MX-3.com

I swear to god I've replaced more stuff on my MX3 in the last 3 months than I have on all my other cars combined in the last decade. Am I ever going to be done? So far: distributor, cap, rotor, water pump, thermostat, timing belt idler pulleys, timing belt tension pulley, timing belt, spark plugs, oxygen sensors.

What else could go wrong? Right? Well this week, I get this nasty metal rubbing metal sound that gets worse as I rev. Turns out I needed to replace the bearings in my accessory tension pulleys. They were only $5 a pop, but still annoying since I still have lots of other stuff to do with my stereo install, and I still have an alarm I have to figure out how to install, not to mention I have to prep the body for a paint job. It's driving me nuts I have to keep delaying the stereo and paint work to do yet another repair under the hood.

Its an mx-3, they are notorious for breaking down and being damn expensive to repair.

look dude, if you dont know what youre talking about dont post, mx3s are very reliable, mine is, theyre as reliable as hondas. Its just with age you will have to replace parts on any car, domestic/foreign, honda mazda ford etc. You want cat that has been maintained properly not some kid drove it abusing it

How many km's are on your car?
Usually at higer milages the things u mentioned are needed to be replaced. Them main problem is that mx-3's have some unusual parts that need replacing, whereas on most cars those parts rarely fail. also parts are expensive for the V6 and labour is a killer. I see where u r coming from. Hopefully u will have no more repairs.

The most unreliable aspect of the MX3 is the worthless distributor design.

I'm going to write a how-to on how to bypass your stock ignitor (what always fails) and to wire up an external ignition coil. I already have all my parts, I'm just waiting for time to install it all (maybe this weekend).

I'm on my 4th distributor in 7 months! The POS ignitor went out 2 times and the coil was starting to mis-fire on my last one, so I finally got another one this past week. I'm sick of this crap and am going to fix this problem once and for all.

Geesh man. I think you are the only one with this problem. You should get some help for that.

No, really, that sucks, Distributors are mega $$$!!!

Well from MY experience(which is obivously different from everyone else's, sorry bout that) is that it is quite expensive to maintain this car. Spark plugs, wires, distributer cap, air filter(k&N) cost me around 400 bucks... too me thats expensive.. then again i dont have alot of money... But anyway just my opinion.

Well from MY experience(which is obivously different from everyone else's, sorry bout that) is that it is quite expensive to maintain this car. Spark plugs, wires, distributer cap, air filter(k&N) cost me around 400 bucks... too me thats expensive.. then again i dont have alot of money... But anyway just my opinion.

Thats an import for ya.

There's no way those simple and cheap things would run a $400 tab in US or canadian funds. The only item there that is expensive are the wires and you can save yourself about half the wire price by going with 626 wires. You should have spent no more than 150 canadian to get all that done.

Originally posted by Gro Harlem:
The most unreliable aspect of the MX3 is the worthless distributor design.
...I'm on my 4th distributor in 7 months! The POS ignitor went out 2 times and the coil was starting to mis-fire on my last one, so I finally got another one this past week. I'm sick of this crap and am going to fix this problem once and for all.

My MX-3 had 67,000 miles when I got it; it now has 90,000. Nothing has gone wrong (yet). I think the newer distributors from Mazda overcame the design problems of the old ones. I could be wrong about this, but I think you must have bought remanufactured distributors of the old design. If you buy a new one from Mazda for a '95 MX-3, I reckon your problems will be over.

<small>[ April 08, 2004, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: IanL ]</small>

I've had my car for 3-4 years...'93 GS non-shift assisted. From 84k-112k (miles) and I drive her hard. The only thing I've had to deal with are the Disty of course, as Harlem said, o2/Coolant sensors, CVs, & Rack and Pinon. That's not bad for the 30k I've driver nearly the 100k mark. I do need to put on some new valve cover gaskets too; now that I remember.

my car has been super reliable, has never let me down,stranded or anything since I boought her at 325,000km. I have not spent anything on the engine in two years except a radiator cap and power steering belt.

You guys have been lucky. I've had my car for 4 years, from 87k to 137k miles. I got it when i was 17 so of course i drove her hard. I've had the following problems:

-leaky valve cover gaskets
-failed distributor TWICE
-seized idler pulley bearings (snapped the alt. belt, left me stranded)
-clogged catalytic converter (failed emissions)
-alternator failure (left me stranded)
-coolant leak
-ac coolant leak, so i have no ac
-broken spark plug wire

I still have to replace the fuel filter, clutch, and o2 sensors too. There might be more i'm forgetting, but thats all i can think of for now.

Originally posted by IanL:

Originally posted by Gro Harlem:
The most unreliable aspect of the MX3 is the worthless distributor design.
...I'm on my 4th distributor in 7 months! The POS ignitor went out 2 times and the coil was starting to mis-fire on my last one, so I finally got another one this past week. I'm sick of this crap and am going to fix this problem once and for all.

My MX-3 had 67,000 miles when I got it; it now has 90,000. Nothing has gone wrong (yet). I think the newer distributors from Mazda overcame the design problems of the old ones. I could be wrong about this, but I think you must have bought remanufactured distributors of the old design. If you buy a new one from Mazda for a '95 MX-3, I reckon your problems will be over.

The 92-94 Distributors interchange and are basically identical.

The 95-97's won't work with our car and still have the gay ignitor problem.

the main problem with my car is the fact I have a KLZE which apparently runs hotter than the K8. I've read a million other posts on probetalk about failing ignitors so if I want to feel at ease with my car's reliability, i must do this swap.

Originally posted by Gro Harlem:

The 92-94 Distributors interchange and are basically identical.

The 95-97's won't work with our car and still have the gay ignitor problem.

I thought they would work if you just inverted two wires on one of the harnesses?