im sorry you hate the car. Honestly for all the problems people have, and the sheer amount of mods ive had on the car its been super reliable. Probably the most reliable ive ever had.
What have you done to your MSP today?
- Thread starter baconbitz
- Start date
im sorry you hate the car. Honestly for all the problems people have, and the sheer amount of mods ive had on the car its been super reliable. Probably the most reliable ive ever had.
- :
- '13 CWP MS3 & '16 Mazda6 GT
Still love my MSP. It's turning 8 years old and almost 90k miles. I've had it since it had 24 miles on it and it still puts a smile on my face. The amount of "breakdown" $ I've had to put into this car is under $500 if even close to that. So I cant complain.
i just hit 99,972k and i got it with 36miles on it. its been so good to me. and ive had to take 900 mile trips on it many many times. and ive had about every mod on this car you can have save a built motor. (i had one but i hate mam so i wouldnt put it in the car)
- :
- 03.5 YLW MSP
I wish I could say the same to mine but then again I did buy mien used adn modded a little.. I think I've put in clsoe to 6k in fixing everything and I still havea few thigns to fix before I can really dig into the modding.
Edit: Thankfully it has only left me stranded once but that wasnt for very logn and I drove it home... stupid TurboX's BPV literally fell apart on my ass going down the highway.
- :
- '13 CWP MS3 & '16 Mazda6 GT
yeah it seems the people with the biggest reliability issue is those that bought it used and/or modded it beyond what it can handle. Now Im not saying I dont rag on the MSP because I do beat on it. But its never seen over 10lbs of boost.
I recently had the intake off and checked my turbo and it has no shaft play (knock on wood)
It seems as long as you stay under what the MSP was meant to handle you should be good.
I recently had the intake off and checked my turbo and it has no shaft play (knock on wood)
It seems as long as you stay under what the MSP was meant to handle you should be good.
10 psi seems to be a good medium for reliability. thats what i run and thats what i recomend to others once they have the supporting mods. i ran 12psi on the mpi on a 28rs but that scared me lol
my boost gauge read -10 vac at idle on my way to my mom's house. Freaked me out a little but popped the hood and had a loose line. fixed that and back to normalish. Still gotta fix the vac leake at the intake mani.
I bought mine used and slightly modded and haven't really had an issue besides front wheel bearings and the alarm issue thanks to the previous owner not running a fuse on the boost gauge like the instructions clearly state. Everything else has been routine or caused by me.
The 03 rear ground effect or whatever you want to call it isn't going to sag as much as the 03.5 because it has brackets that go to the bottom of it and it's not as flimsy. I've had both and have an 03.5 to go on one day. When I talked to the body shop about it they recomened two or more people to pull it off. One with the heat gun and one or two to pull it off so it comes off nice and easy.
I bought mine used and slightly modded and haven't really had an issue besides front wheel bearings and the alarm issue thanks to the previous owner not running a fuse on the boost gauge like the instructions clearly state. Everything else has been routine or caused by me.
The 03 rear ground effect or whatever you want to call it isn't going to sag as much as the 03.5 because it has brackets that go to the bottom of it and it's not as flimsy. I've had both and have an 03.5 to go on one day. When I talked to the body shop about it they recomened two or more people to pull it off. One with the heat gun and one or two to pull it off so it comes off nice and easy.
Famous last words...
i bought mine with 132k miles on it. it had a turbo timer but it wasnt hooked up all the way. the only issues ive had is the alternator went bad at like 136k, the water pump went out at around 150k miles and my head gasket went out at 203k miles. may have spent $350 on replacement parts. and i just rolled 224500 miles on it
and i beat the hell outta my car
Last edited:
ha. i been in the game long enough to know what the msp can take. I was one of the few who actually spent the time to mod it right. and ive probably helped a few hundred msp'rs. my cars definately not going to blow.
Car is finally back on the ground after installing the new clutch. Got a question though, how does one know if the starter is bad? My car won't start up and it's not the battery. It turns once, then stops, then smoke comes from under the car. I'm thinking it's the starter, but I'm not sure.
Outlawstar98
Member
- :
- 2003 MazdaSpeed Protege / 2013 BRZ
Just sent Monies to Sam for Coilovers 
SpeedAdiction20
Member
- :
- 2003 MAZDASPEED Protege
hmm, thanks for the tips, that actually sounds a lot like what is going on, really really hope it's not the head gasket because the motor was switched in from my old msp into my brother's msp which we bought with a blown motor, and the water pump was replaced then, and he has only probably put like 3-4k miles on it, if that even, and most of the time he could never go into boost because the turbo the previous owner had on there was set stock to 12-15psi, (it was a Isuzu truck turbo..)
but ya I will check all the hoses, there was a super small drip that I noticed last year or so on the coolant line on the bottom of the turbo that I meant to replace but I had bought the wrong piece, but the coolant never leaked before recently and I don't even think it is a leak, I think it's just condensation maybe, because it's not there most of the time, I had also just put little zip ties on the hoses from the coolant overflow tank when I replaced the old one that blew up when the water pump belt went, which was off my old stock one, so maybe it was that?
the only thing that has me worried is that I have noticed that when the car is warmed up, that I do see some bubbles sometimes in the coolant overflow tank.. and it's not like it's a one time deal... so thanks a lot I will give those things a look, I have to make my brother clean his engine bay up so we can see if there really is any leaks from the hoses, all the white coolant marks are still there from... again when the water pump belt went and blew up the coolant overflow tank
go to autozone, they have a scanner tool thing (not the usual scanner, there is one that hooks up to the battery) but anyways they can test the starter and alternator with it too, at least they did it with mine a few weeks ago
SpeedAdiction20
Member
- :
- 2003 MAZDASPEED Protege
and also on topic of used cars a the msp being reliable, the 2 msps that I had/have, were very very reliable, sometimes a little frustrating at times with the little problems that would arise, but nothing really, and a lot of it was usually due to me modding something on it, I bought them around 50k miles on them and both didn't really have any preformance mods, the 1st was bone stock, and the 2nd had the CF hood and coilovers and a cs exhaust and sri.. but that was it..
after working with my brother's msp which he got with 28k miles on it, but with a blown engine and a bunch of mods on there, everything short of forged internals, and most of them slapped on there before the time most mods even came out for the msp (there's a few MAM parts like the fmic and exhaust mani and the downpipes and stuff are custom and so are the cams).. but it has taken a bunch of money and a ton of time to get that thing close to working reliably, and HOPEFULLY, after I figure out this damn coolant leak, everything will be all set.. I can only hope lol, I can see how some people hate the msp, but I love mine
after working with my brother's msp which he got with 28k miles on it, but with a blown engine and a bunch of mods on there, everything short of forged internals, and most of them slapped on there before the time most mods even came out for the msp (there's a few MAM parts like the fmic and exhaust mani and the downpipes and stuff are custom and so are the cams).. but it has taken a bunch of money and a ton of time to get that thing close to working reliably, and HOPEFULLY, after I figure out this damn coolant leak, everything will be all set.. I can only hope lol, I can see how some people hate the msp, but I love mine
SeR_Cyclops
Member
- :
- Mazdaspeed Protege
Trans is back together. Gonna put it to gether tomorrow. Im glad to have the slowtege back on the pavement.
littlemimus
fear the mighty sandvich!
- :
- Mazdaspeed protege 2003
Just sent Monies to Sam for Coilovers
nice which ones did u order? im itching to try the fortune coilivers
bikingpro5
Member
- :
- 03 Protege5
Just sent Monies to Sam for Coilovers
Nice..
SeR_Cyclops
Member
- :
- Mazdaspeed Protege
Well I got the trans in today. I figured I would show you all some pics of the Diff. I am actually really happy with the quality of it.
I took the diff and put in in a lathe since it was broke in half and turned the heads off of the ring gear and then I also took the welds off since I had it welded before.
Then When we were pressing the bearings on I let the diff go in the freezer over night and put the bearings in the sun. I think it made it really easy. Then went on really smooth and pushed to the bottom super easy.
Here it is all put together. This is the Glamor shot! haha.
And here it is in the case.
I took the diff and put in in a lathe since it was broke in half and turned the heads off of the ring gear and then I also took the welds off since I had it welded before.
Then When we were pressing the bearings on I let the diff go in the freezer over night and put the bearings in the sun. I think it made it really easy. Then went on really smooth and pushed to the bottom super easy.
Here it is all put together. This is the Glamor shot! haha.
And here it is in the case.
- :
- 03.5 YLW MSP
Count me in on the Mfactory diff as well... Yes you can still move the car if the diff is broken people!
