Zoom-zoom my arse. Crap Mazda MPV 14/6 END OF TERM REPORT

[r.welfare]

It's been four and a half years since I last did this, but today I went on a trip to collect a car.

 

Reading station, 5pm.  Smelly Festivalgoers out of shot.

 

Paddington, 5.30pm.  Heading towards the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines, to then change at Kings Cross for the Northern Line.  Never realised it was such a hike.  Citroen H van-mounted coffee vendor might be in shot.

 

6.30pm.  That there North London.  The wilds of Zone 4.  Totteridge to be exact.

 

7.30pm.  M4.  You might be able to make out the car is very low-geared - that's about 65mph at 3,000rpm.

 

8.15pm.  Home.  It's an imaginatively-named Mazda MPV.  Let me state here and now that I only have one child and therefore don't really need a 7-seater.  But we've got some DIY jobs coming up and clearing my in-laws house, so it will come in useful.  And it was damn cheap, considering it has 5 days shy of a year's ticket. 

 

Admiral obligingly set me up with a multicar policy that became almost disgustingly cheap when I complained about having a premium hike due to a non-fault accident (cf. Avensis, last year) that we didn't even claim on our policy for.  The lovely Welsh lass on the phone mirrored the 12 years NCB from the Honda onto this.  Interestingly, that newfangled DVLA MOT and tax checker site also says it's taxed until 31 January, even though there's no disc in the car.  So I was able to cruise home without worrying about ANPR.  No pez station shot because it actually had 1/2 a tank in.

 

Aside from the low gearing it drives pretty damn well.  "It's only got one advisory for a slight exhaust blow", the old boy selling it bellowed at me as the Mazda idled on his drive like a Lancaster bomber, "it's on the join, it just needs tightening up".  Hmm.  We'll see about that.  It does quieten down when warm though.  2-litre petrol in this one, same as the 626.  That explains the low gearing, it's only got 130bhp to propel nearly 2 tons.

 

Of course, there are a number of reasons why it was cheap.  There's no history whatsoever, although the V5 states only 2 owners from new and the last had it 10 years.  Therefore I'm playing cambelt roulette until my nerve goes.  Then there's this:

 

 

My crap photography shouldn't mask the fact the nearside rear wheelarch is right of shape.  Also the sliding door on that side is badly dented.  If it's a long-term keeper I'll try and score a secondhand replacement, hopefully in the same colour.

 

Then, because Mazda, there is of course this:

 

 

I managed to peel a load of the lip away by hand.  Anyone in the Home Counties good at welding and fancy earning some ££ if I bring it to your magic tickling stick?  Let me know.  I'll even do all the stripping and prep.

 

 

Inside it's quite nice.  The old boy said "Oh yeah, the aircon works" but buggered if I believe him.  I do reckon the pollen filter is absolutely clogged as the air throughput is shite, will need to check that out tomorrow.  The a/c light does come on when you press the button.  It might be low on gas.  It might be buggered.  A visit to Kwik-Fit beckons.  I like the two-tone steering wheel, as it happens.

 

 

Some middle seats.  They are not green - blame my iPhone camera - but a lovely sort of grey mousefur.  I can get the nearest seat's backrest to flip forward but not sure if it's meant to tip.  A handbook is on order from eBay.

 

 

Back seats.  I clambered in through the boot and found that the legroom is OK, although I'm only 5'10" and particularly short in the leg.  You even get separate heat/vent controls in the back here, there are two vents in the roof!!!1!.  They think of everything.  Also I found a bag of mouldy Maltesers in one of the cubbyholes.  I didn't eat them, even though I hadn't had any dinner yet.

 

So there you are.  Immediate plans are:

• Put some tax on it
• Clean and polish it
• Check the oil, coolant, air filter etc and give it a basic service if required
• Drive it for a month or so to see if it's alright or not
• Fit some reversing sensors
• Have a go at knocking the nearside dent out on the wheelarch
• Kwik-Fit trip to see if the a/c is really dead

Then if it's a keeper:

• Cambelt and waterpump
• Refurb the wheels (maybe)
• Replace the nearside sliding door
• Get the wheelarch welded up
• Think about selling the Accord...

 

 

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I want to draw pattens in that upholstery with my finger. 

[r.welfare]

I might "do a Partridge" on one of the seats tomorrow with my finger to see if it works, then photograph the results for posterity.

[Ghosty]

Don't think I've ever seen one of these that isn't blue!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Great buy!!! These are so spectacularly dull that they become interesting as you start mulling over just what it is that makes them so dull. I reckon you could forget these exist even if one was parked on your foot.

[Split_Pin]

I've never seen or heard of one of these cars before. The interior looks like it came out of the factory one colour and time has tinged it to another.

10/10.

[UmBongo]

Can I have the Maltesers?

[r.welfare]

Sorry, I disposed of them carefully (after donning a Hazmat suit)

[KruJoe]

So, does Mrs_Welfare like you to wear an impermeable whole-body garment as you feed her chocolate? (I know mine does.)

[Madman Of The People]

Congrats on a very nice looking MPV.  Every once in a while I'll spot a cheap-ish one in my local online classifieds.

 

Here in the US, these came with Ford's Duratec V6 engines.  Early ones had the 2.5 whilst later models had the 3.0.

 

If you ever want to swap a Duratec V6 from a Mondeo or X-Type into your MPV and need an engine sub-frame, I can probably find one pretty easily!

[garethj]

I'd never heard of one of these before, or perhaps I had but instantly forgot it.

 

But this is a good way to get a cheap car - one that nobody else is searching for!

[barefoot]

Nice photographs.

[greengartside]

Nice buy! Makes me miss my old 51-plate Maz 626 which had the obligatory rusty arches.

[hairnet]

Premacy before this or after

 

Joe you made me rofl

[r.welfare]

Premacy after, which is 323-based and smaller. This is 626-based. Premacy also rusts, surprisingly. This one is a 51 plate.

 

More petrified sweets removed from the interior this morning - I had to move fast to stop my six-year-old stuffing a hairy Maoam in her mouth. Sadly, you can't draw a cock in the upholstery with your finger. I did try.

 

Epic fail on hammering out the dent on the nearside rear. Need a slide hammer I think. I'm going to wob up the offside rear arch for the time being with some P40 and P38 followed by some POR-15. At least the underneath appears rust free. What is it with Mazda and rust? I read somewhere it might be to do with acidic lubricant in the seam sealing process.

 

Pollen filters removed and they were hanging. Now I get a decent throughput of air. Might even be (a bit) cold. Service kit on order from ECP, let's see how wrong they get it given it's hardly a mainstream vehicle.

[r.welfare]

  On 21/08/2014 at 23:15, KruJoe said:

So, does Mrs_Welfare like you to wear an impermeable whole-body garment as you feed her chocolate? (I know mine does.)

The only thing Mrs W wears when cars are involved is a withering facial expression.

[Lacquer Peel]

That looks grim. I've been thinking about buying a people carrier for dog and revamping the garden duties, vans in my price range are hanging. Peugeot 806s and Sharans have been winking at me.

[Bobthebeard]

  On 22/08/2014 at 06:04, barefoot said:

Nice photographs.

Ahem..... Nice indeed, may just be my iPad but everything looks long and thin and slightly sideways upsidedowny....

[r.welfare]

They're the right way up on a normal computer. I'm awaiting the offer of a staff photographer gig on Barefoot's Veedub rag.

[beko1987]

That looks OK. I sort of wish amy would entertain one that large (oo-er)

[r.welfare]

Been a while since I updated this.  So, some stuff has happened and some hasn't yet.

 

First, bodywork.

 

 

The rusted offside rear arch has been ground back, treated, then artfully reconstructed with the deans of bodywork excellence, messrs P38 and P40 and a squirt of high-build primer.  I'm sure it will bubble up again (although I'm going to sand it smooth and cover it both sides with POR-15) but it'll do for now.  I've just had an aerosol of topcoat delivered which will no doubt be way off shade because Mazda changed the pigment every 6 weeks.  I'll be trying to get some more of those scuffs out with the buffer/1500 grit sandpaper first.

 

On the nearside, you may recall the van was primarily cheap because of this:

 

 

Oh yeah.  Well, despite nobody having heard of these things being on the market there were actually three being broken on the Bay in the same colour. An afternoon of ringing round ended up with a drive to Bristol to collect an undamaged door for 60 quid, complete with everything except the door card, which was handy.

 

So it now looks like this:

 

 

It's a crap angle but in essence while the door is now fine, the arch is still knocked in and seems quite difficult to hammer out from behind.  I'd like to get it a bit closer to the right profile before getting busy with the P38 and primer as before.

 

The trip to Bristol was not undertaken without some considerable angst re. the road tax.  Car was still showing taxed but disc AWOL.  Decided to wing it re. ANPR "good" vs. failure to display "bad" balance of probabilities as I didn't intend to park up anywhere.  Situation resolved itself last weekend when the DVLA site updated to confirm what I'd thought - previous owner had cashed the tax in.  So on Monday I went and got a proper disc (none of this laser-printed shite) at the post office and I've been driving the car daily since.

 

What are my further driving impressions?  The exhaust is blowing like mad; I found a rusted sleeve round the downpipe which I removed which revealed some splits in the pipe itself (but no rust).  I covered the downpipe liberally in Gun Gum which has now cracked like the Chernoybl sarcophagus, so the next stage is to get an exhaust bandage.

 

Did a bit of servicing so new plugs (electrodes of the old ones were white), changed the oil and filter, air filter and pollen filter.  Props to Euro Car Parts for actually delivering the right stuff.  The air and pollen filters were minging and the oil filter a Mazda one; can't really tell how long since it was changed.  I Streetviewed the previous owner and it's fair to say it wasn't a hugely salubrious address, so I suspect maintenance has been lacking.  Engine's a bit oily on the outside, so I get a whiff of it now and again when sat idling:

 

 

Still playing cambelt roulette for now but looking at the manual the rocker cover gasket gets replaced when you change the belts, that might solve it. Going to de-gunk it all for now and see whether it gets any worse.

 

Speaking of manuals:

 

 

I spit on your Haynes.  £10 delivered.  You can find an American version of this manual for free online, but it doesn't cover the 2-litre engine.  I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the motor.  Yes, you have to wind it out to make "spirited progress" but it doesn't seem to mind and it's OK just pootling up through the gears. 

 

Stuck some parking sensors on the back (colour coded 4-sensor kit, £7.78 delivered from eBay!) so at least I shouldn't clout anything with it.  Unlike the previous owner.

 

The only other problem I have is blue smoke at a cold start.  Reading up the piston rings can be problematic (huh!  Just like most other Japanese turn-of-the-century petrol engines) so the bores get some oil in them.  This must entertain my neighbours as I pull off the drive at 6.45 every morning in a blue cloud of exhaust buzz; perhaps they think I have bought a Trabant.  Not really sure what to do about that.  Doesn't seem to have used any huge volume of oil yet in any case.

 

And that's the story so far.  Next installment hopefully this week when I've got some time to finish off the bodywork (including getting a topcoat on), and fitting some new rear shocks:

 

 

The offside one on there at the moment is almost crumbling away from rust around the top "cap", if that makes sense.

[Honey Badger]

Didn't Mr Wobbler have this problems and he chucked some engine oil flush in to clean and loosen the rings then changed his oil in his Honda engined 416, it seemed to improve the issue a bit i believe, something to do with the oil rings gumming up?

[r.welfare]

I may try some Forte flush.  I've put 5W30 in it which might be a bit thin.

[dollywobbler]

Both the Sirion and Rover were improved by an oil change. The Sirion dramatically so. The Rover is back puffing out blue smoke again though. I'm planning to change the oil again in another 1000 miles. The oil consumption is much lower though.

[cobblers]

Aren't these a similar engine to an MX5? Ie non interference, so the cambelt essentially never needs doing? my muthas lasted about 18 years/120k on the original belt.

[r.welfare]

Internet wisdom is inconsistent on this point. Some swear blind the FS-DE engine in these are non interference whereas others say that only applies to the regular FS block. To be honest I have no idea whether it's a long termer on the Welfare fleet so everything is being done to a tight budget right now as there's no point in unnecessary spending. I gave a Barry Shitpeas for it and I think total spend currently sits at about 550 quid, without the road tax.

 

Once the bodywork is sorted and some other things attended to, like the exhaust and aircon, I might bite the bullet and have the belt done. Still mulling over whether I have a go myself or not. There's a fantastic 2 part YouTube video from the States showing the job on a 626 with the same engine which suggests it's a bitch of a job in places - like getting the crank pulley off (I lack an impact wrench) and even putting a new belt on with the tensioner as slack as you can get it. On the other hand, the Autodata book time is 2hrs, so might be better to pony up the £100 labour charge. The belt kit plus rocker cover gasket and water pump is likely to run to around £150.

 

I've only done two cambelt changes before. One was on a 1988 1.3 Mazda 323 which is about as simple as they get. That was completed successfully in half an hour with a fiver's worth of new belt and no special tools required. The other was a 3 litre v6 Omega which, try as I might, just wouldn't stay timed up right when I manually rotated the crank a couple of turns. In the end I'd had it apart and back together so many times I'd chewed up all the heads of the pulley bolts, so I had it towed to the garage and got them to do it.

[r.welfare]

So I'm nearly one year in to ownership of this wreck and - to my great surprise - it scored a fresh MOT two weeks ago at my regular garage.  When I bought the car the MOT was five days old and there were enough faults (exhaust blow and a plethora of blown bulbs) to make me question it's validity.  Also, the oil burning/smoke made me wonder if it had poisoned the cat sufficiently to bugger the emissions.

 

In order to address the latter point I drove down the M3/A303/A34 in fourth gear to the MOT - it doubled the mileage but, more importantly, got the engine stoking hot.  I also removed the air filter just before I got there - this might work better on diesels than petrols but what the hell.  In the end, I got only three advisories (suspension bushes, a tyre, and some corrosion near one of the rear spring pans), and some of the lowest emissions results I've yet seen.

 

Feeling rather clever I decided to solve the tyre problem by fitting a set of spare 16" steels with Avon (winter) covers I had in the garage that were previously fitted to my wife's Qashqai - mistake number 1 was that while I checked the PCD and offset was OK, I assumed that a 1mm smaller centre bore would not be a problem.  It was, they didn't go over the hubs.  The next bit is where the nuns and kittens covered their eyes - I went about the centre bores of the wheels with a Dremel.  This sort-of worked, but would have been better if I'd had the right grinding stone.  Offered 'em back up to the hubs, they went on but they were very tight.

 

I should have stopped here and sacked it off as a bad job but oh no, I knew better, and I took the car out for a quick spin and all felt fine.  In fact, my ignorance was bliss right up until I happened to look out the side window at the rear of the car after I'd dumped the old wheels and tyres at the tip - the rear wheel was wobbling from side to side like a clown car's.  I stopped immediately and checked the wheel nuts.  They were tight.  Bugger.  I then proceeded to drive the 10 miles home using the quietest back roads I could, doing no more than 30mph, with an arsehole like a rabbit's nose.  Only 5 people told me my wheels were wobbling.

 

Then, of course, I couldn't get them off, so overtightened the nuts to get them on straighter - mistake number 2, as I ended up making them all an interference fit on the hubs.  Run out was much reduced but not eliminated, and it was at this point I threw the question of just how the hell I was going to get these buggers off out to the forum.  From feeling elation at the MOT pass I was pretty dejected by this point, as it was probable (in my mind) I'd have to sell or scrap the car when the tyres wore out.

 

Thankfully I was able to score replacements in the shape of 5 steel wheels and legal tyres from a Hyundai Trajet (are these things somehow related to the Mazda through Kia jumping out of bed with the latter and into bed with the former around the turn of the century?) for £7.60, with only an 80-mile round trip to get them.  By this point - having commuted 150 miles in the previous week - bum-squeakiness had been pretty much eliminated but the hot temperatures was doing strange things to the grip co-efficient of the winter covers.  Yes, I know, I know.

 

Fast-forward to today and Richard's top tip was put into practice - a 6ft post was procured from the local garden centre, cut down a bit and the scissor jack put into place and wound out slowly:

 

 

Took about an hour for all four; one popped straight off when I jacked the car up (fluke!), one popped with the scissor jack and the two fronts needed lots more scissor jack action and the ministrations of a lump hammer to the rims.

 

Lesson learned, folks.

 

Anyhow, this is how it looks now after a wash and wearing its "can't believe they ain't alloys" Hyundai trims:

 

 

For some reason some of the new wheels look like they've been at the bottom of the sea for a bit so I think a wire wheel in the drill and some Poundland black aerosol will improve things.

 

Because I know Barefoot likes it, here are some statistics from the last year:

• 9,500 miles travelled (would have been more, but I didn't sell my Accord to Tetleysmooth until November);
• £603 spent on repairs and maintenance - on top of three oil changes to try and reduce the consumption (didn't work, still blows out a nice big cloud on a cold start and drinks about a litre every 500 miles so I think piston rings are banjaxed) there was £60 for a new side door (complete and in the same colour), £45 for a pair of rear shocks, £140 for a custom centre pipe and welding to the downpipe (you can't get aftermarket parts and Mazda bits are ££££), £50 for an a/c regas (well worth it) and £80 on a timing belt, tensioners and water pump that I haven't fitted yet (oops);
• 30MPG averaged.  Better than my (much lighter) 1.8 automatic Accord;
• £306 on road tax (two lots of six months - will do £290 for a full year at the end of this month); and
• £154 for a year's insurance (Admiral multi-car).

I make all of that 24p a mile and I doubt it's depreciated from the £400 I paid for it.

 

To drive it is entirely acceptable.  118bhp to move 1800kg sounds like a recipe for disaster but it accelerates fine due to low gearing.  This results in 3000rpm at 60mph in top so motorways can be a bit wearing on the eardrums.  It does have a comical lack of traction coming out of certain junctions which I assume is something to do with weight transfer.  The handling is absolutely fine with understeer at the limit which is easily controlled.  Ride is good, no doubt helped by 65-profile tyres.  And it has done about 80 tip runs in the last year as well as 5 car boot sales so it has succeeded at its primary goal.

 

Plans are to do the cambelt (plenty of good videos from the US 626 community), try and get the rear arch profiles filled and painted better (it will never be perfect but it can be better than it is), and perhaps take out the driver's seat to fix the broken height adjustment.

 

Would I recommend one?  Yes, if you can find one, at this price point it has to be better than a self-destructing Espace or very tired Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambra, as well as being much more spacious than a Zafira.

[r.welfare]

So, this drove out of my life about 15 minutes ago.

 

We covered 20,000 miles together in 22 months and it didn't miss a beat.  The embarrassing levels of smoke at every cold start got me thinking it was time for something new; for me, DIY-ing a piston ring and/or valve stem seal change wasn't viable, and isn't cheap when done professionally. 

 

Added to that the dents looked awful (I never did any more work to the body), the heater wasn't very good, the cambelt roulette wouldn't last for ever....etc etc etc.

 

Bloody good car though.

 

COST PER MILE STATS:

• Fuel 13.44p (averaged 30.1mpg over that distance, pretty good really for a 1700kg petrol 2-litre breeze block)
• Maintenance 4.67p (£913 overall - 4 oil changes, 2 air filters, 2 sets of plugs, one exhaust centre pipe and downpipe, 1 set of tyres, 1 MOT, 1 pair of front discs and pads, 1 pair rear shocks, and a s/h nearside rear sliding door, plus 40L of oil topups!)
• Insurance 1.48p (c. £150 each year, 10k miles, TPFT)
• RFL 3.05p (£290 per year x 2, ouch)
• Depreciation 1.25p (bought for £400, sold for £156)

I hope it does the new owner well but I also hope they don't have unrealistic expectations - they seemed very enthusiastic so I kept chucking in comments like "keep the oil topped up", "I don't know when the cambelt was done", "it's £156", etc.

 

It has given me a taste for 7 seaters though.  Very practical.  It's replacement?  I pick it up on Saturday - a 2003 Renault Espace.  Automotive Russian Roulette?  Maybe - hopefully I am taking a few bullets out of the chamber by choosing a low-specification, petrol manual model.

 

Wish me luck...

[Sheefag]

Ditch a Jap motor for an old Espace?

 

You're either mad, or both.

[r.welfare]

Yeah and it's the last generation one as well - the one that looks like a TGV train from the front. A Laguna 2 with a loft conversion if you will.