94 MX3 Engine fire or short

moondust8

My daughter's car, 78,000 miles, stalled at an
intersection and either had a fire or electrical
short in the engine compartment. The repair shop
says she needs a distributor and a wiring harness
among other things. Has anyone had this type a
problem?
She had the timing belt replaced recently.
Could it be a factory defect or sloppy workmanship
with the dealer?

c512jason

you may want to check out this message board for mx-3 owners.
http://www.egroups.com/group/mazdamx-3owners/
your problem has already been identified there. so you may want to check the archives, and links.
what i do know about it is that the dealer will try to charge you a lot for the OEM part. Roebuck mazda, seems to be the only dealer that will sell us parts at reasonable prices. i hate to say it but what ive read pertaining to that problem is that it will probably happen to all mxers, but sooner to soon depending on driving conditions and habits. one thing i do know is that its not cheap to repair esp. if you have the 6 cylinder.

happy mxing!!

Jason
'93 Laguna GS

mzn

In addition to the help you get here, I encourage you to look through the Maintenance & Repair conference for more assistance.

carlady/host

mccammon1

Hello,

Here's a hint for the MX-3 distributor trouble: the distributor is located directly under the oil pour hole-and therefore oil gets into the distributor if your're not extremely careful (put a rag around the hole when adding oil to avoid runoff). This was the cause of a friend's recent MX-3 distributor failure.

tds4

I own a MX-3 and it has 120,000 miles on it. It has been a great car! But I did just find out that my distributor is leaking oil on a hose that goes to my thermostat. I was shocked to hear that so many other people have discovered the same problem. I recently had my fan belt replaced too. I’ve had this car for 6 ½ years with almost no trouble at all! I replaced the clutch and have done basic maintenance but that’s all I have had to do to the car up till now.

I have to say the engine fire is disturbing! Luckily I am about to trade this car in. Does anyone know if this has been investigated or recalled?
~moondust8 I hope your daughter was ok after the accident.

alessio_aguirr

and I bought all the parts, including the distributor o ring and the valve casket, how do I change a casket ?

feistychick

i have my eye on a 95 mazda mx-3 4cyl, automatic w/83k miles. could someone email me at [email protected] to let me know some additional info on this car such as reliability, engine, cost of parts such as basic tune up, brakes, etc as well as how easy it is to get to things under your hood such as changing oil, tranny fluid, distributor, cap and rotor etc? thanks