Recent content by PeteyBoy3K

Something wonderful occurred in my titanium gray 2004 Mazda3 5-door 5-speed today: http://twitpic.com/5k4lf Yep, 100,000 miles, and I got the car in April of 2004 new so that's almost 20,000 miles a year. Otherwise, the car has held up remarkably well over the years... the only new parts...

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Antonio: I do use Armor All protectant a lot. I'm figuring the main cause of the cracking is a mild warping occuring when I leave the car out in the Atlanta summer sun and forget the window-screen. I figure that coating the plastic dash in some sort of...

Greetings, I bought my 2004 Maz3 5-door in March of '04... and after two Hotlanta summers, it appears that the constant heat-cool of black plastic has caused a longitudinal stress-crack right around that nipple in the center of the dashboard right next to the windshield. Over the months, the...

Apparently the CEL was thrown by some EGR valve that was giving wonky signals. They replaced it. That was a fun convo with the service tech. tech: "it was some sensor in the evaporative system" me: "so it was a peice of plastic that needed to be replaced?" "....well, it was an actuated...

The yellow-ish "Cruise main" just indicates the cruise control system is on and, well, "armed".. so should you hit set or resume the green "cruise" light will turn on to say it's controlling the speed and you can take your foot off the gas. The "cruise main" light should only be controlled by...

Anyone wanna help me play armchair code-reader? Yesterday, after getting the Mazda3 5-door washed, I was coming back from the grocery store and got a late christmas present: a solid Check-engine-light. As far as I can tell: here are the symptoms: - Rough warm idle: When I come to a stop...

Oh yea... had it replaced a couple of tuesdays ago... ticking is gone.... also, I have a lot more low-end power back... and that seems to have affected my mileage for the worse ;)

I'm not sure what they meant. I wasn't talking to the actual technician, but the "service rep"... and the best I could get out of him was "the intake..." Yah, that's my thought. Well, something broke... Hooray for warranty! I dont think it has affected driving... then again... the poor 2.3...

So, I had my car at the dealership for the oil change (I had a coupon... what!?) and figured I would ask them about the rhythmic ticking coming from the engine compartment. The tick itself was metallic, and increased speed with the RPM.. so I thought it was a sticky valve or something. (It was...

The Hatch has no keyhole. It is supposed to lock and unlock with the doors. Mazda put a little mechanism on the inside of the hatch door hiding behind a flap that lets you manually unlock it if something jams/breaks... but it sounds like Split's access to it is blocked. Split: I'd...

Is it something the dealer can replace? The mirrors slide on-and-off easily enough and the one that comes with the car seems inexpensive (I'm assuming you don't have the temp-sensing and/or homelink mirror). Have you asked if they can just replace it since the current one seems too loose to...

Hopefully the strut mount think hasn't happened to me... the PS pump seems fine too (and I still like that "airplane flap" noise that it makes) Sorry I was in Detroit (twice) and didn't let people know. I was shepherding lots of people around for a wedding and figured it would have been near...

Love it! Have put 39,000 miles on it, and I got mine in April 2004. I am impressed with how well it is put together and how it never fails to take my breath away.

I am for Manual Big plusses for manual: Efficiency, sportiness, lower cost overall (I would add engine braking and control, but the manumatic can do that too in this car) Big annoyances about manual: Atlanta Traffic. The fact that occasionally (1/month) my foot is faster than my hand when I...

Knocky suspension What was the knock in the suspension? And why on earth did it require parts? I ask because I have a groan that occurs when I am maneuvering in a parking lot or going over a large bump. It only seems to happen at low (parking lot) speeds and I've always associated it with...