car won't start. need help please.

B

brians_d-ride

Member
:
2002 Protege5 with only 48000 miles
hey fellas

so basically my car did everything in this thread...

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123792173-2003-p5-wont-start

2002 P5 with only 55,000 miles on stock everything.

driving down the freeway at about 70, heard a loud ticking noise. my check engine light started flashing and then stayed on, then my oil light came on. got it pulled over. i don't recall if the car was off by the time i got it over or if i turned it off with the key.

i get it towed home, turn the key and it just spins. i pull all the spark plug boots and they all get spark. coils, plugs, and wires are all less than 2 months old. battery and starter are good. pull the valve cover and turn the key, cams and timing belt all turn. look down and all the sudden there's water coming out of the engine. not the radiator, but the engine towards the top of the pulley area. i'm assuming thats the water pump. i already made sure the timing marks all line up and everything there is good and tight.

so now i'm stuck. i took a shot in the dark and replaced the crankshaft position sensor and it didn't fix my problem. and kragen won't let me return it because it touched the car. i'm thinking the cam sensor but thats another $80 i can't return if it doesn't work.

and would it just be coincidence that this problem happens and then the water pump goes, or are they related somehow?

any help would be greatly appreciated before i start throwing money at it. thanks guys.
 
Bad water pump won't cause the car to not start... when you say just spins do you mean it turns over but not start? Does it have compression? The way you describe it almost sounds like it droped a valve. Usually when the oil light comes on its too late
 
yea it cranks and the motor turns but it won't start. a dropped valve at under 60K miles would really suck. i bought this car in particular because it only had 48k on it and i was hoping for quite a few trouble free years.

i can do a compression check though, what kind of specs am i looking for?
 
The FSM says 119-171 with a maximum variance of 28 psi between cylinders.

If you have the book the troubleshooting guide would be a very good place to start
 
well i'm showing 0 compression from all 4 cylinders. but the pistons are going up and down and the cams and belt are spinning.

would the camshaft position sensor cause no compression. or maybe the head gasket failed...?
 
got a blown head gasket. can see water on top of the cylinders closest to the battery and upon further inspection we can see where the block is slightly tinted green.
 
That low of miles and a headgsket failure? Did it over heat? The loud ticking could have been the waterpump. Even though it doesn't have many miles I would go ahead and replace the water pump and timing belt while you have it apart
 
yea i'm a little pissed about it. 52K miles is ridiculous. it never over heated. my first 2 cars were huge POS rides so i'm pretty used to glancing at the temp gauge often. I'm going to ahead and replace the pump and timing belt while i get the head gasket repaired. i'm relatively good with a wrench, how big of a job is a head gasket?

and once i get the gasket and stuff done, i still have to figure out why the hell it won't start. i've never had a car that quit running just because of a blown head gasket. and i've never had a blown head gasket run 0 compression through all 4 cylinders either. any ideas on those issues? me and my old man have been drag racing for a long time, we're both stumped.
 
brians_d-ride said:
yea i'm a little pissed about it. 52K miles is ridiculous. it never over heated. my first 2 cars were huge POS rides so i'm pretty used to glancing at the temp gauge often. I'm going to ahead and replace the pump and timing belt while i get the head gasket repaired. i'm relatively good with a wrench, how big of a job is a head gasket?

and once i get the gasket and stuff done, i still have to figure out why the hell it won't start. i've never had a car that quit running just because of a blown head gasket. and i've never had a blown head gasket run 0 compression through all 4 cylinders either. any ideas on those issues? me and my old man have been drag racing for a long time, we're both stumped.
Click to expand...

My water pump seized on the freeway and broke the belt off, I was able to replace the pump on the side of the road, taking the timing belt off and all, in less than 3 hours. I would imagine a head gasket is not a job for the faint heart in this car. I looked at it a while back when I wanted to rebuild and turbo, I decided otherwise lol.
 
Are you sure the gauge you used was good? I had a motor send a valve THROUGH the piston and it still had some compression.
 
just an update.

i finally cracked and took the car to a family friend who owns a shop. he took the head off and found that the head gasket was basically gone. it was blown between all 4 cylinders. he said he's very surprised i wasn't having overheating issues. the head was warped, so its out getting fixed right now. the gasket must have been bad for a while now. the bottom of the head was all rusty, along with the cylinders and the top of the pistons. he's been sending me a lot of pictures and i'm amazed the car was running without over heating. no word yet on whether the pistons, rings, and block are okay yet. so the bill is just adding up. yay me. first thing i'm going to do once the car gets back to me is make sure the thermostat and the temp gauge itself are good. i can't figure out how the car was hurt so bad without having issues.
 
and there it is. the head is cracked beyond repair, and the block is cracked. motor is done at a whopping 54000 miles. thanks mazda. now i have to find a new motor.
 
brians_d-ride said:
and there it is. the head is cracked beyond repair, and the block is cracked. motor is done at a whopping 54000 miles. thanks mazda. now i have to find a new motor.
Click to expand...

I seriously dont think its bad due to a piss poor design. My last pro had around 170k on it and didnt even burn oil. That poor car saw redline every day. And my current pro should of blown up already the way i beat on it.

I think something was wrong with the car before you got it. Maybe someone ran it hot and blew the gaskets, swapped out the t stat and threw some head gasket sealer and traded it in.
 
you should have no issue getting a motor from a scrap yard or something like that in your area.

Good luck
Sean
 
i know its not mazdas fault. just piss poor luck. s*** happens. i'm talking to a few people about a zero miles motor because i don't feel like buying a used one and not knowing if it has any problems. good news is, after another $4k i'll be in this car for a long damn time.

just sucks because i only had the car for about 5 months and 4000 miles.
 
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