I have a 2003 Mazda6s with about 155K miles on it. About a week ago, the check engine light came on. I took it to Autozone and had the code read - it came up as PO421, so I thought it was the oxygen sensor. Well, it's not. I took it to the dealer and it is the exhaust manifold AND the oil pan gasket. $1500. Ugh.

I hope this is not the start of a slippery slope of car repairs. This car has been very good to me for the past 5 years and I was hoping to keep it for 2 more years (or 200K miles).

 

Go to a pick& pull yard. Those parts wouldn't be hard to tear off of a car. Call around to the wrecking yards in your area, you might be surprised what you find. Buy a handful of tools and fix it yourself for probably 25% of the cost.

You could even upgrade to an aftermarket header for much less than that cost.

 

Hey, you've got 155k on only a 5yr old car...C'mon, expect a few repairs to be necessary! But Scott is right...find some used parts and tap into your inner-gearhead, and you'll save a hell of a lot of money! Go for it, mate.

David

 

Yeah, I can't really complain about the car, this is the first major repair and really only the second one that was not routine maintenance. I just had it all decided in my mind that it was the oxygen sensor.

Anyway, I'm not up for repairing it myself. I don't know much about fixing cars (I'll admit I'm a girl here), and I have a full time job, a traveling husband, a 130 mile round trip commute and 2 small children so I don't have a lot of time on my hands to learn.

 

Or buy the parts yourself, then take them into an independent mechanic to have them installed. $1500 for that repair is absurd to me. (Although it may very well be what their standard labor hours and parts mark-up cause the price to be.)