Recent content by el toro

DTC p011a on a 2016 CX-5 Sport MT at 39K miles. Also noticed that the heater was anemic. Back flushed the heater core. Changed the engine coolant temperature sensor on the heater core outlet. Neither worked. Finally, reversed the heater hoses on the core as others have suggested. Cabin heat...

@bluesideup I got the OEMs from Montgomery Mazda, DBA onlinemazdaparts.com $48 for 4 including shipping seems to be a different material than what came with my pair of 2006 Mazda 5s

@m5carl Excellent idea unhooking the sway bar on both sides to rotate out of the way. I recommend using a 14mm ring wrench along with a 6mm allen key to remove the nut where the ball joint on the sway bar link attaches to the struts on both sides.

I just replaced my front sway bar bushings. The clunking got so bad, that they reminded me of my dad's vintage Morris. After replacing the bushing the car rides like new! Took me about 2 hours. Here's how. Bought the latest parts from OnlineMazdaparts.com. Seems different from the ones...

Thanks mate. Excellent instructions and photo much appreciated. That location is almost impossible to see visually so had to swap the switch by feel. I also noticed that the engine stalling problem I had when starting from a stop has gone away. Evidently the brake light circuitry has some...

The hole is in the wrong place since the Mazda 5 uses a 2.3L engine in the US, and 1.8/2.0 engine elsewhere, but the same cover in all countries to cut costs. I took out the cover once, and cut a hole at the right place.

Success! Today I installed the new AC compressor from Mazda. Took me an hour to take the old one out and put the new one in. The new compressor came with 4oz oil and I did not take any out since rotary vane compressors are only weakly sensitive to oil charge. Then I used a vacuum pump to...

Very true, although well designed bearings such as wheel bearings live long under similar conditions. Appears AutoZone also carries the a/c bearing http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Santech-A-C-Clutch-Bearing/_/N-91td3?itemIdentifier=946328&_requestid=837083

I believe my problem was caused by a pulley bearing gone bad, causing clutch chatter, like turning the A/C on and off many times a sec. The bearing is low profile, 32x47x18, so its prob at the top of its load range. You can check for a bad bearing by rocking the A/C compressor pulley axially on...

Thanks for the tip, I did buy the replacement pulley bearing from polarbear, stumbled upon them online. The compressor is OEM from Matsushita/Panasonic and I could not find a rebuild kit for it anywhere. Even the pulley bearing from polarbear was a nameless knockoff from China.

I bought the hitch on etrailer indeed. Believe I needed to drill, but don't remember for sure. Might have been on our Subaru...

Yep..In Europe they run with 1.6D, 1.8 and 2.0 engines. And 7 seats rather than six.

I bought two mazda 5's so my vote is clear :)