New Owner, have some work to do

P

paper1122

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03 P5 Auto
Greetings all!

I just purchased an 03 P5, silver, auto. The car is going to be used by my wife primarily.

I have the following items that I have to do to it, parts are on order, but any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

1. Replace radiator
2. Replace thermostat
3. Replace passenger side mirror
4. Replace motor mounts

It has recently recieved the following services, shortly prior to my purchase.

1. New starter
2. New battery
3. New belts and hoses
4. New timing belt
5. New spark plugs
6. New water pump
7. Recent tranny flush

I have a low end rumble that I think may be a result of the worn motor mount but I am not sure
I also have noticed a clunking noise over large bumps, that could also be the motor mount as the struts seem to rebound nicely

Any tips you guys have would be appreciated I am also looking for some minor bolt on go-fast parts to give it a bit more pep.

Just for a bit of background on me, I am a backyard tinkerer and I love to work on vehicles in my spare time.
The vehicles I've owned/own include:

Currently:
2005 Honda S2000
2008 Nissan Titan
2001 Acura CL-S (being sold once the P5 is on the road)

Past:
2000 F150 Ext cab
1998 F150 Reg cab
1998 Ranger Reg cab
1980 Chevy Luv
1990 Wrangler
1983 Porsche 944
2002 Mustang Conv
1991 Honda Accord
1985 Yamaha Virago

And I'm only 29...
 
Any tips? Honestly, get out while you still can. It's a good thing you enjoy working on cars because you're going to be working on this one ALL THE TIME. This is the most miserable car I've ever driven, and I've owned some real POS's.

At least you live in Florida so you don't have to deal with the pathetic rust issues.
 
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check the bushing and end links of the sway bar, that could be your clunk
 
Maroon said:
Any tips? Honestly, get out while you still can. It's a good thing you enjoy working on cars because you're going to be working on this one ALL THE TIME. This is the most miserable car I've ever driven, and I've owned some real POS's.

At least you live in Florida so you don't have to deal with the pathetic rust issues.
Click to expand...

Lol, ignore the sour grapes.^

Welcome to M247! It looks like all the major services have already been performed, and what you have left to do isn't bad. The Rad is pretty self-explanatory, and you can do the t-stat while you're working on that. The mirror is I believe simply a matter of removing the sail panel on the inside of the car, unclipping the harness and taking out three bolts. The motor mounts require a bit more work but are manageable, except for the rear, which I would either leave alone or pay someone to do. Check out the how-to section for detailed write-ups and there is a sticky of the factory repair manual on here as well. That will be very helpful. Good luck!
 
MazdaSpeeder said:
Lol, ignore the sour grapes.^

Welcome to M247! It looks like all the major services have already been performed, and what you have left to do isn't bad. The Rad is pretty self-explanatory, and you can do the t-stat while you're working on that. The mirror is I believe simply a matter of removing the sail panel on the inside of the car, unclipping the harness and taking out three bolts. The motor mounts require a bit more work but are manageable, except for the rear, which I would either leave alone or pay someone to do. Check out the how-to section for detailed write-ups and there is a sticky of the factory repair manual on here as well. That will be very helpful. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been on enough forums to know when to ignore some sour grapes. I found the factory repair manual and I downloaded it but I haven't read through it yet. I checked through the How-To's for a write up on the motor mounts but I couldn't find it, any chance you could point me in the right direction? From what I can tell the ones on top will be easy, maybe I didn't look at the bottom one close enough but it just looked like I have to remove a cross member?
 
Welcome to the forum, check the motor mounts for the rumble but also check the front bearings and possibly the Joint shaft bearing.
 
What symptoms will the car give with an EGR valve that is going bad? I want this car to be rock solid for my wife so I don't have a problem spending a few bills getting it in tip-top shape.
 
If you are concerned for your families safety and you have any thought the EGR might be acting up then def do it. I was driving mine on a very tight tricky piece of highway in Boston and the EGR locked open, meaning the engine completely started to buck, kick, and stall. It was pretty dangerous seeing as I didnt have anywhere to roll off the road safely. Luckily it popped free and i drove it home to repair it. This is a rare happening but it DOES happen sometimes.
 
Well I've been busy this morning. I removed the radiator and thermostat. I then went around and slightly loosened all of the motor mount bolts, when the parts come in on Tuesday it should make the process go a lot quicker. Since the radiator it made getting to everything a lot easier.

Question, what is the best place to jack the motor from? I see to points sticking down next to the cross member, I was thinking I could take a 2x4 and divot it to make it fit around the points for more even support.
 
I pulled the EGR valve this morning, the valve was definately sticking, I thought I might be able to loosen everything up but one of the screws broke off in the valve so looks like it's a new EGR valve for me.
I replaced the front door speakers and secured the subwoofer. I am stuck until Tuesday and Wednesday when my parts come in. I am hoping that by next weekend I'll have it all back together, at that point I'll give her a good detail (I have a porter cable polisher on the way, been wanting one for a while and since I have to clean up the old car to sell it was a good excuse).
While under the car yesterday I noticed the bushings on the stabilizer control links were shot so that'll be my next project.
 
Update:
I replaced the lower and drivers side motor mounts this evening, very easy.
I put in the new thermostat, but before I did that I ran water through the motor for about ten minutes until the water came out clear.
I also degreased the engine bay before putting in the new radiator.

Tomorrow night will be:
EGR valve (canadian version)
Passenger side mount
Radiator
Battery and Intake reinstall

I have one question, how much tranny fluid is held in the lower portion of the radiator? Will I have to top off the tranny? If so, does the P5 take anything special?

I am planning on running some of the radiator flush liquid through the motor once I install the new radiator (per the instructions that came with it)
I anticipate that by Thursday I might be getting around to installing the new HD radio, then this weekend I am going to detail it.

The plan is to put this on the road sometime next week so I can take the bumpers off the wife's old car for a respray prior to selling.
 
hay whats up bro, im like 15 min. from you. In altalmonte springs.

I have some parts from a few MSP's i have parted out.

also doing a meet at my shop on the second saturday of each month.

Parts
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...y-headlights-steedspeed-and-more..&highlight=

Meet thread - Its not just a mazda meet and i have something for the s2k. You can swap the ring and pinion gear from a RX8 into your diff for a higher gear ratio. 4.77 which i dont have and 4.34 which i do have
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...ttiMotorWorks-Monthly-Meet-Orlando&highlight=

AutoX trhead
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...turday-of-every-month-Orlando-Area&highlight=
 
Thanks for sharing the info, I will probably go through your parts list tomorrow to see if there is anything I could use. Those seats sure do look nice. I'll have to come by a meet sometime, of course I am slackin pretty bad from the S2ki meets lately.
 
Suggestion - sportauto, get a Hayden Transaver atf cooler for it. 50.00 and your transmission will love you for it. Easy install. Good insurance. Welcome aboard. I pass thru your zone every once in awhile going to my parent's house in Amelia Island from TX. Good luck on the rebuild and it should be reliable car for the wife. These cars won't take much of a beating without mucho $$$$ fortification but if you just drive them they'll hold up. Still pulling 31 mpg out of my 03 sportauto.

Looks like you have most of the achilles heal things covered. Just make sure you are not one of the recall cars for the screws off the VICS butterflies in the intake getting sucked into the motor and/or seeing if the recall has been performed. A lot of us remove the VTCS butterflies from the intake and do slight p&p while red loctiting the screws on the VICS. You need those, VTCS is just noise making flow inhibitor right by head that are used for 30 seconds on cold starts. You live in warmer climate, they are unecessary. You can check your VIN with Mazda to see if recall has been done or not and search here for threads with more info on removal and recall.
 
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