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Comments
I have a 5spd. Mazda 626 (2.0L), about 240,000 miles, with an annoying problem. Recently I had the timing belt changed and when I left the mechanic the acceleration felt funny. It would not accelerate quickly and merging was downright dangerous. When I started going uphill, the car started losing speed and when I floored it the check engine light came on and the car just stopped accelerating.
Anyway I took it back to my mechanic who thought it was the timing. He adjusted it but the problem persisted. He redid the timing belt and the problem improved but it is still definitely there. At this point he thought it was the catalytic convertor, so I had that checked out. It was'nt.
I am not sure what to do now because my mechanic has'nt a clue. Gas mileage pretty much sucks down from 450 miles a tank to 350. Anyone got any ideas at all.
Thanks.
My hunch is that he installed the timing belt incorrectly. You said that he corrected the "timing" when you brought the car back, which means that he would have to reposition the timing belt if he meant the valve timing.
If you install a timing belt correctly, both your valve timing and ignition timing will be the same as they were before the old belt was removed. I changed the timing belt on my 92 Protege LX (1.8 l DOHC engine) at 65 K miles. I did the work myself. The ignition base timing did not change at all and the engine ran perfect for another 60K miles when I sold the car.
So once again, I think you need to have the timing belt rechecked and also check the base ignition timing. Your mechanic may have tried to compensate for wrong valve timing by advancing the base ignition timing.
Fortunately, our 626 has been pretty good reliability-wise. We've had no problems during the warranty period and just two out of warranty repairs in years 4 & 5 which totalled about $400cdn, not too bad at all.
p100: Yeah, our stock rear disc pads are wearing faster than the front ones too. Last check was 40% front and 10% rear, so there will be new rear pads going in before winter.
maxx4me: IMO, and also illustrated with p100's Mazda's, Japanese assembled Mazda's are very good and significantly better than US assembled Mazda's. In fact, I'm getting a Mazda3 (the Protege replacement) in Apr '04.
Maxx4me, your advice is well taken but I love this damn car. Even though I am buying a 2001 IS300 (gonna miss the stick) I want to keep this car because no one's gonna give me what I want for it
About a couple of days ago, I started having a problem with the shift lever on my 93 626 v-6 auto. Even though I have the brake pedal pressed in, it usually won't shift out of Park unless I stick the key in the lock next to the shift console to manually unlock it.
Sometimes though, I am able to shift it out of Park without using the key to manually unlock the shift lever, but the strange thing is that at those times, I can move it out of Park with or without pressing the brake pedal in.
Help!
What bugs me is that the guy that did the timing belt did not replace them then (2 years ago). Also, the clearance between the Alt./WP belt and the timing belt cover is very tight, I'd say 1/10 of an inch. Scary...
Plus, the chugging noises I hear after the engine warms up, which I thought were valve-train related, are exhaust related. I think there are probably three molecules or iron metal left in the pipes, everything else is rust. I probably have holes/gaps all over the place that get bigger/smaller with temperature...
G.
I had posted a little while back about my 93 626 giving me timing belt problems. I am happy to say that is resolved. I took it to the dealer and they redid the timing belt. Works great.
Now fo rthe questions:
1) The dealer said that I need to have my front wheel bearings replaced at a cost of 600 bucks. My car does make an airplane like sound on the parkway. How urgent is this??
2)
I had posted a little while back about my 93 626 giving me timing belt problems. I am happy to say that is resolved. I took it to the dealer and they redid the timing belt. Works great.
Now fo rthe questions:
1) The dealer said that I need to have my front wheel bearings replaced at a cost of 600 bucks. My car does make an airplane like sound on the parkway. How urgent is this??
2)
I'd have this looked at pronto, though $600 seems a bit stiff for what is basically two or three hours work on some fairly cheap parts, plus (if they're paying attention) a front-wheel alignment.
Sabir.
I recently read about a guy that rebuilt his own using 3M Weld for windows and letting it cure for 24 hours. Anyone else tried this?
I don't suppose anyone knows where I can get some good illustrations (Hanes manuals don't) on doing this?
The only problem: My driver's side wheel is now making a periodic squeaky noise that correlates with speed. I checked to see if there was something rubbing against the tire and everything is OK. I took the wheel off and back on to make sure that all the lug nuts were OK, an still noise (I torqued them to 50 in a star pattern, then to 80). My only hope is that the plate covering the caliper (behind the wheel) got bent while I was mounting the wheels and is now scraping against the rim. But the noise is 'rubbery', if this is any help in diagnosis. And, no, I don't have any bubble gum stuck on the tire. Any ideas?
TIA,
G.
If you do not find anything, switch the tires back to their original configuration and drive the car.
Anyway, I took the old plug off, cleaned the hole, and re-plugged it with a bit more finesse than the kid at the gas station, and now there is no noise.
G.
If you plug a motorcycle speed rated tire for example, you have essentially ruined the tire speed capability and they tell you not to exceed about 70 mph with such a tire.
I'm also considering Mercury Villagers, 1997 to 2000. Any first-hand info. on both of these would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
miles. The 130 ponies matched to a left leg flexor
has been a blast to drive and own. We used this site
for research and comparison and couldn't be happier!
One advice: Whatever model you buy, stay away from the 4 cylinder automatic version. V6 models have much better auto transmission which is designed and built in Japan.
Maintenance costs can be rather high because these cars require frequent timing belt replacement (every 60k miles). And 98 and newer models have solid valve lifters which require adjustment every 60k miles. And this job on a V6 model is very time consuming and labor intensive, requiring special tools. Because of this, Mazda dealers charge about $ 525 for timing belt replacement and valve clearance check/adjustment on the V6 model. In addition to this you need to replace platinum plugs and plug wires every 60K miles, which will cost another $ 200. Plus fuel system maintenance. So 60K service on a V6 costs about $ 1000 and this assumes that nothing else goes wrong and no other parts are replaced. If you need EGR circuit cleaning, this can cost several hundred dollars on top of this. To me, these routine service costs appear very high for an entry level compact family sedan.
On Jan 5th, 05 I had the water pump replaced on my Mazda 626. After taking the car home and letting it sit a few I noticed a small oil spot underneath the car. I moved the car a couple of feet and let it sit and the exact same shapped oil spot duplicated, so I took my car straight down the mechanic and the owner of the shop said that I have a oil sensor that is leaking "a little" and advised me to pick one up from a Mazda Dealer and he would install it. He said it would be about 15.00.
When I returned home I checked the oil level and to my surprise it was 2 quarts low! The next day I returned to the shop and the owner had one of his guys spend about 15 minutes under the car while it was jacked up on one side. When he was finished underneath I was told again that the only thing they could see that might be leaking was the sensor he had recommended.
Very soon after this date the car broke down on the freeway. Interesting enough after about five minutes the car drove fine again. There wasn't so much as even a miss in the timing. However, this happened a couple more times so back to the shop I went as the car cut out again on the freeway and I almost couldn't get it started that time.
At the end of the day, the owner called me and told me I could pick the car up and said he had replaced the rotor and cap (95.00). I picked the car up the next morning and made it about 2 miles and then was stranded on the freeway. After getting the car back to this shop, the owner says to me "I was going to tell you when you picked up the car that you should only drive it home because of oil contamination. He said it would be another $400.00 because oil was all over including in the spart plug holes. Lots of oil!
Is there more that the mech. should have done besides the water pump/gasket and two cam seals (and timing belt)? Is it possible their work caused this problem and if so, where should I look first?
Thanks
Mazda 323/MX-3/626/MX-6/Millenia/Protégé 1990-1998
REMOVAL & INSTALLATION
Except MX-3, 323, Protege and Millenia
The lower ball joint is an integral part of the lower control and cannot be replaced separately. If the lower ball joint is defective, the entire lower control arm must be replaced.
One of the things one has to do to get to the water pump is get to the timing belt. To get to the timing belt, one has to get the valve cover out of the way. Once you are done and you are about to put everything back together again, you'll need a new valve cover gasket. If you don't put one, oil will splash all over and will get into your spark plugs. It will also leak down into the timing belt housing, and probably saturate the timing belt with oil.
I tell you this because my 'ex-mechanic' did this (i.e., did not use a new valve cover gasket), and two months later I had the 'check engine light' from hell. It was all due to oil going down the spark plug wells (these engines are DOHC). Check the repair bill and see if he charged you for a new gasket (he probably did use a new water pump gasket, I hope...). But if you see a lot of 'sealant-type' goop around the valve cover gasket (the piece of metal that has the 'MAZDA' imprint on it), chances are he just tried to seal the cover with the old gasket and sealant.
But that's my guess: He did not use a new gasket, that caused oil to leak (your oil loss) and get into the spark plugs (your car dying down the road).
But his 'oil pressure sender' problem seems like BS. I mean, was it working fine (i.e., not loosing oil) before you had the water pump replaced? If so, why would it start leaking oil after the water pump was replaced? I have a theory that requires mechanical parts having 'feelings': Maybe it had grown really attached to that water pump, was a very unhappy oil pressure sender after they installed a new one and thrown his old friend into a trash bin, and as retaliation against you it started leaking.
As I said, not likely...
Hope this helps,
G.
This is not a true statement for a 626 with a V6 engine, Mazda Protege with a DOHC 1.8 l engine. I will not speak for a 4 cyl, 626 but I do not believe that it applies there either.
To get to the timing belt, you remove the drive belts, tensioner pulleys, and the timing belt cover(s). No need to remove the valve cover unless you are replacing the cam oil seals, and do not have an impact wrench to loosen the cam sprocket bolts. Then you remove the valve cover, hold the cam in place by slipping an adjustable wrench over hex portion of each cam and loosen the sprocket bolt. You do the same when retightening the sprocket bolt to spec.
You really can reuse the old valve cover gasket at least once becuase it is made of moulded rubber and very little sillicone sealant is used on it when assembled at the factory (and only in select locations). If reinstalled correctly, it should not leak if the rubber is still piable and undamaged. However, I do recommend replacing the gasket every time. It is cheap insurance. Also, it is important to replace the rubber sealing washers under the valve cover bolts.
And follow the mazda shop manual instructions where small amounts of silicone sealant need to be applied. And torque all vavle cover bolts to spec in several increments and correct sequence.
Water pumps on these cars typically use a moulded O-ring (at least 6 cylinder version does). It should be replaced with each water pump change. There is no need for any silicone sealant on this O-ring. You must be very careful to make sure it does not slip out of the pump housing groove when you bolt the new pump on.
In the L4 I do believe you need to get the valve cover off. The timing belt cover is a plastic 'spashguard' on the side, but you cannot get to the cam sprockets if you don't remove the cam cover out of the way. There may be a way of avoiding this if you are just changing the water pump, but if you have to take off, and later install, the timing belt it would be tough to do it with the cam cover on.
In my case, the cam cover gasket that did not get replaced when the timing belt and water pump were replaced had ~70K miles on it. It was extremely hard and brittle when I did change it. As you say, changing it is cheap insurance (I think it was $15).
Cheers,
Guillermo
Mine's a 95 2.0L with ATX. I don't know how different this engine may be from newer/older L4s. Also, I don't plan to do any of this on my 626. I was just giving some info to a fellow with problems (oil going into spark plug wells, etc., etc.).
However, and taking the opportunity that alcan is roaming the forum, I need a bit of information regarding the radiator fan circuit on this car. I have the schematics, showing three relays. Do you or anyone else know how they work? I mean, I can see which relay turns on when they get the signal from the PCM, but I don't know how they are wired to the motor (or how the coils/windings of the motors are arranged). Is this three-relay setup one of those serial/parallel arrangements? Apparently relay #1 and #2 give +Vbat to the motor, and relay #3 grounds one of the motor's circuits. Relay #2 and #3 are closed simultaneously by the PCM. Also, I don' know if it's the same PCM signal that closes all three relays (there only one line coming out of the PCM circuit diagram, but two different ones getting to the fan relays). I'm trying to figure out if one of my relays is pooched (sticking closed once it closes for the first time), and this info would be great to know to troubleshoot it.
TIA!
G.
Now I need to reassemble it and get the crankshaft and camshaft lined properly so I can reinstall the timing belt. Can anyone tell me where to put the crankshaft (piston positions), where to put the camshaft pulley, and how to mount the belt so that the timing will be correct?
Make sure all the slack is out of the belt when you tighten the tensioner. Good Luck & God Bless.
When the problem first surfaced I almost got into an accident. When downshifting to turn a corner, the idle dropped to 0 and the engine stalled, which then took out the power steering! The idle has since been adjusted up, so now it doesn't completely cut out, it just drops really low, flashes the check engine light, and shoots back up. The only thing that I can do to keep this from happening is to shift into neutral and let go of the clutch. When I am stopped and Idling, if the clutch is pressed the Idle bounces up and down, but once I put the gear in neutral and let go of the clutch, it stops bouncing. As soon as I put it back into gear, the bouncing idle returns!
When the Computer Diagnostic was run, it said that my Mass Air Flow sensor was bad, and I replaced that, but it didn't help. I also had to replace the computer from a different problem, and the distributor (which was done by my local Mazda Dealer) and that didn't solve the problem either. I've been taking it to several mechanics for the past 4 years now and the problem is still there! Has anyone else encountered this problem or have any ideas what I need to do to get rid of it?
Thanks!!