New P5 owner

[Kittenbitten]

Just recently bought a silver 02 P5. I guess it was quite the shady deal because im full of headaches right now.

It was in an accident at one point but the body is basically flawless.

The guy that sold it to me (2nd owner, bought after the repair) told me that it has a 'sports' suspension package consisting of (presumably) the Eibach springs (sticker on the bumper) and the strut tower bar (red) along with the red painted calipers. I think those were mods though.

Also there is an intake in the car, a K&N, looks like the most jerryrigged job i've ever seen for an air filter, but I guess it works. Theres some random wiring thing that he had inside the air filter too. I'm debating putting that back in or ziptieing it to something else. Any advice on that would be nice.

The wheels are some crappy 15 in no name 5 spokes with the wrong offset and tires that are way too big for the wheels and the car, causing bad looks and rubbing if I have more than 2 people in the car. plus the tires on the front and back are different and different sizes. I may get some Stock Mazda 3 wheels and tires (like new) for 450$... Any thoughts on that deal?

And finally, the car seems like an electrical nightmare as the alarm is disconnected but hanging to the radiator core bar via a wire, every peice of wiring i've seen seems to be wrapped in electrical tape. They didnt use a stock light mount when they repaired it it seems, so the ground (3rd plug?) slipped off, it arced and melted the plug off the light. So i need to find a wiring harness for the drivers side headlight and replace it all. And the wires under the dash are a messy nest of electrical tape, bad connections and switches that dont seem to do anything.

Overall I like driving the car, it pulls to the right a little but its really noticable at freeway speeds. I hope it's the alignment but potentially it could be a frame issue. I guess the price was right though. anyone else have any thoughts on what I should do with the car? I'm kind of thinking about not fixing everything and turning around and selling it for about what I bought it for.... But I do like the car.

 

[ProtoType5]

Can I venture to ask what you paid for this calamity...

Some pictures of the problems may help give people a better idea to what you may do to fix some of the problems. I would look into a replacement intake and have absolutely no clue what the wires would be for...

Good Luck and welcome... Hope the issues work out and you're around for a while...

 

[JoshP5]

All P5s came with the front upper strut tie-bar.

And Mazda3 rims fit and look great on on P5s: a few folks on here have done it before--search for pics.

Welcome to the forums Hope you stick around!

 

[Kittenbitten]

Can I venture to ask what you paid for this calamity...

Some pictures of the problems may help give people a better idea to what you may do to fix some of the problems. I would look into a replacement intake and have absolutely no clue what the wires would be for...

Good Luck and welcome... Hope the issues work out and you're around for a while...

It was 6300 with 70,000 miles. So, i wouldn't say I got ripped off or anything. It's not as bad as it might sound. i'll try to have some pics up soonish. I love the design of the car. I'll try to get some pics up when I can.

 

[ProtoType5]

Great price...Where do you live??? This effects value pretty significantly.

Sounds like a bunch of BS electrical stuff...but nothing major. The springs, you would have to clean them off a bit up in the wheel well and check for some sort of markings to be sure they are Eibachs...and not just a sticker mod...

We do love pictures...

 

[ho bag]

Wires in the intake may be for the temp sensor.

Honestly, ditch the intake and buy a real one.
Ditch the rims and get rims/tires that match and fit
Remove the alarm and any traces of its wiring so you can start over.

 

[CTt3P5]

First of all....Welcome!!! I can't help out too much technically but I can give you moral support. Don't get frustrated and give up....and you have found the right place for answers. Post up any questions (or search) and help can be found. Ditch the intake for a new one and once you have a better idea on what the hell happened with the wiring and what you need for replacements, check the local junk yards. If no luck there contact Jason at http://www.onlinemazdaparts.com He has decent prices, free shipping for orders over $100 and can get you the correct part numbers.

As ProtoType5 said, put up some pics for reference.

Best of luck and in the end you wont regret giving in and getting rid of your car.

 

[Kittenbitten]

Thanks for the moral support and whatnot from everyone. It's apriciated.

I'm not terribly mechanically adept, but i'm ok. I honestly know little about electronics, esp car wiring. I think the biggest thing I ever did mechanically was changed a clutch entirely on a motorcycle.

Anyhow lets see if I can get these pics up

These 5 are of the 'under the hood' electronics. Upon further examination, it looks like the electrical plug doesnt actually fit the bulb at all. The 3rd contact isnt the right wire on either side. Which makes me think that they just went to a junkyard and got the peices from some other car that uses the H7 bulbs. Just a guess.

The first picture is the thing that was inside the air filter. I took it out so as to make a better seal for the air filter. In the 2nd to last picture you can see it sort of ziptied up next to the battery.

The 2nd pic is the intake uh... tube. sorry no technical lang. That seems to have the right hookups on it.

The 3rd is What i am assuming is the alarm. should I just cut the wires and remove it for now so that it isnt flopping around under the hood? I'm very tempted.

The 4th picture is the intake assembled and mounted. It seems like it should work, but the mounting system is 'questionable'. I cleaned it off today because it was basically black. This was actually the last pic I took.

The last picture is the head light 'plug'. as you can see its melted and the 3rd wire is completely disconnected. The passenger side is also melted partially, but it seems to have a slightly better contact. I figure i'll be riding with only fogs if im not careful (those work!). So I think I should probably get both headlight wiring harnesses.

Anyway thanks again for looking

 

[JoshP5]

It looks like there should be three wires on the low beam connectors, but there are only two. Aside from the visible heat damage, the wiring's intact.

 

[Action Jackson]

I can't be sure, but that "alarm" looks like my backup alarm siren (has it's own power source in case the thieves disconnects the battery).

I hope you got the key to disable that.

If it's not connected then sure remove it.

 

[Kittenbitten]

Yeah. i've pretty much given up on the alarm in the picture. I think I will go ahead and cut it out, because I also didnt get the key for it.

In good news and bad news.

I bought the mazda 3 wheels, with tires (13 miles on them) for 450. basically new. But I cant take off the current wheels because whoever had them put on is an utter jackhole. If I were to get a flat right now I wouldnt be able to switch the tires because the lug wrench with the car doesnt fit into the lug nut holes for the wheel. I tried a 13/16ths socket and broke 2 wrenches trying to break the lugs. So it looks like I have to take it to a wheel / tire place or somewhere to get that dealt with.

In other news, the guy that sold me the wheels was a mazda tech (i met him when I was asking about the light things) and he helped me out a little when I was there, so its possible the lighting system can be fixed relatively cheaply. The other thing is that it looks like they may have put hid's in... And that could be something to explain why the plugs melted.

The thing in the 1st picture is the mass airflow sensor evidently, and it doesnt seem too big of a deal that it is out, so i'm not going to worry about it unless somone advises me to drill a hole in the intake and put it in. Exhausted from today haha.

 

[jammypwnzor]

i just got a 02 silver p5 too, with 73 K so youre not alone. I paid 9,000 but mines perfect except for minor chips in the paint from rocks and a crack in the bumper from whoever had it going too fast on dips.... good luck!

 

[Kittenbitten]

another thing I noticed about the car is that it pulls to the right, but it doesnt pull nearly as much unless im on the gass. If i coast, it hardly pulls at all or will go straight. This leads me to believe something... but i'm not sure what.

 

[xelderx]

The first picture is the Air Temperature Sensor. It's placement is not critical. There is a rubber grommet that goes around it when it's inserted in the stock intake system. If you can get that grommet there is a hole in frame just under the coolant bottle that is the perfect size for the grommet and sensor. Just stick it in there. Get the car on an alignment machine soon. If you put on the new tires it can wear them out prematurely.

 

[altspace]

Ikes! Well.....good luck with it. Many people here to lend a hand and full of knowledge.

 

[TreFlip999]

Once yo get all kinks worked out, it will smooth zoom'n

 

[JoshP5]

When you get those rims on your car will look something like this sweet P5 goodness.

 

[Kittenbitten]

Well, i got the wheels changed this morning. And All i can say is what an incredibly drastic improvement it was. Driving to eugene (hour and a half) before left my hands numb and my arms tired (from pulling left). After the change I noticed it hardly pulls at all and just seems to follow the crown of the road. Which is really great, in addition to that the vibration is almost gone and it rides alot smoother and quieter.

So once i get it washed at least I'll post some pics. I'm extremely pleased.

Oh and the wheels look a little different. But I still think they look good. It still looks very factory, but much much much better than the crappy rounded 5 spoke no name 15 in alloys.

the ones that are on now are the 5 spokes with the prongs at the end... if that makes any sense. Anyhow the wheels and tires are bigger than what I had so it might throw off the speedo... dunno yet, the other ones I had might just have been smaller than stock (dunno what stock is, bought it with 205/50/15's to 205/45/17s)

Anyhow, very pleased at the moment.

 

[JoshP5]

Stock is 195/50-16, you made an excellent choice for the new tire size.

You got the 2007 Mazda3 rims--I haven't seen those on a P5 before. Looking forward to seeing the pics!

 

[Kittenbitten]

Stock is 195/50-16, you made an excellent choice for the new tire size.

You got the 2007 Mazda3 rims--I haven't seen those on a P5 before. Looking forward to seeing the pics!

Havent been on in a while, but i finally have pics. And the tire size wasnt my choice. I got em for 450, Wheels + tires (with 13 miles on them). So it was pretty much a no brainer.

So here are pics.