The Mazda lives !!

[STUNO]

Those of you with long memories may just remember that at about this time last year I bought a 1993 Mazda Lantis which in time honoured local tradition was sold new in Japan then when considered useless was shipped with thousands of others to this far land. After passing through a couple of owners here I bought it off a distant relative who said they could not fault it. It certainly drove well with no disconcerting signs of problems.

But woes were to start fairly shortly later, in the form of choking clouds of smoke on the first start every morning.

That lead to a WOF (MOT) fail.

The short of it was that a mechanic friend said he would fix it as and when he had time as it was not needed in a hurry. 9 months later it is finished !

The initial problem was thought to be only valve guides leaking, but it turned out that the engine had been seriously overheated and attempts made to fix badly. The cyl head had been off and valve guides done badly. A decision was made to strip the engine completely and recondition / rebuild it. The main problem found was that the bores were glazed but had very little wear and the oil rings were pretty much useless, it was obvious at a glance they had lost the will to expand to the diameter of the cylinders.The bores were given a hone and new rings and bearing shells fitted, then re-assembly was started after it was discovered that the block was full of what may have been put in to cure the overheating problem and it had gone fairly solid. That cleaned out well then the job was recommenced. All the frost plugs were replaced as were things like water pump and cambelt.

I now have a very good rebuilt engine. There was suspicion that there was a problem with the auto transmission but that was cured by fitting all new engine and transmission mounts.

It now runs quietly, smokelessly and changes gear as it should.

 

To refresh memories a couple of photos taken after giving it a good wash. It looked like a barn find before !

 

 

 

The next problem is what to do, one car has to go, but which ?

 

[Bucketeer]

Looking good.

 

I wasn't entirely familiar with these, although I recognise some Xedos 6-ness about it, so I had a quick look on everyone's favourite* factual* information website and this is the first paragraph (referring to the 323F/Lantis hatchback).

 

The Mazda Lantis is a series of two cars sold in Japan from 1993 to 1996. In the rest of the world it was also known as 323F, Astina, Allegro Hatchback or Artis Hatchback.

 

Apparently known as an Allegro in Colombia. Live and learn.

[Jon]

Looks good! I'll have to come over and see this, as I've not laid eyes on it, except when seeing it laid up at the mechanics. Apart from the fact that it's had a full rebuild, how does it go? Which do you prefer to drive; this or the BX? I reckon I know the answers, even if they don't make economic sense.

 

A couple of other questions. How many Lantis owners are enthusiastic members of Mazda owners' clubs? And are there any local enthusiasts just around the corner with an interesting array of them? Err, no. There is however a Citroen and Renault enthusiast who'd give you a hand with the BX at the drop of a hat. Keep the BX!

[Jon]

By the way, the Citroen and Renault enthusiast I'm talking about is not me; I may live locally but am mechanically useless!

[r.welfare]

Did it blow smoke only when cold, STUNO, or all the time?

 

My Mazda MPV (which has a 2-litre engine, which I believe is of the same family as yours) puffs out a cloud of oil smoke on a cold start.  Rings and/or valve stem seals suspected.

 

Intrigued as to why it failed a WOF, was it on visible smoke or emissions?  Do they not allow you to bring the car in warmed up?

[KruJoe]

Yay! It lives on.

I was just wondering the other day what became of this, when I saw a similar one here in Chiang Mai.

[STUNO]

Mr Welfare, at the end it was blowing smoke all the time! test is on visible smokeand it just decided to fill the testers garage with much smoke because it was being a bastard.

This motor has a reputation for bad oil rings !

Jon, found my phone a few mins ago, message received.

[r.welfare]

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Mine blows a decent cloud for about 10 seconds from cold but is then fine. It did seem to be consuming about a litre of oil every 400 miles and wafting oil fumes into the cabin when idling, but then I discovered the oil filter (which sits above the exhaust flex pipe) was loose last week so hopefully it won't be as bad.

 

Shame a lot of them seem to stuff the rings, it's a decent engine otherwise! I think my car had not had an oil change for some years before I got it.

 

I'm going to try another oil and filter change and keep an eye on it, the car is not worth an engine replacement or rebuild - unlike yours which looks spotless!

[Lacquer Peel]

Is it a 1993 car? It looks a lot more modern.

[STUNO]

Yes Mr Lacquer Peel I had made a mistake, it is a '94 so much more modern. desisgner was apparently the same chap as the Porsche Panamera. But I like it, I am 5'8'' and tower over it as it is noticeably low and me getting a bit old and rotund does not help the getting in and out.

Mr Welfare, that is what mine started to do, but it had been bodged and filled with some sort of "smoke stop" oil

which disguised the real problem, good luck with it.

[Lacquer Peel]

It looks like a late 1990s/early 2000s car, 1994 is surprising as well. Before its time.

[STUNO]

The head unit fitted to this is a JVC unit. Easy to operate while driving. I had downloaded the inst. manual which helped find out how it all worked and that was very useful. but the manual showed the remote control . No sign of that anywhere so I assumed this model didn't have one or it was lost. Scrabbling about under the seat for something I dropped and I could feel a plastic bag. Pulled it out and it was the remote control that was still in it's packaging and unused, It had a plastic strip to stop battery drain, that removed it works perfectly. Result !

Two good things about this JVC. The equaliser is operated by an easy to push button, and to change from CD to FM band just press the source button About 3 times , each press bleeps once until you get to the FM band, then it bleeps twice. Excellent. And now with remote....