What have you done to your P5 today?

The P5 is home for a few days. So, I'm taking the opportunity to pull the front fender liners and clean and undercoat everything before winter hits. Hit the bottom rear corners of the inside of the fenders with POR15 to slow down the surface rust that has started there. The previous owner never cleaned this area out and it had 2-3" of dirt, leaves, and acorns in it when I cleaned it out back in August.

Just waiting for the POR15 to dry so I can finish everything up.
 
Well, thought I was gonna be finished with piddling with the car for a minute but noooooooo......got it all back together and it started and ran like it had been run every day, not like it had been basically garaged for last 2 months. Great. Go drive it around and all is good. Cool. Next day get it out in driveway and do as much of a radiator coolant flush as you can without a flush a fill kit. Empty it out and fill with water several times then fill with new coolant since there were no apparent leaks. Pull it back in garage and just checking everything out where catch can hoses and new overflow jug was sitting and how all the new air intake stuff was riding and behold....a green eye staring back at me from the top of the bellhousing. A little drip filling a pocket in the top of the bellhousing that I know I cleaned out. So I dob it out with coat hanger and scott towel to get down thru all the stuff under there. Start car back up and sure enough, tiny little ******* drip. Narrowed it down but still can't see source with all the stuff that is packed in under the air intake pipe. Checked a couple of bolts and all but basically found nothing yet. Will have to remove bunch of stuff to get clear access to see if I can find out wtf is up. Didn't mess with any coolant lines back there other than the 2 off the TB but those are dry. N E Way...............here are a few pics of what tomfoolery has occurred under the hood. Will be relocating the catch can for oil vapors over to area behind passenger side strut to make some room in the tight quarters under the intake tube. I know they're the same lame pics as the too dark ones from the garage but here ya go in the daylight................

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Well, the POR15 took overnight to dry. Finished the undercoating this morning. When that was dry, I re-installed the fender liners and got the front tires back on the ground.

The left rear brake was dragging a bit. So, I backed the caliper piston adjusting screw out until the wheel would rotate easily and the parking brake would still engage.

Finally, gave the car a quick wash. The air quality in southern PA must be really crappy given how filthy to top of the car was.

I few things discovered the past couple of days:

1) The front struts are KYB - was KYB the OEM supplier?
2) The rear struts are Monroe. Obviously been replaced at some point.
3) The brake pads are Raybestos Professional Grade. So, whoever did the brakes last, put some halfway decent parts on. Given the condition of the pads, they look almost brand new.
 
My daughter called me just before she was due to leave to head back to school to say the "check engine light" is on. Wonderful. Left work to head home to check it out. Everything ran fine, so it couldn't be too serious. Drove to the nearest parts place to get the code pulled. It was an evaporative emissions code. So, I cleared the code and it hasn't come back on. So, something had a hiccup somewhere I guess.
 
Not exactly today, but I've finally got it back on the road since 2009.. It died in Alaska, I shipped it to South Dakota with my household goods, and shipped it to Texas when I got a job and it had since been parked in my garage. I've probably put more miles on it, non-running, than anyone else I know.

It's good to drive it again.
 
My daughter called me just before she was due to leave to head back to school to say the "check engine light" is on. Wonderful. Left work to head home to check it out. Everything ran fine, so it couldn't be too serious. Drove to the nearest parts place to get the code pulled. It was an evaporative emissions code. So, I cleared the code and it hasn't come back on. So, something had a hiccup somewhere I guess.
Gas cap?
 
chiming in as it seems i should be posting over here now and less in the msp section lol.. my msp is parked and ive had a few cheap beater cars for daily since. this last weekend i picked up my second protege 5 which is fitting as my first car was a 2002 white p5 heh.
this one isnt nearly as nice.. $1000.. 308,000km, good amount of rust but engine runs strong, tranny shifts smoothly and interior in nice shape. a steal for $1000 really.. and this will make my 4th 3rd gen mazda protege lol. p5, msp, esgt.

i guess the plan was to fish the front end off the p5 and make the esgt look like an msp.. but who knows. i might just keep this car and take my sweet time rebuilding my msp.


if anyone is looking to sell decent condition p5 fogs, or fog delete grills, id like to get one or the other.

 
sold it to get the p5 instead. mx3 was a nicer car i think for the money but not very comfortable for long drives. just driving to work was ok but when we took it to parksville it was exhausting after 2 hrs heh. i baught the mx3 for $500, painted a bumper basically and sold it for $1000 heh. not bad resale.

p5 just a much more comfortable and practical car to do any kind of real daily driving.

actually as bad as i think the body is, with the rotted rear fenders and rotting hatch.. the wheels were a million times worse lol. the paint is all coming off in sheets and the tires had buldges everywhere. only reason i got it home was my msp sitting on blocks lol.

ill need to get a set of wheels/tires as the winters you see on it are all shot from driving this summer on my msp.. any rain and they almost put me in the ditch lol.
 
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After two years, an engine rebuild, 15,000 miles, countless memories, and a rallycross, I finally hit 100k.

Sure, there's rust, and lots of it at that, and I thought for a while that I'd made a mistake in buying it. But then I remember the community I'm a part of and all the awesome things that have happened as a result of meeting the people I've met.

To celebrate? I'm going rallycrossing this weekend! Then she gets a break. New clutch and just daily driving as the EGT takes the beatings. (We'll see how well that plan pans out)
 
valk, yeah not a bad resale at all. now that i dont have to deal with tunnel traffic anymore, i may sell the EK for a p5 or a wrx wagon. wife is cool with both (it's for us to share). advantage with the p5 is, i already kind of know how to fix and maintain it
 
Today i noticed this morning that not only do the dashboard lights dim when i put the cars electrical system under load (i do this by using all window switches at once), but also now my tail lights dim when i do this as well. Is that a sign of my battery going out, as it is at least 5 years old (same battery that was in the car when I got it), or is it the alternator or both? Ive heard and read that the alternator in these cars isnt great anyways but thought id ask.
 
That's why I have three 3rd gens lol. A month after we got wifes esgt I changed the water pump and timing belt. On a Wednesday night in the dark. and she drove it to work next day heh. Value for money. $200 in parts. Saved a lot in mechanic fees.
 
Used Plastidip on the rear valance and on the flip-up cup holder piece. Wondering if I should use black or white Plastidip on the plastic protective bumper cover as I don't want to remove it...





 
In just the recent stretch, after the massive undertaking to install the cams:

  1. new drivers side rear rotor locked up, almost dragging for 20 miles, red hot rotor
  2. parking brake way out of sorts (light coming on while driving, much softer uptake)
  3. drivers side rear quarter panel was pushed in by some drunk ass, ripping open a big rust spot and gouging into that tire badly
  4. rear sway bar bushings blew out again (AWR Racing, 21.5mm 2nd pair)
  5. rear sway bar bracket pulled one of the bolts out
  6. new alternator belt squealing badly under start up
  7. HID's taking many minutes to come on

 
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