MazdaFerret
Member
- :
- 2002 Millenia S, 1995 MPV 4WD
Hi to everyone on the forum!
It was back in about 1998 that I rented an MPV to take five adults and our luggage on a 1200 mile weekend trip to Southern California. I wasn't expecting much given the load she was carrying, but that MPV surprised me by hauling us all up and down the grapevine without difficulty, and a very comfortable trip to boot. I became a Mazda person that weekend.
A couple years later I purchased a used 1994 MPV (3.0L with 115K) at auction for about $5,000 after my mechanic assured me that they were good for a solid 200K before any real problems would set in. That little MPV served me more than well for many years before my lack of maintenance resulted in a timing belt failure at 190K. Wrongly informed that it was an interference engine, I donated the van to a charity rather than repair it (a repair that I have since learned would not have been so difficult).
With that MPV gone and my '84 Ford Bronco II on its last legs, I decided to buy a new larger SUV that could handle at least 6 people and still get me back into the mountains. I was thinking Explorer/Highlander/4Runner, so was surprised to find a '95 MPV 4WD on Craigslist (I had forgotten that there was a 4WD version of the first-generation MPV). I bought it for $1100. It was rough and ugly and dirty, but it sounded strong and ran smoothly and with only 109K I knew it had lots of life left.
However, a month or so later it started making some nasty intermittent noises and then a more ominous clunking noise starting making itself heard. I took it to my mechanic, and he said he thought the engine sounded much more worn-out than a 109K engine should. I can now say with confidence that CARFAX is your friend. If I had taken the time and money to run a check *before* I had bought it, I would have found out that it had about 240K on the vehicle, and an auction lot had just swapped odometers two years earlier without noting it on the vehicle title. I'd been had.
I name all of my cars and had been trying to decide on a good name for this one -- now I knew, he would be called "Frodo" (short for FRaudulent ODOmeter)!
My mechanic said junk him and walk away wiser if $1100 poorer. I decided to fore-go having him repaired, and figured I'd just drive him until he blew up and then junk him. But the prospect of having an MPV that was also a 4WD SUV was just too good to let go. I started searching the forums for information and eBay for JDM engines and factory manuals. With a good sense of what was before me, I decided to do an engine rebuild rather than an engine swap which would have just given me another engine of unknown history. I cleaned out the garage, arranged my tools, bought an engine hoist and stand, and proceeded to do a complete rebuild of the engine from valve covers to oil pan. I learned a lot doing that, notably that the 3.0L JE engine used in MPVs may look a little intimidating to an old-school shade tree mechanic, but it's really not bad at all. Just a standard non-interference (D-Oh!) V6 with a fancy intake structure and fuel injection. Its been about 9 months now since completing that job, and Frodo has been a reliable daily driver ever since.
About the same time as I began the rebuilding, I bought from a local auction lot a 2002 Millenia S with 89K for $4400 (and yes, this time I ran a CARFAX report first!). This car was intended mainly to be a nice car for my wife, who does not share my enthusiasm for rough ugly dirty and dented 4WD vehicles. This car was a blast to drive, and very comfortable with all the amenities. My wife said she felt like she belonged on Madison Avenue with such a nice car, so we named her Maddy.
Unfortunately Maddy was also not without problems. She soon developed a bad habit of unexpectedly laying down a military grade smokescreen and lighting the CEL, and limping home on about 10% power. A code scanner showed multiple cylinder failures to fire. A local Mazda Performance specialty shop said she had cracked rings, but that didn't jibe (in my mind) with other symptoms, which suggested a blown head gasket to me. After an estimate of $5500 to repair the engine, I decided with all these tools and a clean garage I would just do a rebuild on Maddy myself as well.
And that's where I am today. Engine tear-down showed we were both wrong, the rings and the head gaskets were fine. But there's a ton of oil in the intake structures whic was pooling at the bottoms of the CACs (inter-coolers) and the bottom of the supercharger inlet. Add to that all 4 motor/tranny mounts were completely shot. So once the oil got deep enough, any hard shift resulted in a big wad of oil being ingested and thus the smoke screen, CEL, and fouled plugs that could not ignite their cylinders.
My machine shop found the cylinders to have worn to a taper shape and oil fouling to have reduced the effectiveness of the rings, possibly enough to create so much blow-by that the oil was coming up through the PCV valve (and there is definitely plenty of oil present in this line). More forum-searching has also indicated that the Millenia S supercharger's pressurized oil bearing can fail if the oil is not changed regularly, resulting in oil intrusion into the intake structures. Whether that is the case for Maddy I don't know yet for certain but she does not show other signs of failure to change the oil regularly. I should have the whole thing back together next weekend and if the problem returns, I'll know I'm in for a new supercharger.
So, wish me luck and don't hesitate to share your experiences if you've had similar problems with a late Millenia S!
Pics of both rebuild jobs and more detailed symptoms and analysis should follow soon...
It was back in about 1998 that I rented an MPV to take five adults and our luggage on a 1200 mile weekend trip to Southern California. I wasn't expecting much given the load she was carrying, but that MPV surprised me by hauling us all up and down the grapevine without difficulty, and a very comfortable trip to boot. I became a Mazda person that weekend.
A couple years later I purchased a used 1994 MPV (3.0L with 115K) at auction for about $5,000 after my mechanic assured me that they were good for a solid 200K before any real problems would set in. That little MPV served me more than well for many years before my lack of maintenance resulted in a timing belt failure at 190K. Wrongly informed that it was an interference engine, I donated the van to a charity rather than repair it (a repair that I have since learned would not have been so difficult).
With that MPV gone and my '84 Ford Bronco II on its last legs, I decided to buy a new larger SUV that could handle at least 6 people and still get me back into the mountains. I was thinking Explorer/Highlander/4Runner, so was surprised to find a '95 MPV 4WD on Craigslist (I had forgotten that there was a 4WD version of the first-generation MPV). I bought it for $1100. It was rough and ugly and dirty, but it sounded strong and ran smoothly and with only 109K I knew it had lots of life left.
However, a month or so later it started making some nasty intermittent noises and then a more ominous clunking noise starting making itself heard. I took it to my mechanic, and he said he thought the engine sounded much more worn-out than a 109K engine should. I can now say with confidence that CARFAX is your friend. If I had taken the time and money to run a check *before* I had bought it, I would have found out that it had about 240K on the vehicle, and an auction lot had just swapped odometers two years earlier without noting it on the vehicle title. I'd been had.
I name all of my cars and had been trying to decide on a good name for this one -- now I knew, he would be called "Frodo" (short for FRaudulent ODOmeter)!
My mechanic said junk him and walk away wiser if $1100 poorer. I decided to fore-go having him repaired, and figured I'd just drive him until he blew up and then junk him. But the prospect of having an MPV that was also a 4WD SUV was just too good to let go. I started searching the forums for information and eBay for JDM engines and factory manuals. With a good sense of what was before me, I decided to do an engine rebuild rather than an engine swap which would have just given me another engine of unknown history. I cleaned out the garage, arranged my tools, bought an engine hoist and stand, and proceeded to do a complete rebuild of the engine from valve covers to oil pan. I learned a lot doing that, notably that the 3.0L JE engine used in MPVs may look a little intimidating to an old-school shade tree mechanic, but it's really not bad at all. Just a standard non-interference (D-Oh!) V6 with a fancy intake structure and fuel injection. Its been about 9 months now since completing that job, and Frodo has been a reliable daily driver ever since.
About the same time as I began the rebuilding, I bought from a local auction lot a 2002 Millenia S with 89K for $4400 (and yes, this time I ran a CARFAX report first!). This car was intended mainly to be a nice car for my wife, who does not share my enthusiasm for rough ugly dirty and dented 4WD vehicles. This car was a blast to drive, and very comfortable with all the amenities. My wife said she felt like she belonged on Madison Avenue with such a nice car, so we named her Maddy.
Unfortunately Maddy was also not without problems. She soon developed a bad habit of unexpectedly laying down a military grade smokescreen and lighting the CEL, and limping home on about 10% power. A code scanner showed multiple cylinder failures to fire. A local Mazda Performance specialty shop said she had cracked rings, but that didn't jibe (in my mind) with other symptoms, which suggested a blown head gasket to me. After an estimate of $5500 to repair the engine, I decided with all these tools and a clean garage I would just do a rebuild on Maddy myself as well.
And that's where I am today. Engine tear-down showed we were both wrong, the rings and the head gaskets were fine. But there's a ton of oil in the intake structures whic was pooling at the bottoms of the CACs (inter-coolers) and the bottom of the supercharger inlet. Add to that all 4 motor/tranny mounts were completely shot. So once the oil got deep enough, any hard shift resulted in a big wad of oil being ingested and thus the smoke screen, CEL, and fouled plugs that could not ignite their cylinders.
My machine shop found the cylinders to have worn to a taper shape and oil fouling to have reduced the effectiveness of the rings, possibly enough to create so much blow-by that the oil was coming up through the PCV valve (and there is definitely plenty of oil present in this line). More forum-searching has also indicated that the Millenia S supercharger's pressurized oil bearing can fail if the oil is not changed regularly, resulting in oil intrusion into the intake structures. Whether that is the case for Maddy I don't know yet for certain but she does not show other signs of failure to change the oil regularly. I should have the whole thing back together next weekend and if the problem returns, I'll know I'm in for a new supercharger.
So, wish me luck and don't hesitate to share your experiences if you've had similar problems with a late Millenia S!
Pics of both rebuild jobs and more detailed symptoms and analysis should follow soon...
