General Manager that is making some changes for the better there.

 

bump

 

I need to remember to check this "sticker"..where exactly is it located?

Not knowing much about these flashes, are they such that you can go from say an M to an R and be current or must you sequentially do them all ..N,O,P.etc?

My build date was late March '05, haven't seen anything officially in the mail regarding this heat recall issue. I will be taking it in in a couple weeks for my 3 month check-up, so I guess I'll find out then. Just that it helps being well informed via this forum when talking with the technicians.

 

each flash contains all the previous updates

 

I've got the MSP04 sticker under the hood. I just went out and looked and can't find a new sticker anyplace on the car so I need to call and see what exactly they did. FWIW...I had the service done at Royal Moore in Hillsboro. It's about 45 minutes closer than Ron Tonkin where I bought the car.