Search results

Thanks for the hair dryer tip. Never woulda thought to do that. My old serpentine belt didn't look real bad(fraying, deep cracks etc) but had many small cracks after 10-1/2 years and looked a bit dried out. On rubber items I go by time as well as mileage and condition. I doubt it would have...

Forget the dealer and yes their price is outrageous and they can even do the job with the aid of a lift. > use the search and read prior threads about this to get a better understanding. If you changed water pumps on cars before you should be able to do this job. Suggest new belts at this point...

Absolutely, drain and fill only. The "lifetime" fluid is BS in my book for long term owners. In fact, doesn't Mazda recommend AGAINST transmission flush?

Maybe the bulbs were burned out by the old alternator. Time for a little story. Many years ago on a car old enough to have sealed beam headlights and a generator (not alternator) the low beams burned out because of a bad ground on the mechanical voltage regulator. Happened while merging onto the...

At 74k miles on my 2014, many of which are shorter hops, I'm considering Valvoline Restore and Protect for my next oil change. Might help prevent stuck rings and oil consumption problem in the future.

The OP didn't mention oil fouling on plugs, just had oil on plug threads and then changed valve cover gasket. I'd start by reinstalling the original plugs. I see the primary thing as getting it to run good again regardless of what codes are present. The lack of CEL indicates that these are...

Since I rarely have rear passengers I removed the rear headrests years ago. They are kept stored in a zippered tool bag back in the cargo area so they're available if needed.

Never gave it much thought but I'd guess the residual vapors inside the intake manifold condense on the butterfly after engine shutdown.

Haha, yes. I remember almost posting "nitrous" and then thought ,no, that's not right, it's "nitric". And then wrote nitrous anyway.

Yes, it comes through the airflow system. The nasty gunk that has been accumulating inside intake manifolds for years since fuel injection, is formed from oil vapors/combustion gas blow-by introduced by way of the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve directly into the intake manifold to...

Right on. Since I don't plan on attaching any bike racks and other attachments that would be more easily available for class 3, I installed a Curt class 2 and it's still rated at 3500 lbs which is way over the 2000 lb CX-5 max tow rating.

My experience has been the same. Especially with a physically smaller pad that has less material thickness than the front pads.

OK. Let me elaborate a little more. Regardless of the amount of highway driving your car does, let's look at the miles and wear. Putting aside the "red" condition as stated by the dealer, they show 4 mm remaining. If at 37,000 miles the amount of wear [ 7.5 mm (new thickness) minus 4 mm...

As @Conrad 16.5 mentioned above and if it were me I'd avoid the dealer since the car is long out of warranty. Just my .02.

Sounds like the dealer, when quoting prices like this, is getting bolder as they assume people are getting stupider. At 36k miles I can't imagine it needing new rotors unless they are chewed up or have runout causing vibration. You may get by with just new pads/pad guides (clips) and lubeing the...

The 2013 Skyactiv shop manual ( for the 2.0 L engine) shows 3.0-7.5 kohms under spark plug inspection procedure. The NGK's I installed last summer ranged from 4.61 - 5.15 kohms and I remember checking the original plugs and they measured around 5 kohms also.

Good. Looks like you made some progress. If you haven't already, might want to "exercise" it a bunch of times to work the lube in and add more if needed.

The WD-40 suggestion was for its ability to penetrate and free things up. Agree it's a lousy lubricant, proper lube comes afterward. There was/is a shop manual available for download on this site or perhaps some member can point you to it or send it. It's a 2013 dated manual,( though there may...

Have you tried pushing it in to get it to move freely. Also, there's a product known as WD-40.

Haven't heard that in years. Wasn't that the phrase used by Herb Caen from the SF Chronicle. I still miss that newspaper. Cheers.