Nice guide!
I have done this procedure 3-4 times now(changing broken ones realy)
They tend to break when is cold weather outside.They are fragile for sure.Those 3 mounts(with the nuts) are fare better to be pushed(as you said) from the inside than pulled than the outside because they break with so little force.
You do realise you could just heat the plastic with hair dryer for instance, and bring the fresh look to it again, without dissasembling anything.

I've heard of that, but I don't trust myself not to melt it

S

I've been doing a few more cosmetic tasks on the car, while I wait to get the PAS pipe fitted.

I've taken off the square front plate, as it was cracked, and put a revamped plate holder on, ready for a new, standard front plate.

And after sitting in the corner of my parents' drive for 6 months, the car is now very clean and no longer covered in leaves and spiderwebs!



I've been respraying the other faded plastics:



From grey like the front one:


Back to black like this rear one::


The photos don't do the respray justice, but when you see the difference in real daylight rather than on a photo, the newly black plastics look so much better. I'm considering whether to colour code the door handles, as Smurf has done on his car (viewtopic.php?f=14&t=60656)

... but for the moment they'll remain black.

Meanwhile the mirrors are off, and going to AndyM for repainting He assures me the mirrors and the mounts will look brand new in a couple of weeks ... watch this space!



These are power folding mirrors, but it seems there are a few electrical issues with them - they have a mind of their own! - so when I refit them I'll have to figure out what's going on.

S

Looking good. Definately went to the right home. Sorry the PAS has been such a headache! Might have been easier making your own braided -AN lines! And sorry about everything else that went wrong! I miss the car but it looks in good hands. I wouldn't have had the time to do any of that work so it would have sat rotting away for the next few years.

I remember painting those mirrors years ago, think theres some pictures on here about it. Apparently Halfords rattlecans dont last!

Its good to finally see the powdercoating coming together! Would be nice to see it sat on my powdercoated MS01's too...

Hi Andy! No apologies required, it was sold as seen and I knew pretty much what it needed

The main issue with the PAS, after I refitted it, was me screwing up one of the pipes! If it hadn't been for that (and then a hellish summer work-wise that made it difficult to find time to work on it) I'd have had it back on the road months ago

There are a few bits and pieces I need to do, mainly cosmetic and wiring. It needs a new aerial unit (I have one, but low priority), and I want to get the alarm replaced, and work out why the mirrors have developed a life of their own ... but when it was MOT'd it only failed on emissions and the non-working PAS, without even any warnings, so it's looking good if I can sort out the pipe. Currently I have a BJ Sport pipe which has the right connectors and looks like it might fit in the interim, while I get a new one made up.

Incidentally, the stereo front you gave me randomly WAS the right one

It would indeed look lovely on your MS01s, but sadly I don't have the cash to persuade you to part with them! Potentially I can get hold of a set of Dezents which I can refurb and paint gold/bronze, although currently it's looking very mean on the grey V6 ones.

Both front door cards are off at the moment as I'm respraying the door handles - another "Mazda mare", as getting the barrel to stay in requires fastening a loose spring clip in a very confined space. The barrel is low priority though, the main task - hopefully this Thursday - is getting the pipe dealt with before winter really sets in.

S

A new issue has cropped up with the V6. Yesterday there was an unexpected overheat when it was idling on the drive. I have no idea why, but it had gone right up to "Hot" so I turned off the engine quickly and hopefully there's no damage. Plenty of coolant in the reservoir. Coolant is a little low but above minimum, there is a small leak in the rad (has been there since I got the car, hasn't been a problem, level in reservoir remains constant, no dramatic drops).

Today the car started fine - absolutely nothing out of tailpipe on startup, then just a little damp/steam. No smell, so it doesn't seem to be burning anything. It ran perfectly until it got up to temperature, then it started surging. A regular surge, regular as a clock. Revs fluctuating up to around 2,000 each time then dropping back. Whilst this was going on, the temp held steady at the normal op. temp., although to avoid possible damage I haven't let it run to see if the temp shoots up again.

There is a little more white stuff from the tailpipe as the engine gets hotter: not clouds of it, but more than at the start (although, it's damp and cold here).

I had a brief chat with Hughie, who suggested a coolant leak or thermostat problem. So, while I'm checking out the cooling system, does anyone have any other ideas?

My main worry is that it's a head gasket issue, but I can't see oil in the coolant, and nothing at all from the exhaust at startup (I had someone stand behind the car, to check). And no smell that might indicate coolant being burned off.

Incidentally this surging happened before, back in March, when the car overheated after the belt came off. The surging then stopped, and I was able to drive home without any further problem. It didn't happen again on the two occasions since then that I've actually been able to drive the car

S

Hi Serena, could it be just an air pocket in the cooling system passing troughout the place where the coolant temperature sensor is located?If so he cannot measure correctly and could go to hot end simulating overheating.
You said that the radiator is dripping, did you top it out everytime before you start the car?The hose from the expansion tank is thin on 1.5/1.8 about the V6 i don't know, but if it is it could be clogged and while there is coolant in the reservoir(exp. tank) the radiator could have an air in it.
How is the valve cap(radiator cap) new/old?
It could be faulty and not letting coolant from exp. tank to into the rad.
About the ocasional surging, search all connectors of sensors and actuators for wiggle and thus making intermitment connection with ECU.
If there was an head gasket fail, there are 3 ways for checking that and confirming it.
1-st is oil in the coolant system or the opposite coolant in the oil pan(system).
2-nd is smell of burned coolant troughout the exhaust.
3-rd is overpressure in the coolant system(exhaust gasses going in it) overheating and boiling coolant.
Every one of those is bad, need repair immediately.
The worst thing with overheating an engine is that the oli rings are with verry thin metal parts, they loose they elasticity fast compared to compression rings wich are beefier and withstand overheating for short period.
If the oil rings loose their elasticity the engine becomes like we say it "2-stroke" and likes oil with petrol coctail.
Not wishing you that!
But overheating is serious, and you should pay attention to it so it won't happen again!
About thee self revving of the engine, could it be connected to the O2 sensor readings?
My car does the same but from 750 to 850rpms/min
And from my air fuel gauge(and Volt meter) i notice that the revving is related to the readings of the O2 sensor.
When it gets rich(0.9) the revs drops, when it get lean(0.1) the revs go up and so on..
If you try to check the sensor readings this could give you direction where to look for problem.
I for instance know that Anti's ECU is trying to compensate for the changes i made to intake, exhaust, injection and other mods i made on the engine, but it is too slow and cannot make it smoot.It counts on the O2 sensor for fine adjustment of the air/fuel ratio.
It could be just wanting fine adjustment, but maybe.
You have to check alot of things and using the methood of
exclusion so you find the problems and eliminate them.
Hope i shared some light on the problems.

Same thought occurred to me, whilst finding it very easy to change the coolant it's a different matter with my Charade which does exactly the same thing when it's been refilled or low on coolant, it hunts and it hunts because the coolant temperature sensor isn't always immersed in the coolant so it throws a wobbly

Hi Serena,

I wouldn't assume HG problem just yet. I'd agree with the coolant issue, as in above posts.

On many cars this age the coolant sensor for the dash gauge is not the same one as for the ECU; not sure about the V6, but if this is the case then the two issues are caused by the same thing at different times, i.e. as stated above, a blockage or air bubble. So the dash gauge won't be saying what the ECU is telling the engine.
I'd start by bleeding some coolant, i.e. drain a bit and put some new mixed stuff in, according to the procedure for the V6 (which may be different to my 1.5) - to try to make sure it's full and without air.
That won't cost a lot, just a bit of time.
Then do the thermostat and as before, top up correctly.

Many thanks, both

Just now I topped up the coolant completely, so in normal operation there should be no chance of the sensor not being immersed. I then ran the engine again. But this made no difference, although there was less rev variation when the engine was hunting.

I quickly checked the vacuum hoses etc. by torchlight, but it's dark now, so I'll have to do a thorough check in daylight. One of the hoses was a problem when I swapped the intake manifold, it's difficult to reach the end of the hose, to secure it, and it easily comes loose. However: if there was a vacuum leak, surely this would cause a problem as soon as the engine was turned on? The problem only happens when the engine is warm.

Throughout, the fan hasn't come on - it didn't come on during the overheat yesterday either. I installed a new fuse in case that was the problem, but it's not kicked in yet (how long does that usually take on a V6? I don't know, as I've only driven it twice since I bought it )

Are 1.5 / V6 fans interchangeable? If so, I have a spare 1.5 fan I could swap in, to see if that is the problem. However, since yesterday the temperature is sticking at normal, no more overheating so far.

I will swap the radiator cap, in case that's a problem.

The hose from the exp tank on the V6 is bigger than the one on the 1.5. I've squeezed all the pipes, to see if they are blocked, or full of debris, but they seem OK (they're fairly new, they're Samco - they're not 20-year-old original OEM pipes, so they shouldn't be furry inside).

I will also check the O2 sensor: I had to disconnect the plug when I swapped the manifold - perhaps it is loose. When I reinstalled the power steering I had to work very close to the other end of the sensor, where is connects to the exhaust downpipe. The wires hang at a very sharp angle, hopefully none were squashed or broken when I was pushing spanners in there. I have a spare sensor in my parts unit, so I could swap that, if necessary.

Thanks again!

S

Hi Peter,

Cheers for this, I'll bleed the coolant system as well. I was thinking of changing the thermostat, just to make sure. AndyB (who I bought the car from) stripped and rebuilt the entire engine, so presumably he replaced items like that, and the car hasn't done many more miles since then. But there's no harm doing it anyway.

The only worry for me, bleeding or "burping" the system, is that on the V6 the radiator cap is right above the belts ... so if you leave the cap off to check/bleed the system while the engine is running, there's the danger of coolant splashing out and onto the belts, which wouldn't be pretty (thanks for that, Mazda! ) So I'll have to pack cloth or paper around the cap to catch any drips. This isn't an issue on the 1.5.

S

Just idling the fan comes on around/little above half way and in this weather takes quite a while.

Even with the radiator plug open it doesn't drain anywhere near the full amount of coolant as I've found but actually filling was the easiest I've ever done on a car, both filler cap and expansion cap open and pour in from filler cap, when it's pretty high up in the filler cap it's pretty much at maximum on the expansion cap. No need for any bleeding and level hadn't dropped when it cooled off but then again I do fill up coolant very slowly by using a small jug so less chance of airlocks
Did run it with the filler cap off as it seemed a bit low but it soon came up as it warmed up and had no problem putting cap back before it overflowed.

Hi Serena,

a few ideas:

1) I would suggest you need to check the overheating and for blockages.

2) I suggest you take the radiator cap off when cold and start the engine, let it idel until warm/hot. there should be no, or minimal, flow visible in the radiator cap orifice, and when the thermostat opens at /near operating temp, the coolant should appear to flow. After that the fans should turn on before the hot mark. On my old Pulsar, this got closer and closer to the hot mark as the car aged. As this had a separate temp sensor for the gauge and the ECU as jinglebells suggested this could have been either the temp gauge sensor or the ECU sensor circuit 'going off'.

3) The only way to check temp is with measurement. I'd suggest getting a 'temp gun' and using it on the top radiator pipe and/or thermostat housing and checking the temp, especially both sides of the thermostat housing and radiator if possible. Scotty Kilmer did a video on this both recently and a log time ago (check it to find out what I mean). Note the laser doesn't have anything to do with measuring the temp, it only highlights the part you are measuring.

4) If you see any bubbling, oil slick, gungey coagulated muck or any coolant is pushed out of the radiator cap orifice you've got a serious issue, most likely head gasket and/or cylinder head.

5) If you keep having to add coolant you've with no external leak you've most likely got (again) a head gasket or cylinder head issue.

6) If you have the temperature rising to hot with no coolant flow then there is either a blockage or the thermostat is stuck closed.

7) A pressure check should also help tell you whether there is a blockage and/or the thermostat isn't working and/or radiator cap isn't working and/or the radiator's blocked.

If the fans don't work when the temp rises then there's likely a fan issue irrespective of a coolant flow issue. Check the fans- disconnect hem and put 12V straight to them if necessary. If they activate then but not from the ECU, you've likely got an ECU or wiring issue.

9) The engine surging may be a totally unrelated issue.

Patrick

Funnily enough, 8 followed by a ) gives rather than 8 )

Patrick

Serena, for your concerne about dripping coolant over the belts, let me share you one trick i do every time on my 1.5:
Get a water bottle 1 or 1.5 litres, cut it in the middle so you make it like a funnel.
Get black tape and tape the neck(where is the tread for the cap) so it get thicker and fit snuggly on the opening where the rad cap goes.
I think i've explained it..
You have maybe a 800ml-1L overflow reservoir right above the cap body
When you put it (i do use it when pouring new antifreeze) you can easily pour new liquids without worrying for spils(just make sure it fits good and dont drip from it) if it drips just add more black tape.
If you left with coolant in it after the job, don't worry, drain a bit trougout the drain plug from the radiator and the level will drop


Edit:
Here's what i meant

Hi serena, the thermostat that controls the fans is the small single connector just above the filling point above the belts. The dash and ecu one is elswhere, mine went bad in the ze just before its mot and you'll remember reading that the guy overheated mine to get the emissions down. I replaced it and no problems since.

You could also check that the fan is working by bridging ten and gnd and pressing the throttle. The fan should kick in without it being up to temp without engine running

Cheers John, I did that and established that the fan IS working.

However I've realised that the PAS/water pump belt is NOT turning when the engine is running ... it was all working last week/when I put the car back together after PAS refit, as after the overheat I specifically checked that the water pump pulley was spinning OK, and coolant was circulating (yes, and yes).

So I now have to work out WTAF has happened, and whether that's connected to the "surging" issue ...

Stupid question time, but GRND + 10 won't have reset/deleted anything there, will it? That's all I've done since last week, as it was the only check I had time to do today. And yes, the bypass wire was removed after the fan check, and before I actually turned the engine over.

S

no it won't reset anything, can you turn the water pump by hand? if not you may have a broken impeller and its new waterpump time

That's a bit strange. Is the belt loose and therefore slipping?
Or is the driving pulley not turning?
As I'm not familiar with the V6 I can't solve it, but tracing the belt back should be possible as a generic investigation. Er - don't put your hands in there when it's running!

I'm not familiar with this so i may be wrong but still in the name of help:
Is the black plastic wheel/pulley a tensioner for the belt?



Is there a way that you did not put the belt as it is supposed to be, on it?
From this picture:



of my friend's ex F engine, i see that the belt should go over the pulley, if you put it under it will not tension it(if the tension mechanism is moving the pulley upwards, that is)
So look if you have mistaken something.
Other than that could be as other guys sugested, broken/seised WP, bad belt, problem with PAS pump, tension pulley problems, main pulley problems.
The main pulley is made from 2 metal pieces with rubber insert between them( thus making the harmoninc balancer) and could be the rubber not transmitting the movement if the second metal part(to wich the belt is attached) is not with contact anymore.This is rare problem, but still i've seen it
My unkle says that "this is so rare, that thе Halley comet comes more often"
Alot of things to check, and all are in a "good" tucked away from eyes and hands place...
Keep us informed..

Thank you, guys for all your suggestions (and for the photos!)

You rock

The belts are in the correct position: they were reinstalled ages ago, and I haven't taken them off again. The engine was running fine last week, both belts were turning fine, the WP was turning fine.

But now, neither the PAS/WP belt, nor the pulleys are moving. The belt isn't slipping, it's not being turned at all. The water pump is easy to observe, as the pulley is black but has silver bolts, so I can see when the bolts (and therefore the pump) are spinning.

There was an intermittent rattling noise before, which I believed was the upper belt tensioner (the one by the alternator/rad filler neck). It's not in good condition, it keeps coming loose and I keep having to retension the alternator belt. This has stopped now, but can't be a problem, as that belt is the one still working.

Next time I get to the car (it's 30 miles away at my parents' place, which is why working on it always takes ages ) I will:

* check nothing has fallen off and is under the car
* check both tensioners
* check the belts are properly in position
* try to turn the WP by hand, to see if the impeller is OK
* check the nut on the PAS pulley is still fastened tight - this is the only pulley I had to remove for the PAS

Once that is sorted out, if the surging problem is still there I'll replace the thermostat and see if that makes any difference.

Right now, I suspect that the overheat last week was caused by the same problem: the belt/WP not turning, and that I didn't notice at that time, because I was busy testing the power steering. It didn't overheat yesterday, as I was watching the temperature and turned the engine off before it started getting hot.

No I don't put my hands anywhere near it while it's running. As a point of safety, before I get under the car, or stick my hands into the engine, I always make sure the key is always actually out of the ignition and on the driver's seat (so I can see it's out of the ignition and it is safe to work). That way nobody can turn it or knock it accidentally.

S

hmmm that does sound now like the belt has lost its tension altogether, given that its driven by the crank the belt should turn with it. if none are moving then it must be so loose that it can't grip the crank or it would squeal until it snapped. my money is on broke bottom tensioner ( I've broken every one that I've had) I now have to use a jack on the tensioner pulley to apply tension and tighten the 17mm centre nut to hold in place because I've never found a replacement

Wouldn't the steering have gone heavy if the belt slipped when it overheated? Sounds like a collection of little problems.
I had the same overheating issue with the old engine before the swap. Turned out to be an airlock. Saw an interesting fill bottle the guys on Mighty Car Mods used that might help.

Lisle 24680 Spill-Free Funnel https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A6AS6LY/ ... mCbXRT94M7
As an example but there might be cheaper.
And you can put a plug in to take the funnel off with whatever is left.
HG failures on these v6s are rare as far as I know. I did the engine swap cos I suspected that, but after taking it apart it looks fine. Rings may have been bad but I think the burning oil was just leaking from rocker to manifold.
New engine had more of a refresh than a rebuild, ie new water pump, stat, seals etc.
Did you take the aluminium spacer off the water pump pulley when adding the PAS and tensioner? Both pumps should spin by hand without the belt to check if they're jammed. My money's on tensioner loosening.
Surging does sound like vacuum leak somewhere. Especially if you swapped the intake mani. Have done the carb cleaner check?

I had a flying look at the V6 when passing my parents' place yesterday: the water pump turns fine manually, so I think it must be a belt / tensioner issue.

Brucey: I think you're right

Andy: like the funnel - on my list!

I'm glad HG failures are rare, I was concerned because of the overheat last year when the belt came off & the waterpump wasn't turning: I thought damage might have been caused then, because I had a similiar surging issue then too, although that stopped quite quickly and it's been fine since, on the occasions I've driven it.

The aluminium spacer came off, yes, though I still have it. That was fun, a proper Christmas cracker-type puzzle getting the long bolts out in the limited space down the side of the engine bay Thank god I still had it, and all my tools, when the PAS pulley nut was lost/belt came off in Birmingham (my fault: nut not tightened enough), I was able to reconfigure the entire thing back to the way you had it, while by the side of the road - talk about guerilla mechanics - someone came out of their house to check I was OK, bless them.

Next check is to check the lower tensioner again. Although it was working fine; it seemed nice and stable, better than the top one - which actually disintegrated at one point, I had to reassemble and I keep having to re-tighten. I might have to rebuild it or something, I'll see if it holds up.

Re the surging, I haven't tried the carb cleaner yet, but that's on the list. The final vacuum leak after the manifold change miraculously cleared after I went over all the connections again. So I suspect that if there is a leak, it's a slightly loose pipe giving trouble.

Apart from the surging/belt issue it sounds beautiful, sweet as anything. After this is resolved I just have to bleed the PAS and hopefully get the MOT. All told, the issues have been minimal in number, just a few gnarly ones connected with assembling/reassembling for PAS. It's only taken ages because a) I damaged the pipe, b) car is stored 30 miles away!

S

After a godawful 2018 and early 2019, and then a drawn-out house move, I'm back at my folks' place for a few days in a final push to get the V6 ready for MOT.

The issues are:

1) Fettling the PAS (the steering works fine with the wheels off the ground, but I'm still seeing an occasional small drip of fluid underneath)
2) Working out why the alternator belt / related pulleys won't shut up.

If the belt was squealing, I'd assume the belt was too tight. But it's not squealing, it's rattling. When the engine starts up, it (or something attached to it) rattles, and the rattle increases to the point that I turn the engine off again in case something breaks / falls off. I've tried waiting a few seconds to see if it settles, and the noise stops, but it doesn't.

I've adjusted the belt tensioner to the optimum point between squealing and rattling (i.e., where it squeals and rattles the least).

I've loosened off the tensioner pulley nut slightly, so the tensioner pulley (the solid aluminium one) runs freely; because if it's completely tight then it will barely turn, and the belt squeals. When the engine is off I can rotate the pulley by hand, but it doesn't "wobble", so I assume it's not too loose. The retaining nut doesn't turn with it, so I assume the noise is not the nut coming loose.

The water pump belt runs fine, with no noise.
The alternator seems OK.

But I can't get to the point where the belt etc. neither squeals, nor rattles.

Any suggestions / advice?

Cheers

S

Hi Serena,

can only offer general advice as not familiar with the exact v6 belt setup.

In my experience belts squeal :
- when they are old because they become worn and/or hard.
- when they are under excessive load (e.g. a seizing compressor/bearing/etc)
- when they are not tensioned properly. A loose belt will squeal more as load is placed upon its accessory (e.g. turn the wheel for power steering, turn A/C on for A/c, turn electrical loads on for alternator)
- when a pulley is itself worn (as opposed to the belt)

My suggestions for the squeal would be to (in order)
- get some belt lubricant and try that (I think CRC make one) OR straight-up replace the old belt with a new one.
- Adjust the belt tension appropriately. A 'rule of thumb' (literally) is to push down on the belt firmly with your thumb between the pulleys, it should deflect approx the belt's width (perhaps 15mm). Too much deflection = tighten/tension, too little deflection = loosen off/detension.
- If the squealing persists, it may be a pulley or even a bearing in the accessory, or even a failing accessory (P/S or A/C or alternator) itself.

The rattle could be many things. If it goes away when you disconnect a particular belt, then (of course) it's related to something running off that belt. A rattling noise, could be a bearing, e.g. in a tensioner or in the alternator. It's possible a very loose belt could rattle too. You may need to do the 'stethoscope' test- i..e. long screwdriver onto each component and listen to the screwdriver until the noise source is found.

Good luck,

Patrick

Hi Serena,
Always hard to diagnose from a distance, but your description says to me that the tensioner bearing is the problem.

If you can't get it to the point where it tensions without being close to one extreme or the other then there is something wrong.

Sorry it's a bit of a generic guess, because like Patrick I work on the 1.5, not the V6, but the principles are the same.

Hi Serena, here are some pics i found on the net to make things easier:







My sugestion, remove the alternator and A/C belt.
Start the engine.Listen for the noise, if present then the noise is coming from the water pump/ power steering belt.
Squealing equals to loose belt(or worn to the point it cannot hold load)
Rattling means something's loose or not tightened or broken(bearings or such)
First look when the engine is running for any side play of any pulley(even crankshaft one)
If puleys seems ok try with the method of exclusion as i've typed, remove one belt and listen for the noise, if present it's from the other one(or other things driven from it)
If the sound dissapear then it's from something driven from the removed belt(and the squaling is from it)
I don't think i explained it good but you got my thought.
I want to ask you do you adjust the belt tensioning right?
Does every mounting point of the adjuster should be untightened to adjust the belt tension or not?
As on 1.5 you should untightened every single bolt on the alternator(or P/S pump) so they turn freely to tighten the belts(as Alternator and P/S pump are the tightening points there).
Trying to exclude human error here, sorry if i offend you by that question.Maybe something is loose(not tightened from before, and rattles)
By the look of it's tensioners(on the V6) i think that the belt tensioning pulleys mounting bracket points are not necesary to be untightened, just the pivot bolts(on the puleys itself) and after that are tensioning/untensioning ones from bellow(for p/s and water pumps) and from top(for the A/C and alternator), right?
About the last picture(with the arrows) they indicate the positions and directions of pressing the belts with a force of 10 kg. at the same time, the admissible deflection of the alternator belt is 5.5–7.5 mm, the deflection of the power steering belt and the pump is 6–8 mm.
That's the "golden spot" wich removes the squealing effect from every V6 no matter if the belt is old or worn out(well maybe at high load it will squeal, but then it will be clear that it is for changing)
Cheers!

mazzda that's brilliant, even I understand it now!
The pictures are very clear and help the understanding of the text.

It could be a bit of work but logical to take one step at a time.

I'm guessing the V6 doesn't have a lot of room around it in the same engine bay size as in my 1.5

Good luck Serena, do let us know what you find.