Mazda 626

deliver2 · August 2004

I have a 97 Mazda 626 v6 and it just turned 100K. Since a week ago or so, whenever I stop at a traffic light and begin to drive, it makes a loud squeaky noise. I have to park it and then drive for the sound to go away. Any ideas as to why it is happening? I just had the tailpipe, muffler, spark plugs and a bunch of hoses replaced.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.

lngtonge18 · August 2004

It could be a loose or worn out alternator belt.

p100 · August 2004

Mazda appears to use 19mm oil drain plug on most passenger cars. Both my 92 Protege and 99 626 had a 19 mm hex head oil drain plug. Chances are yours is a 19 mm too. Nissan seems to favor 14 mm oil drain plug sizes.

p100 · August 2004

Agree with the above suggestion. I had an identical problem with my 95 Nissan truck. It turned out to be a loose alternator belt. At first I suspected the A/C compressor belt.

lewshel · September 2004

I am planning on having the timing belt changed on our 2000 626 V6 LX Auto transmission. The car has 77,000. I called the local dealer and was quoted a price of $350. This seems high by about $100. Am I wrong?

lngtonge18 · September 2004

Replacing the timing belt normally costs about $300 for a four cylinder and V6's cost more so I would say your price is right about where it should be. Expect it to run higher if they replace the water pump, which you should.

mcdawgg · September 2004

At a dealer, I have paid as much as $300 and as little as $99.

riswami · September 2004

the answer on the oil drain plug size. I went to Sears and bought a 19mm. It is the one.

I have a 95 MX-6 with the 4. I just bought it from a family member. It had 128k when I bought it, so I just did the timing belt and water pump at the same time. I was quoted 360, I think it came closer to 400. A tensioner broke during the chain of the belt.

I got to say that I'm impressed with how this car runs. Mine is a five speed and it is responsive and very good on gas. I've gotten 31 to 34 mpg consistenlty.

I've been reading through the post to get an idea of problems and durability with this car/engine. Doesn't appear to be many issues. I know this car has seen synthetic oil its whole life. So I think the last thing to die will be the engine.

zoomzoom626 · September 2004

Change timing belt at 105K..Our engines(V6 only) are non interference so you are safe to let it run longer. :-)

lewshel · September 2004

I was quoted a price of $550 with waterpump by nearby dealer. The car is 3 1/2 years old, 77,000 miles. Why should it need a waterpump?

riswami · September 2004

The pump may be fine. It is right there, the timing belt drives the waterpump. So there is no additional labor charge to get there. You can roll the dice and not replace the pump.

p100 · September 2004

First, $ 350 is cheap for timing belt replacement on a V6 engine. Our local Mazda dealer quoted me $ 570 for this job. They also change cam sprocket seals and front crankshaft oil seal. I have 95K miles on my 99 626 V6 and have not changed the original timing belt yeat (I will do it soon though). Even though these are noninterference engines, I was told that there is a chance of engine damage if the belt breaks at high engine RPM.

I would not change the water pump at 77K miles. The chance of it failing within next three years are not high. I changed the waterpump preventively on my 92 Protege at 65K miles and the original waterpump was like new.

edpagan88 · September 2004

i have a problem where the intermittent wipers won't work. the wipers slow and fast but it won't do the intermittent speeds or the washer selection. the pump works fine and i get the mist on the windshield but i have to switch to slow or swipe to clean it.anybody have any ideas.someone told me it could be a relay switch in the steering column.

lewshel · September 2004

What is a non-interference engine?
My son will be taking the car from Massachusett to LA and I don't want to worry about it.
Thanks

lngtonge18 · September 2004

Very good chance you have a bad wiper relay which is part of the wiper switch. Mazda had big time problems with these in the 86-91 Rx7. When the relays fail on these cars, the wipers will only work on slow speed. The washer motor will spray but the wipers won't automatically move. Your problem sounds exactly like the Rx7. I hope for your sake that Mazda made the switches less complicated as they are extremely expensive to replace. On the Rx7, a new one costs over $400 from a dealer and over $300 online. Thankfully, I was able to find a place that rebuilds the switches and replaces the problem prone relays with better quality ones for much cheaper.

zoomzoom626 · September 2004

It means that if your timing belt breaks pistons and valves will not collide and damage each other which would be the case in mazda's 4banger.

Mazda recommends changing exactly same belt at 105K miles in California and some other states..so I think we should be fine too.

edpagan88 · September 2004

thanks but where is the wiper relay?

lngtonge18 · September 2004

I don't know for sure where it is, but since the wiper switch is inside the steering column, more then likely the relay is inside the switch assembly. Unless you know how to repair electronics, the only way to fix your problem is to replace the entire wiper switch.

edpagan88 · September 2004

Thanks for the quick reply.

pidzy · September 2004

When driving down highway at 120 km/h the engine will stall suddenly, then will not restart. Had to tow to dealer. They said it was ignition coil. Had whole distributor replaced and it would still not start. The dealer than said it was the battery - however it is only one year old. All cables OK and alternator is new. Any ideas on what could be the problem.

p100 · September 2004

Did this dealer perform simple checks to pinpoint the faulty component? Coils are easy to test: you measure the primary and secondary circuit resistance with an ohmmeter, and can also perform insulation test if you have a megger.

For the battery, measure the voltage at the terminals. It should be about 12.5 volts for a fully charged battery. With the engine running, and all eletrical accessories off, if the alternator voltage regulator is working properly, the battery voltage should be between about 13.5 - 14.5 volts. If the alternator voltage regulator voltage does not exceed the static battery voltage, the alternator will not charge your battery. Second, perform a load test on the battery. This will verify the ability of the battery to hold charge. The fact that the battery is only one year old does not mean much. I have seen week old batteries suddenly fail.

Concerning the battery cables, do not assume they are OK without checking the crimped cable terminals both at the battery and on the opposite side. Especially check the negative cable terminal lug where it bolts to the engine block and ensure you have a clean and tight connection. If the connection here is loose or corroded, your car may stall at speed because not enough current is available for the fuel injection system to operate. Fuel injectors consume a lot more current than the ignition system.

Seems to me that your dealer is not performing any systematic checks to find the problem. Maybe you should try another dealer or an independent repair shop.

pidzy · September 2004

Thanks for your ideas! The dealer is now admitting they screwed up and have guaranteed a solution that will work at no cost. Makes me wonder what they did that they are so scared now - do you think they lurk around in the forums?!

mannella · October 2004

My sister-inlaw just gave me her 93 626 but the running lights won't work. I checked the relay under the hood and it appears to close when I start the car. Any suggestions would help.

p100 · October 2004

I recently experienced strange phenomenon with my 99 V6 626. I have a 5 speed manual transmission and for some reson the car was hard to shift in gear, especially into first gear from neutral after sitting in traffic for a while on a hot summer day in Florida. After driving some distance, the problem disappeared. It only reoccurred once or twice in the last six months, and only when I was sitting in traffic with the engine running on a hot day.

The shifter linkage is located directly over the catalytic converter, which only has a thin metal shield over it. Is it possible that some bushings in the shifting linkage may need replacing or greasing? Or that the catalytic converter is heating up hotter than usual now that the car has almost 100K miles on it? Anybody experienced anything similar? The problem does not appear to be clutch or trasmission related becauase the car shifts fine except for those few instances.

zoomzoom626 · October 2004

My '00 LX-V6 has been making same noise for a while now and I thought it was some stuff I had in trunk. This morning I took it all out and it was still there so I'm wondering if I have same problem as you...and If I do can this be do it yourself fix or do I have to take car in?

original message

My '00 LX-V6 just went in to the dealer yesterday for clunking in the rear suspension. They're telling me a sway bar link is loose and in need of replacement. Didn't look under it myself, but it sure sounded loose.

They're ordering the part for next week so I have the car back, but they must have done something to tighten things up a bit, because it doesn't clunk as much as it did before yesterday.

This is the second time getting the problem corrected on my car, first time was in May last year under the B2B warranty. Fortunately, this time is also a freebie as I'm still under the 12mo/12Kmi parts/labor warranty from the first repair job.

zoomzoom626 · October 2004

Well I checked my sway bar and it is solid like a rock..No free play at all...So I'm open to more sugestion form you guys any other ideas?

This clunking noise is driving me nuts!!

qbrozen · October 2004

just curious, but how did you check it? i had this happen on the front end of my volvo and everyone said it was the swaybar endlinks because its a common fault area. i checked and it seemed absolutely solid to me, but i replaced them anyway and, sure enough, it was the problem. Fact is you just can't move parts by hand anywhere near as easily as a 3300 lb. car moving over the road can.

slickdog · October 2004

I'm still not sure exactly what causes that clunking, or if it can be prevented/fixed easily at home. I should probably figure it out soon, because I'm anticipating that it will happen again in the near future.

I tried again to convince the dealer to give me more info last time I got the car back, but they are never willing to discuss technical details with me (you know, that mechanic who did the work always seems to be unavailable when I want to talk to him). They did finally admit that it is a common problem with '00 models, but of course they wouldn't tell me why or what I should do about it.

It might be time for me to invest in the service manual(s) and get to the bottom of this. I'm hoping that some fasteners can just be re-torqued at oil change time to prevent this sort of thing. I definitely don't want to pay someone to fix it if it does happen again, as sway bars and their associated components are ususally simple enough to deal with easily. Let me know if you find anything out on your end. The only thing I can find on Google that might be relevant is this person's MX-6 page, but I don't know how similar the MX-6 and 626 suspensions are:

http://www.mx3gsr.freeservers.com/maintenance.htm

zoomzoom626 · October 2004

This weekend I spent 30 min under my car visually inspecting all the rubber bushings on my rear suspension..I did determined that noise is comming form there.
Now as far as roll bar bushings:

- the ones on the end looked pretty good and I could not find any loosness in them

- then there are two other rubber bushings(rotarykid mentioned these I belive in some earlier posts on this subject) that are more toward the middle of the bar and those made some noise(after I shaked the bar pretty hard) which sounded like metal to metal contact even though the bushings looked ok from the outside.

if those two are the source of the noise that can be replaced very easy(only two bolts are holding them) and they should be very cheap I think.

I think I will make some pics with my digital camera and then we can make sure we are talking about same thing.

slickdog · October 2004

I'll try to dig up both of my warranty service receipts to look at the work detail, but I'm pretty sure I had at least some bushings replaced both times, and possibly even one or both sway bar links on at least one of the jobs. I'll be changing my oil and rotating the tires within the next 2-3 weeks too, so perhaps I'll take some time to roll the creeper under my rear suspension and take a look.

p100 · October 2004

Any comments on that one? The problem has not reoccurred in the last two months. I have almost 100K miles on the car and am getting ready to do the timing belt. I may do this myself, as the dealer wants $ 570 just to change the belt and cam/crank seals. I will replace the water pump, tensioner, seals, and the belt. The total cost of parts from a Mazda dealer with 20% off (belt, seals, tensioner, water pump, Mazda antifreeze) is about $ 270. If I have dealer replace all that it will be about $ 800 for parts and labor.

One unpleasant thing about replacing the timing belt on a V6 is that you must jack up the engine and remove the front engine mount to remove the old belt and to slip a new one on. Mazda sells a special tool to hold the crankshaft harmonic balancer pulley stationary so you can properly torque the center bolt (removing the bolt is easy with an air impact wrench).

slickdog · October 2004

So how hard was it to shift when you had the problem? My '00 randomly denies my 2-1 or N-1 shifts when stopped or nearly stopped, but usually gives in if I shove the lever hard enough, or pop the clutch out briefly while in neutral. I has been doing this since I bought it new, so I never really considered it to be a problem that could be fixed. I don't have too many complaints about the car, but I do think that the transmission is one of it's weaker points.

Good luck with that timing belt. Sounds like you're going to be under the hood for a while. Are you getting all this good info from your dealer, or from the service manuals?

p100 · October 2004

It took some shifter fumbling and some muscle to push the thing into first gear from neutral and higher gear shifts were not as easy as before. As I said before, it only happened in traffic on a very hot day, so I suspect shifter linkage binding because of expansion due to excessive heat (shifting linkage is right above the catalytic converter).

The information on timing belt replacement: I got it from the factory shop manual. Mazda also makes a special tool for supporting and lifting the engine to remove the front mount - the tool is essentially a steel bar with a small chain hoist that is placed across the engine compartment and rests on inner fender grooves. I am sure it is expensive and not worth buying unless you use it commercially. I was wrong about the price of the timing belt tensioner - it is outrageous - get this: $ 199 list price for the tensioner leg, and $ 120 for the body of the tensioner. So I will not be replacing it preventively. The timing belt, oil seals, water pump, and water pump O-ring (separate part which does not come with the water pump) cost me about $ 200 with a 20% discount from our local Mazda dealer. The timing belt itself lists for $ 92.70! For some reason the timing belt for my 95 V6 Nissan pickup is only $ 28 from a dealer, and both vehicles have overhead cam V6 engines, so the belts are comparable in size.

Here is a list of parts you need to replace the timing belt and the water pump in a 99 V6:

part number/ part name/ list price

KL01-12-205-9U/ timing belt/ $ 92.70

BP01-10-602A/ camshaft oil seal/ $ 8.00 (2 required)

FS02-10-602/ front crankshaft oil seal/ $ 9.60

KL47-15-010C/ water pump/ $ 104.76

KL01-15-106/ water pump O-ring/ $ 18.60

Note: replacing of the oil seals and the water pump is not necessary to replace the timing belt: however, failure and replacement of any of these will require timing belt removal and reinstallation.

lewshel · October 2004

Check and see if any of the clips holding the brake pads are missing. I had this problem a few months ago.

slickdog · October 2004

My car isn't clunking right now lewshel, but I think zoomzoom626 may still be having problems.

Maybe you're right about the shift linkage binding, p100. My tranny seems to be happiest when outside temperatures are between 30 and 80 degrees or so, and anything outside of that seems to make shifting a bit more difficult in general. The cold weather issue is understandable, although I'm not sure why hot weather would bother it, but you're theory may be correct. I have noticed that my transmission gets a bit more obstinate than usual when our summer temps are at their peak (90-95 degrees).

That timing belt tensioner price IS outrageous - I hope it is well constructed! The water pump on my mother's '99 Park Avenue seized up (at ~80K miles) last month while she was on the highway, and all that was left of the tensioner pulley was a small round disk made of plastic. The rest it must have disintegrated and flew out of the engine compartment, because it didn't look much like a pulley at that point. At any rate, those Mazda parts prices are pretty steep, I hope they are good quality. How did you get that 20% discount, anyway?!?

slickdog · October 2004

Well, I'm sorry to say that my 626 is no more. It was just declared a total loss by my insurance company. Last week a large truck drove into my passenger side as I was traveling 45MPH down a 4 lane boulevard on my way to work. No injuries, although there probably would have been had anyone been riding in my back seat. Didn't know it at the time, but I took my last chance to drive it by limping over to the side of the road to get out of the way of oncoming traffic after the impact spun me around backwards.

I must say that I was left with an even more positive impression of the car after I did that 180 degree spin on dry pavement, with a set of four new snow tires on it's feet. Although the incident took place in just a few seconds, I was completely concious of the car's movement the whole time, and I never felt as though I might flip over, since the car barely leaned into the spin at all. Gotta love that Mazda suspension! Those tires are not the sort which encourage extreme driving maneuvers, either. Nice and grippy for snow, but very soft and spongy feeling in turns.

So unfortunately, I won't get a chance to test the car's longevity any further. However, at 50K miles, it was still doing quite well mechanically. The only components which exhibited any noticable degradation were the clutch, brake pads and rotors, but to a degree that was certainly beween average and above average in my book.

My only significant mechanical failures were those pesky stabilizer links and bushings we've just been discussing, which I never could get the whole story on from the dealer. I did manage to dig up both my invoices from the related warranty service, so if I get a chance I'll post the details in another message.

Well, at any rate I'll be in the market for another car within the next couple days. Maybe another Mazda, maybe not. Need to get a look at the insurance check first I suppose. Good luck to the rest of you and your 626's, and thanks much to those of you who shared such valuable information about your experiences with your own cars!

zoomzoom626 · October 2004

Man I glad you got out OK..you can always buy new car...but health has no price tag!

If I were you I would be heading to test drive Mazda 6...if you liked 626 ride you will love 6 ride...

as far as my rear clunk it is still there and it is not brake pad related since ih happens even under braking. I will take pics this weekend so I can figure out which bushings I need to tackle first.
I wonder can you post pics on this board?

slickdog I would appreciate if you could let me know what parts did they exactly change on yours.

Thanks
zoomzoom626

slickdog · October 2004

Yeah, I'm upset about the car but feeling lucky to be injury free. Didn't even get a stiff neck the next morning, which is amazing considering the circumstances.

Just got back from the Mazda dealer a couple hours ago, wanted to get some quick photos of my car before it left for the boneyard. While I was there I checked out the new 6 sedan, hatchback and wagon real quick in the showroom - very nice indeed. Didn't have time to drive, but I'll definitely be doing that within the next couple days.

I'll try to post whatever details I have on my rear suspension service tonight.

p100 · October 2004

I get 20% discount on parts from the local Mazda dealer because I have been buying parts from them for about 12 years now for my Mazda vehicles.

BTW I just hit 100K miles today in my 99 ES V6. The car runs great, I have no more issues with harder shifting now that the hot summer weather is over here in Florida.

slickdog · October 2004

I've only been visiting the parts counter at my dealer for 4 years, and only to buy oil filters! It's great that you get such a large discount on those relatively expensive Mazda parts.

Good luck with the next 100K miles.

slickdog · October 2004

Almost forgot zoomzoom626, I have the invoices for my rear suspension service here next to me:

Date: 5/22/03
Mileage: 32432
Customer reports: GETTING A KNOCKING NOISE FROM REAR END OVER BUMPS CHECK AND ADVISE
Caused by NOISE COMING FROM WORN REAR SWAYBAR LINKS AND BUSHINGS,REPLACED LINKS AND BUSHINGS
Installed GG2A-28-156 :BUSH,STABILIZER-RR Qty: 2
Installed GD1J-28-170 :LINK,CONTROL-STAB Qty: 2

Date: 3/04/04
Mileage: 39006
Customer reports: GETTING A CLUNKING SOUND FROM THE REAR
Ordered GD1J-28-170 :LINK,CONTROL-STAB 1@42.75
NOISE COMING FROM LEFT REAR SWAYBAR LINK
ORDERED LINK WILL CALL WHEN COMES IN.

Date: 3/10/04
Mileage: 39254
Customer reports: GETTING A CLUNKING SOUND FROM REAR OVER BUMPS INSTALL SOP.
Caused by FOUND LEFT REAR SWAYBAR LINK HAS A LOT OF PLAY IN IT.REPLACED LEFT REAR WORN SWAYBAR LINK UNDER PARTS WARRANTY.
Installed GD1J-28-170 :LINK,CONTROL-STAB Qty: 1

carguy58 · October 2004

What year was your 626? I'm just curious. I am sorry about your car. Its a big in the butt when your car gets into accident. The insurance company gets involved and if the car is a total loss like yours was you probably have to rent a car. The bright spot though is cars can be replaced and people can't. I look foward to hearing what kind of car you get.

zoomzoom626 · November 2004

thanks slickdog I'll try to get them today!

slickdog · November 2004

It was a 2000 LX-V6. And yes, believe me when I say that I am feeling lucky that I walked away from it injury free. I liked the car, but I'm sure I'll find something else that I like, and although spending time with car salesmen can be somewhat painful, I'll take that over spending time with a doctor any day!

slickdog · November 2004

Good luck with those links zoomzoom626, I'm curious about what you find. Hope the dealer info helps. It doesn't really touch on why the problem occurred, but at least it has part numbers so you can see what was replaced.

riswami · November 2004

Over the last 10 days my Malfunction Indicator Light has come on approximately 4 times. It will stay on for approximately a minute then it will go out.

The owners manual doesn't tell me much, just consult an authorized mazda dealer as soon as possible. My car is a 95 MX-6 with the four cylinder.

Is this Mazda's equivalent to a Service Engine soon light? The car is running great and always gets between 31 and 34 MPG.

Any help or experiences is appreciated.

zoomzoom626 · November 2004

before u go to dealer try to tighten up you fuel tank cap..it will cause light to come on if not closed properly.

riswami · November 2004

for the tip. I have probably fueled up three times since this first happened. I'll tighten the cap more next time.

I'm also thinking that it could be an 02 sensor. The car has almost 134k on it and I'm sure it is the original 02 sensor.

Do you know if this model stores codes. I'm thinking it is not an OBD 2 system. Thus interegating the computer will not tell you anything.

zoomzoom626 · November 2004

try here:
http://www.mazda626.net/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=5598&s- =98e2846d570c710bf765cdcfe5f827e6

p100 · November 2004

I have OEM polished clearcoated alloy wheels on my 99 ES V6. The clearcoat on these wheels is easily damaged if wrong type wheel lip balancing lead weights are used. Moisture then gets under the clearcoat and produces ugly veins of aluminum oxide powder under the clearcoat. So far I have almost no damage because I learned this lesson on another vehicle before this one. I was thinking about trying stick-on weights which will eliminate this problem. The only problem is that the inside of the wheel is not polished smooth, but rather there are concentric machining tool marks, which may prevent the weights from sticking to the wheel properly. Has anybody tried these stick-on weights on Mazda factory alloy wheels with good results?

BTW, I have a strong dislike for polished clearcoated alloy wheels. I have had absolutely no problems with rough cast painted alloy wheels on my 92 Protege or 98 Maxima. The polished clearcoated wheels look nice when new, but they are not practical at all and susceptible to corrosion under the clearcoat. The 626 polished wheels are especially delicate, because when they balance the wheels, and use a centering cone, the metal cone damages the clearcoat, and the wheel will corrode around the center cap. If you do not touch up the clearcoat immediately, you will not prevent this corrosion. One way to prevent this damage is to use a smaller diameter centering cone, but this only works with certain wheel balancers, such as Coats balancers which use a smaller diameter wheel mount shaft (I think 25 mm vs 40), so a smaller cone can be used. The smaller cone then tightens against the inner center hole lip, not the outer clearcoated one.

Mazda 626

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