Got my own MX-3... with problems.

[jkbreazeale]

Ha! I'm not lazy, I'm just not a double jointed in the hands and arms .

[Ryan]

The sludgey/oily plug could be anything from valve seals to HG. Does it smoke when you first start it up in the morning? Or is it on the outside of the engine? Then its VC gasket like wyt said.

Cure for the seatbelt thing is to wear your seatbelt.

If you did plug and wires, cap and rotor are only like 30 bucks together, and all you need is a phillips/7mm (I think 7, around there) The replacements I bought were actually better quality than OEM.


Ha, I know what you mean by double jointed. I tried installing a block heater on my BP on my brothers driveway (where it crapped it out and dumped 4L of coolant all over the exhaust...) It was rediculous to get to, it makes me mad even thinking about it Took 3 or 4 hours and litre of beer

[jkbreazeale]

It smokes but it is just white/gray, typical for first start up. I wear the seat belt, she wears the other seat belt... it still goes off... it's possessed. I think I will look into that sensor underneath the seat.

[jkbreazeale]

Ok... I know that the distributor cap is where the wires plug into from the engine, but what is the rotor?

[Ryan]

If you take off the cap(two teeny little bolts), you're looking at the rotor. Its pretty self explanitory. It pops off if you pull on it. Remember the orietation when you take it off, because if you put on 180º out, then your engine will run in reverse.


Just kidding, but do remember the orientation.

[jkbreazeale]

Ok... this car is drinking some oil... it looks like it may be coming from a bad drain plug or a oil filter where the old gasket wasn't properly scraped off... however. Last night while my wife was driving behind me she said that she noticed that the car has white smoke coming out of it (well after warmup) until I shift into second gear. Is this a concern or may this be :gulp: a blown head gasket?

[jkbreazeale]

Ok. So I got under the car and checked the oil drain plug and it was tight, through futher investigation, it looks like the oil pan is leaking where it bolts up to the bottom of the block, so I guess I am going to need to replace the gasket for that... how hard is that going to be?

[Ryan]

Oily. You need front and rear seals, the rest is just gasket material. It comes in a caulking tube. If you're keeping the car/motor, replace the rod bearings while you're at it. The bearings aren't too espensive. $30-50? Make sure all of the gasket surfaces are clean, and you torque the rods to spec. Maybe locktite too?


It will be fun on a driveway, I can't imagine doing it without a hoist. I'm spoiled

The smoke should only be a worry if its blue, I think. Some smoke is normal, it is combustion afterall. If you really want, you could do a compression/leakdown test to see where your rings/valves are.

[jkbreazeale]

Well Ryan, you were right. When it was all said and done, the camshaft seal was bad, as well as the crankshaft seal. Also went ahead and replaced the over saturated timing belt. Parts were cheap, 62.00 labor sucked. Wholesale discount total 299.56. Still probably need to replace a valve cover gasket though.

[Ryan]

Tha cam seal was leaking? I've never had experience with that. I'll add it to my mental database

Gently spray the motor down with a bit for brake cleaner(comes in rattlecan) and wipe off the leaked oil, this way you want watch and see if its continuing to leak.

VC gasket is easy peasy man. Remove VC, remove old gasket, insert new, and pop it back on. Don't overtighten. Just enough to squeeze the gasket a bit. Shouldn't be more than $30 from autoparts store.

[SuperK]

Where do you live? Maybe you can source some help locally.

I've had to remove the head and re-ring the engine while in a parking lot.

It's not hard to do the labor on these cars.

Honestly, your camshaft and crankshaft seal replacement should have costed you no more than 20 dollars and a couple hours of your time.

I did it, I know. Head gasket is also easy to replace.

[jkbreazeale]

I live in Wilmington, NC. Yeah parts were pretty cheap, cheaper than my wife's 95. I'm sure I could have figured it out, the online manual was for a 95 like hers but mine is a 93 with b6-me not b6-de. I'll give the brake cleaner a shot. Valve Cover gaskets are pretty easy, it can't be any harder than the one I replaced in my 04 forenza... that thing had more curves and turns and snags... just thinking about it makes me wanna have a drink

[asimpson719]

i have the same problem with the seat belt dinging

under the center consol where the seat belt spool is you can adjust it.

i think i found a good article on this searching google but i cant find it now.

[jkbreazeale]

I did what was suggested on the main page. The box underneath the driver seat... removed those three pins and voila, no more beeping. Filled the tank up today... got 27.5 mpg. That's pretty good for this car right?

[SuperK]

Might want to time your ignition. 27.5 is pretty low for a SOHC. It might be standard on stop-and-go traffic, but I would think you should get better than that.