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 Post subject: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 10:04 am 
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Work in progress, please add things to this thread, this isn't a discussion thread nor is it a Q&A thread:

MPS Basics
VVT / chain
smokey turbo
inside front tyre wear
noisy suspension
rust

A bit on tuning or looking at "tuned" cars

A bit on, don't forget the other basics of buying any second hand performance car like accident damage, service history etc


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 10:55 am 
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Squeaky seat in a mk2 .
Cold air con in a 6 (corroded lines usually)
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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:17 am 
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Leaky rear shocks on 6's & Rust where the rear bumper rubs on the arch

Lower tax band for the older cars

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Last edited by FarmerChris on Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:22 am 
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Both diff mounts on a 6
All four tyres to match on a 6 and within 2mm of each other

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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:30 am 
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+ Plugs done between 40k & 50k miles with correct plugs.
+ Correct gearbox oil used at 56k service.
+ Evidence of regular tire rotation. (6MPS only)

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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:11 pm 
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Buyers Guide - first draft!! (work in progress due to time restriction)

This is based on my 2.5 years experience (& just over 30k miles) driving a mk1 3, as well as reading this forum daily. Please feel free to add or expand any points missed, but keep factual and to topic, rather than turn it into debate or general banter.

One of the most important things to consider is the timing chain and Variable Valve Actuator (VVT). I list this first as it is potentially the most expensive. Early cars are most prone to a VVT fault and/or chain stretch. There was a revision to the VVT at chassis no. ???[can someone state chassis no.] However, even cars manufacturered later than this can suffer as the revised part is still not perfect. It is a noisy engine, so don't expect it to be silky BMW style smooth. However, if you can hear chain slap after start up, this is not a good sign. Other than on the mk2, it is possible to feel the chain by putting your fingers through the oil filler (obviously with the engine off and cold). However, as the VVT actuator requires oil pressure to work, then a slack chain when cold is not unusual. The definitive way to check the VVT is to remove the chain cover so you can both check for contact marks on the cover and check that the chain is on the timing marks as per the mazda service bulletin[can someone insert a link]. However, it is not practical to take the engine apart when viewing a car prior to purchase. The best thing is to give the engine a good listen to, and to have listened to a view videos of noisy and good chains first so you know what you are looking for. It is also worth checking the service history to see if it has already been changed. At the time of writing, Mazda will charge £1,200 for parts and labour to change the chain and VVT, but the parts are available from the USA (Edge) for about £300 and a local garage should be able to fit them for about the same. In principal it is the same job as doing a cam belt, so any competent garage should be able to do it. A special tool is required, which is not too difficult to obtain / beg / borrow.

The next MPS issue is the turbo. The standard K04 turbo has weak oil seals. These seals are under most pressure when the engine is idling as there is no pressure on the exhaust side of the seal. Let the engine idle for ten minutes and then rev it hard (stationary, no need to drive off). If the turbo oil seals have failed, it will be obvious - lots of very smelly very thick smoke. A little haze is nothing to worry about. There are a few short term solutions, such as fitting a banjo bolt and raising the idle speed. These may remove the symptoms, but they will not actually fix the turbo seals.

Tyres. On the 3 at least [not sure about the 6 - can someone say whether the same applies], the front tyres suffer very heavy wear on the inside edge - even if the tracking is correct. It does depend a bit on the brand of tyre (or the hardness of the sidewall), but when checking the tyres, look on the inside edge of the front. It is not uncommon for the inside edge to be completely bald, even with good tread over the rest of the tyre. On a 6, because of the AWD system, it is essential all 4 tyres are the same brand, and have similar wear.
Standard tyre size is 215/45/18. Many cars have now been fitted with 225/40/18 as there is a much bigger choice of tyres in this size and hence they are a lot cheaper. No downsides to this, but do tell your insurance company and do make sure all 4 have been changed.
Also, look closely at the wheels, which are prone to corrosion.

Suspension. On the 3's[again, can someone with a 6 confirm / deny], the suspension tends to be noisy. Not the end of the world, but a good haggling point. Drop links and antiroll bar bushes can be considered as consumables. Allow an hour or two at each end to replace, so no big labour charges, and the parts are not too expensive either. If it is still noisy, it will most probably be the shock absorbers (dampers) or top mounts. If you are changing either, then change both, as it is the same labour for both jobs (you remove them from the car together). Leaky shocks/dampers are not uncommon.

At the time of writing the oldest MPSs are approaching ten years old and the youngest are a couple of years old. They do suffer from rust. This is common behind the front and rear bumpers and bumper bars as well as on the arches and tailgates. Have a good look everywhere underneath, just like any other older car.


On a 6, check the AC works. There is a pipe that commonly fails, that lets the gas escape. Not exactly sure of price, but budget for £200[can someone confirm / deny].

On a mk1 3 (not sure about the others), the front fog light lenses are prone to stone chip damage as they are low down. The lenses are not available separately and the complete fog light is £150 a side. Make sure they are not cracked; as they are low down, this is not always obvious unless you check specifically.

Many cars are tuned. Some are returned to standard before sale, some are not. There is loads of info on this site regarding tuning and it is not my intension to repeat it all here. However, if it has been tuned, the most important thing is "who did it" and "what has been done". Make sure you know, as that is your starting point. Also, don't believe any statements about what power it makes, unless backed up by a rolling road print out.

The cars are due a serviced annually or every 9k miles, whichever is the sooner. They are also due an initial service at 3k miles. So the schedule is 3,9,18,27 etc. 54k is the big one, which includes spark plugs, air filter, brake fluid change, gear box oil change etc. 72k is also big and includes a tappet check. The tappets are not hydraulic or shimmed and adjustment requires changing the buckets which requires removing the cams. The unofficial line from Mazda is that unless they are very noisy don't bother. Plenty of cars are driven by forum members which are well in excess of that mileage and I dont know anyone who has had to adjust the tappets. If the car is over that mileage use it as a haggle point, then forget about it as it is very unlikely it will ever need doing. There is no service book (other than on the very early cars) as mazda has introduced a digital service record. Independent garages can update this, but few of them do. Therefore it is not uncommon for cars not to have a full mazda digital service record. However, as long as the car has been serviced, and there is a bundle of receipts and invoices proving this, then that is what is important. It is worth remembering that you can go to mazda and ask them to print out the service record of any car, so you can check before buying. This should also include any work done by a mazda dealer, not just routine serving. The MPS engine is fussy on oil, don't put any cheap oil, but use quality fluids.

The differential can be noisy [on a 3, not sure about a 6], especially when on full lock. This is common, although actual failures are rare. It can often be cured or improved by changing the oil. Like the engine, the gearbox is very sensitive to oil. Use the noise as a haggling point.

Many of the early cars are in a high tax bracket. This puts a lot of people of buying and holds prices artificially low. Bizarrely, unless you do a tiny mileage, the cost of tax will be trivial compared to your fuel bill. If you find a low tax car great, but don't be put off by a high tax car and use it as a haggling point.

Finally, the above is intended as the relevant points to look for when looking at an MPS. You still need to check the things that you would check when looking at all performance cars for sale of equivalent age. MOT history, accident damage, condition of paintwork and interior, do all the electrics work, does it leak oil or water etc etc etc...

I hope this is of use to any potential purchasers. If anyone can add to the above, then that will help. Please keep it factual and on topic.

Edited for spelling / grammar


Last edited by Big Dunc on Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:03 am, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:48 pm 
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VARIABLE VALVE TIMING (VVT) NOISE WHEN STARTING ENGINE

2003-08 Mazda6 (2.3L) vehicles
2004-08 Mazda3 vehicles with VINs lower than JM1BK******864673 (produced before December 1, 2007)
2006-08 Mazda5 vehicles with VINs lower than JM1CR******306808 (produced before December 1, 2007)
2006-08 MX-5 vehicles with VINs lower than JM1NC******146287 (produced before December 1, 2007)
2007 Mazdaspeed3 vehicles with VINs lower than JM1BK******742222 (produced before April 1, 2007)
2006-07 Mazdaspeed6 vehicles with VINs lower than JM1 GG******109660 (produced before April 1, 2007)

2007 Mazda CX-7 vehicles with VINs lower than JM3ER******166945 (produced before April 1, 2007)

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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 8:57 pm 
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Great post :-) :-) :-)


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 4:40 pm 
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Nice guide Big Dunc.

Could advise to ask on the forum if anyone knows of the car.


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:13 am 
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I'm a new guy looking to búy a Gen 1 3 MPS, so seriously appreciate your guide. Something that I feel would be useful, if possible, is some guidelines on timescales for the problems. For example, tyre wear, how long will a set of front tyres last in normal road driving (where normal no doubt equals 'spirited' for at least some of the time). As a quick aside, i had a 58 plate mazda 5 sport company car with 17" wheels and major front inner tyre wear problems (14k miles and 1cm inner strip down to convas whilst rest of tyre looked perfect), rear wheel adjustment was the only thing to help after months of trying, but it just meant frying one of the back tyres instead, due to limited rear suspension adjustment options)
Same question on the turbo oil seals, should I be seriously concerned about this in a 40k, 50k 60k , or say 80k car?
THanks again!


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 1:23 pm 
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Welcome to the fourm Nick. Do a bit of reading on this site and you will learn a shed load about the cars. Despite what you read, they are, in general, pretty reliable and for a performance car, relatively cheap to run.

VVT tends to happen between 50 and 70 k miles.
However, one car has recently had a failure at less than this, and my car, at the time of writing is on 78 k miles and on the original VVT / chain. It was at a mazda dealership last month (for other reasons) and I asked about chain noise and was told it sounded normal (which I thought it was, but only asked them as I was there anyway and am paranoid about the issue).

Turbo seals. Not sure of any particular time frame. Mine are original. It tends to be more of a problem on modified cars where the turbo is more stressed. Even on a standard car you can take precautions, such as a slightly different oil grade or banjo bolt.

Tyre wear depends a lot on how it is driven and the make of tyres. Unless you are a complete hooligan you should get between 10-15k miles out of a pair of fronts, and double that from the rears. Even with the alignment correct, expect the fronts to wear heavily on the inside, although this does vary a bit with the choice of tyre. It catches a lot of people out, as unless the car is parked on full lock you are unlikely to notice it.


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:04 pm 
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NickG60 wrote:
I'm a new guy looking to búy a Gen 1 3 MPS, so seriously appreciate your guide. Something that I feel would be useful, if possible, is some guidelines on timescales for the problems. For example, tyre wear, how long will a set of front tyres last in normal road driving (where normal no doubt equals 'spirited' for at least some of the time). As a quick aside, i had a 58 plate mazda 5 sport company car with 17" wheels and major front inner tyre wear problems (14k miles and 1cm inner strip down to convas whilst rest of tyre looked perfect), rear wheel adjustment was the only thing to help after months of trying, but it just meant frying one of the back tyres instead, due to limited rear suspension adjustment options)
Same question on the turbo oil seals, should I be seriously concerned about this in a 40k, 50k 60k , or say 80k car?
THanks again!



Better of starting a seperate thread in the welcome lounge as this will end being a sticky i think.

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JBR REM 88a DAGHER TUNED 3Bar Map Sensor


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 6:38 am 
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Thanks Big Dunc. At the time, I developed a special new disease with my Mazda called tyre terror, I am pretty upset to learn the MPS might suffer from it too. The obvious question is which tyres are better to help reduce it.

Sternritter, I'm not sure which bits you want to make into a new thread, and how to carry them over, so if you want to carve it up, feel free!


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:14 am 
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To the newbies, stay away from TotalMPS, here's why...

viewtopic.php?f=64&t=20073

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Build thread http://tinyurl.com/otzp6qw
Helpful threads http://tinyurl.com/kjykgbd
http://www.ThroughTheLensMedia.co.uk
AVOID TOTAL MPS http://www.mpsowners.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=20073


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 Post subject: Re: Buyers' Guide
 Post Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:36 pm 
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Big Dunc wrote:
Buyers Guide - first draft!! (work in progress due to time restriction)

This is based on my 2.5 years experience (& just over 30k miles) driving a mk1 3, as well as reading this forum daily. Please feel free to add or expand any points missed, but keep factual and to topic, rather than turn it into debate or general banter.

One of the most important things to consider is the timing chain and Variable Valve Actuator (VVT). I list this first as it is potentially the most expensive. Early cars are most prone to a VVT fault and/or chain stretch. There was a revision to the VVT at chassis no. ???[can someone state chassis no.] However, even cars manufacturered later than this can suffer as the revised part is still not perfect. It is a noisy engine, so don't expect it to be silky BMW style smooth. However, if you can hear chain slap after start up, this is not a good sign. Other than on the mk2, it is possible to feel the chain by putting your fingers through the oil filler (obviously with the engine off and cold). However, as the VVT actuator requires oil pressure to work, then a slack chain when cold is not unusual. The definitive way to check the VVT is to remove the chain cover so you can both check for contact marks on the cover and check that the chain is on the timing marks as per the mazda service bulletin[can someone insert a link]. However, it is not practical to take the engine apart when viewing a car prior to purchase. The best thing is to give the engine a good listen to, and to have listened to a view videos of noisy and good chains first so you know what you are looking for. It is also worth checking the service history to see if it has already been changed. At the time of writing, Mazda will charge £1,200 for parts and labour to change the chain and VVT, but the parts are available from the USA (Edge) for about £300 and a local garage should be able to fit them for about the same. In principal it is the same job as doing a cam belt, so any competent garage should be able to do it. A special tool is required, which is the same special tool required for the same job on the 2.3 Ford Galaxy engine, so it is not too difficult to obtain.

The next MPS issue is the turbo. The standard K04 turbo has weak oil seals. These seals are under most pressure when the engine is idling as there is no pressure on the exhaust side of the seal. Let the engine idle for ten minutes and then rev it hard (stationary, no need to drive off). If the turbo oil seals have failed, it will be obvious - lots of very smelly very thick smoke. A little haze is nothing to worry about. There are a few short term solutions, such as fitting a banjo bolt and raising the idle speed. These may remove the symptoms, but they will not actually fix the turbo seals.

Tyres. On the 3 at least [not sure about the 6 - can someone say whether the same applies], the front tyres suffer very heavy wear on the inside edge - even if the tracking is correct. It does depend a bit on the brand of tyre (or the hardness of the sidewall), but when checking the tyres, look on the inside edge of the front. It is not uncommon for the inside edge to be completely bald, even with good tread over the rest of the tyre. On a 6, because of the AWD system, it is essential all 4 tyres are the same brand, and have similar wear.
Standard tyre size is 215/45/18. Many cars have now been fitted with 225/40/18 as there is a much bigger choice of tyres in this size and hence they are a lot cheaper. No downsides to this, but do tell your insurance company and do make sure all 4 have been changed.
Also, look closely at the wheels, which are prone to corrosion.

Suspension. On the 3's[again, can someone with a 6 confirm / deny], the suspension tends to be noisy. Not the end of the world, but a good haggling point. Drop links and antiroll bar bushes can be considered as consumables. Allow an hour or two at each end to replace, so no big labour charges, and the parts are not too expensive either. If it is still noisy, it will most probably be the shock absorbers (dampers) or top mounts. If you are changing either, then change both, as it is the same labour for both jobs (you remove them from the car together). Leaky shocks/dampers are not uncommon.

At the time of writing the oldest MPSs are approaching ten years old and the youngest are a couple of years old. They do suffer from rust. This is common behind the front and rear bumpers and bumper bars as well as on the arches and tailgates. Have a good look everywhere underneath, just like any other older car.
rust

On a 6, check the AC works. There is a pipe that commonly fails, that lets the gas escape. Not exactly sure of price, but budget for £200[can someone confirm / deny].

On a mk1 3 (not sure about the others), the front fog light lenses are prone to stone chip damage as they are low down. The lenses are not available separately and the complete fog light is £150 a side. Make sure they are not cracked; as they are low down, this is not always obvious unless you check specifically.

Many cars are tuned. Some are returned to standard before sale, some are not. There is loads of info on this site regarding tuning and it is not my intension to repeat it all here. However, if it has been tuned, the most important thing is "who did it" and "what has been done". Make sure you know, as that is your starting point. Also, don't believe any statements about what power it makes, unless backed up by a rolling road print out.

The cars are due a serviced annually or every 9k miles, whichever is the sooner. They are also due an initial service at 3k miles. So the schedule is 3,9,18,27 etc. 54k is the big one, which includes spark plugs, air filter, brake fluid change, gear box oil change etc. 72k is also big and includes a tappet check. There is no service book (other than on the very early cars) as mazda has introduced a digital service record. Independent garages can update this, but few of them do. Therefore it is not uncommon for cars not to have a full mazda digital service record. However, as long as the car has been serviced, and there is a bundle of receipts and invoices proving this, then that is what is important. It is worth remembering that you can go to mazda and ask them to print out the service record of any car, so you can check before buying. This should also include any work done by a mazda dealer, not just routine serving. The MPS engine is fussy on oil, don't put any cheap oil, but use quality fluids.

The differential can be noisy [on a 3, not sure about a 6], especially when on full lock. This is common, although actual failures are rare. It can often be cured or improved by changing the oil. Like the engine, the gearbox is very sensitive to oil. Use the noise as a haggling point.

Many of the early cars are in a high tax bracket. This puts a lot of people of buying and holds prices artificially low. Bizarrely, unless you do a tiny mileage, the cost of tax will be trivial compared to your fuel bill. If you find a low tax car great, but don't be put off by a high tax car and use it as a haggling point.

Finally, the above is intended as the relevant points to look for when looking at an MPS. You still need to check the things that you would check when looking at all performance cars for sale of equivalent age. MOT history, accident damage, condition of paintwork and interior, do all the electrics work, does it leak oil or water etc etc etc...

I hope this is of use to any potential purchasers. If anyone can add to the above, then that will help. Please keep it factual and on topic.

Edited for spelling / grammar


Thanks for this, as this is what I used when buying my 3


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