Fresh Mazda Owner

Hey, been lurking on the forums for a couple weeks, and finally am posting. Got a blue 2003.5 Mazda Protege5 with 170k. Plans are window tint, bike hitch rack, and basic audio install, paint the wheels, and some general cleaning up of the car. I have already purchased some ski racks and cleaned up the foggy headlight it had.

When I bought the car, it seemed super clean. They had receipts for all of the maintenance, it ran smooth, everything worked well, and the interior looked like new. Upon bringing it home, I found out the thing goes through a court of oil every 250 miles, it detonates anytime it's warmed up, and it's got another unknown rattle.

This weekend I started to install a new timing belt and associated parts, plus replace the valve stem seals. I installed a new knock sensor, spark plugs, air filter, and plug wires too. The day ended in frustration when my car was still taken apart, I had the wrong type of valve spring compressor, and I may have damaged one of my cam caps when removing the cam. Hopefully going at it with the right tools and a fresh mind I will be able to be back on the road shortly.

But before I go any further, what is to be done about this cam cap. The glued down cap closest to the cam gears was a pain to get off, and when I did get it off, I noticed it was gouged. Most likely, I did this pulling it out because the cam doesn't have any visible wear where that peice would rub. Is there any recovery for this cam cap? If the Burr is smoothed out, will the goudge be okay? Is this something a machine shop can fix? If not where do I go from here?

Thanks in advance, excited to be a part of the Mazda community here!

I need to find a better image hosting service, but here's a link to the photos for now https://photos.app.goo.gl/pvhSMBG3qFjyDVRw5

3j3j3j said:

... Upon bringing it home, I found out the thing goes through a court of oil every 250 miles,

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I'm sorry to say you've probably got seized oil rings.

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...e-smoke-on-startup-post-downhill-acceleration

3j3j3j said:

I need to find a better image hosting service,...

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I use Postimage, it's free and I find it easy to use.

pcb said:

I'm sorry to say you've probably got seized oil rings.

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Ya that's what I was afraid of, I've seen that's pretty common but I guess I was in denial and wanted a solution I could fix on my own. Is there any methods to unsticking them without disassembling the engine that are known to work for these cars?

3j3j3j said:

... Is there any methods to unsticking them without disassembling the engine that are known to work for these cars?

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Check this post...

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...acceleration&p=6590040&viewfull=1#post6590040

Well, I may as well give that a try. I've also heard of using Seafoam or ATF in a similar manner. I ordered the valve compressor tool (turns out the auto part store rental won't work on this style of head). Since its all apart, I would rather be sure that the valve stem seals do they're job if theres a chance that those rings will unstick.

Hopefully this will work at least temporarily and get me through the winter months. Anyone have a good idea on what a basic engine rebuild with bearing and gaskets would cost, including labor?

pcb said:

I'm sorry to say you've probably got seized oil rings.

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Unfortunately, I will have to agree with PCB here. a quart every 1k miles is a LOT of oil. The cat converter, spark plugs, and o2 sensors are all probably completely trashed and fouled if it's burning that much oil. I wouldn't be taking any road trips until you either rebuild or replace the engine.

I would check compression. Should be at/around 200psi on all 4 cylinders. At least that is what my car it as (i've got a little over 260k miles on mine, between 200-210psi on all 4). If compression is below around 160ish then you're on borrowed time. good news is, replacement engines with relatively low mileage are not hard to come by and not very expensive. www.car-part.com can help

If yo plan to keep the car long term, and it's in otherwise great condition then a rebuild is a much better long term solution. basically you'd have a brand new motor (and theres many of us with 200k plus miles). The motor/trans tend to last significantly longer than the body does, especially in the northern states. but a rebuild will also cost more. IF you don't plan to keep the car long term I'd just drop in a $500-700 junkyard motor. Even in great rust-free condition, running great the car isn't worth more than around $2000-2500. So I'd definitely keep that in mind. Great cars, fun to drive and probably the most reliable car i've ever owned. Just not worth sinking a ton of money into it if you don't plan to keep it for a very long time, they're just not worth very much.

just my .02

IF/when this becomes issue for me........New Corolla hatch is very tempting but monthly payments vs none will keep me driving the P5.......with a forged NA unkillable rebuild.

Got an update. This weekend finished timing belt, valve seals, waterpump, etc. Your suspicions were confirmed that it wasn't valve stem seals. Also, this car is very consistent with all the other threads I've read on here - good compression rings, failed oil rings. It has compression between 190 and 195 all the way around.

Now I've just gotta weigh my options here.
1)Sell it while it still runs and at least recoup some of my $$$
2)try putting diesel in the oil and risk any damage that may occur (I'm curious to the effectiveness but it worries me)
3) rebuild or replace motor
4) keep adding oil and replacing plugs

My advice, option 1 or 3. Either sell it or plan to rebuild/replace the motor.

If it's burning THAT much oil, those rings are beyond done. There's nothing you'll be able to put into that oil to unseize the rings. Diesel and stuff works great for sludge and stuff, or lightly seized rings but not to the extent that you're burning that much oil.

and #4 is a recipe for disaster. It's only going to get worse, not better. That is nothing more than kicking the can down the road a bit further, doesn't address any issues. If you bought the car as a temp ride, or just need it to get you by for a few months until you can replace the engine then this may be feasible. but if it's your only car and you got it wit the intention to keep it, #4 just makes no sense at all.

If it were my car I'd go with #2 but maybe something a little tamer than diesel...

n2stox said:

I was also burning a quart or so per month...dealer had no idea (compression was fine and all the plugs looked normal) and a 2nd mechanic had no idea except he said there is a lot of gunk in there.

So, I ran an engine flush detergent (liquimoly) in a warm engine at idle for 15 mins before changing the oil. Smoke in startup was down about 90%. And I had serious spy vs spy smokescreen before...I could fog half the neighborhood. 2 weeks later I did it again....smoke is gone and that was 3 weeks ago.

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pcb said:

If it were my car I'd go with #2 but maybe something a little tamer than diesel...

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Apparently the diesel idea isnt as far fetched as it may seem. According to the MSDS Many of the engine flush products contain 70-90% kerosene, or naphtha, or diesel. I went ahead with he first diesel flush today. Well see what she does in the morning.

I just drained old oil, added around 750 mL of diesel and 4 quarts of DELO diesel specific oil (apparently diesel specific oil has more powerful detergents?) alternating between the two while pouring so that they mixed a little. Then idled the car for a little over a half hour while I gave her a mini-detail. I drained out the diesel fuel/oil mixture and poured about 1/2 a quart of standard oil through to rinse out the remainder of the diesel. Replaced filter and installed new oil.

I'm glad to see you're trying it. Some guys have had success and compared to the other options, it's cheap and easy.
The only problem I've heard of with flushes/detergents is that you're seals can start leaking. Sometimes it's the gunk on the seals that provides the seal, when it gets washed away they start leaking.

On a related note, I use Seafoam with every oil change. My engine is sludge free now so I put half a can of Seafoam in with the new oil and leave it in until my next oil change.
My car doesn't burn oil and I'm quite confident that it's not going to start.