Oil leaks and bad clutch

[adrianblack]

Hey guys ... My 2001 blue MP3 only has 20k miles on it. I have a motorcycle so I don't use the car that often. (And on top of that my work is only 2 miles each way.)

Anyway, over the last five thousand miles the clutch has developed a shudder. It only does it when the car is totally warmed up and hot like when driving in stop and go traffic. It really sucks, especially for a car with only 20k miles on it. It does not shudder at all when the engine is cold -- in fact on my way to work though light morning traffic the car was fine....

I saw posts once about a few people having problems on their MP3 with this, but I wondered how widespread it was and if there is actually a fix?

I have a new Exedy clutch kit sitting here and I am going to find a place to install it. (It's just the stock OEM replacement)........


ALSO, my car has an oil leak. It's nothing serious but I get a drip or two under my car when it's parked. Even after 6 months the oil level doesn't drop on the dipstick.

I switched to Mobil-1 after the second oil change on the car. (I've owned it since new.) At first there was a little bit of oil on the pan -- just a light coat mixed with dirt. But after about 10k miles I started noticing a drip under the car where I park.

I just changed the oil this past weekend with fresh 5W30 and a Mobil-1 filter -- and I degresed the underside of the engine. I will keep an eye on it to see if I can spot where it's coming from.

It almost looks like its coming from the oil pan seal -- but it's hard to see. It could be the front and/or rear seal and even the cam seals.

What a pain! The car is practically brand new and yet has these problems.

Of course I had the clunk and had that fixed under warranty before it expired back in 2004. It's coming back but it's still not terrible.

I had to replace the primary O2 sensor about 1 year ago. Heater died on it.

Otherwise the car is good. The interior squeaks and rattles a little more than it used to, but nothing serious....

I have Karboy shifter bushings and Injen Cold air on the car too.

----

The oil leak and clutch problem really pisses me off, though.

 

[TheMAN]

dude! I thought I'd never hear from you again! I thought you sold your MP3 and moved on to something else!

anyway, you should just get the exedy performance clutch instead of just the stock replacement... it's way more drivable... the clutch chattering is known to be an issue with the 01-02 cars... just something "bad" about the clutch material... I'd recommend getting a new flywheel also.... yeah, my pro has 71k on it and it's been doing this same s*** since 30k... it's now worse than before of course because I've been *driving* the car I don't care really anyhow because I'm going to put in an exedy eventually

 

[adrianblack]

Yeah, it's been ages since I checked out this forum but the clutch problem has caused me to come back.

I thought about a lighter flywheel as people suggested here but I'm already pissed at having to spend any money to fix the clutch... (which I shouldn't have to fix)

I'm actually ok with the drivability of the car if the clutch didn't shudder and chatter which is why I bought the stock type Exedy. I've taken this car to the track a few times and it all seems to work quite well there. It's just when my agrevation levels are highest (in traffic) the car starts to really bug me with the shudder.

(I had a poly-u front engine mount from the SCCA cars but went back to stock because the vibration at idle annoyed me --- I loved the shift action with poly-u but I'm almost always stuck in the traffic.)

AND now this damn oil slick under the engine. I know it's no big deal but I just don't like it. If my 200k miles Corolla didn't leak with Mobil-1 then this car shouldn't.

 

[AznXstazy]

i heard the chatter and stuff was the flywheels problem... i remember reading about it somewhere... between 01-03 or something the flywheel has a warpage or something? if i find the thread ill post.

 

[adrianblack]

(rant) Damn. I googled a little and I found a few people talking about this. It can't be fixed by machining the flywheel? This makes me so mad. My faith in Mazda is so shaken. How much do OEM type flywheels cost?

I'm going to take my 3x more mileage, raced and driven hard Honda motorcycle to work which works perfectly and hasn't had problems like this.

 

[TheMAN]

a bad clutch just ***** up the flywheel, it's no rocket science that it happens

you can get an OEM "light weight" flywheel off the japanese MP3 if you want.... it's relatively cheap compared to an aftermarket one and it'll be better than a stock one... it's only a bit lighter than stock though

anyway, this was a known issue and mazda did have a warranty fix for it but now that our cars are out of warranty, we have to pay to fix it

if you're looking for all the old school guys from the protegetech days, you should go to imazda.com