Fellow Albertans: help me source out some parts please!

[Chiggles]

So I've been trying to pick up various parts here and there to replace things purely for maintenance reasons due to the fact that prior to the 8 months I've owned my MX-3 so far, I don't know when any of the other parts were last replaced so I'm just trying to take care of my ride as best as possible. The following are items that I haven't been able to find at a store locally so far. I've been to Canadian Tire, Partsource, and Napa, and none of them had any of these, not even a listing in their inventories, so where do I go to get these parts now???

- NGK plug wires (found the spark plugs just fine and picked up the NGK platinums, but can't seem to find their wires anywhere)

- Royal Purple ATX fluid

- fuel filter (Napa DID quote me about $37 for it - it's just that I had to their location on the other end of the city to pick it up, but still, doesn't $37 seem a little high for a fuel filter?? Does anyone know of a cheaper fuel filter than that or am I just gonna have to eat the Napa one?)

- water pump
- O2 sensors

With respect to the O2 sensors, I didn't realize those would be so damn expensive either. Before I follow through and decide to replace these, how do I know it's time to replace them? I mean, I don't blow any smoke as far as I know, my CEL is clear of any codes.... the only symptom I can think of would be a bit of rough idle that I'm having when stopped at lights or when I give the car a "warm start" - as in, I've ran the car for at least 10 minutes of driving, got to where I was going, parked and shut it off for anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour, go back and start it up again and it kinda has a soft startup..... it cranks and all, just seems like it's a bit of a slow crawl to get ignited, then idles at less than 1000RPMs. Mind you I only have this on "warm starts" as I said, and especially lately just cuz the weather's warmer. On the first start of the day, or simply if I've just left the car parked and off for more than 4 hours, I don't get any of those symptoms, nor have I ever experienced any of it while I was driving it through the winter. So clearly, it's a temperature related issue. But how do I know if this has anything to do with O2 sensors? For all I know, it could just be old plugs, which I intend to replace soon anyways. My point with this is, does it sound like I need new O2 sensors? If not, is it worth the $200+ to replace them just to improve my fuel economy??

Anyway, getting back on track there, where can I find these parts in Edmonton and/or Calgary?? Or am I gonna HAVE to go online for those things if I don't want to pay dealership to get them for me? Thanks in advance!!!

[rece]

for the o2 sensors you will get a check engine light. they really dont need to be replaced till then from my experiences. for preventative if you feel so ambitious you could take them out and carefully clean them with a alcohol based cleaner, but i always say if it aint broke dont fix it... and some times even if it is.

[Darcy]

I just had my water pump / Tbelt redone on my RS before I smashed it, so if you can get it off, it's yours. I don't have an engine hoist, so I don't know how easy it is to come off.

[Chiggles]

Thanks Darcy, but I don't know how easy it would come off either. Found those first 3 items on the list, but l looks like I'll have to go to dealership for the rest otherwise.

[Rick Johnson]

This is all V6 stuff were talking about right?

Ngk spark plug wires - I got mine at Canadian tire 2 years back it was the cheapest I could find for $90 or so.

Water pump - I just replaced mine, $85 at Autovalue - cheapest by far

02 sensors - disconnect your battery to reset ecu, drive for a while then check your codes. I wouldn't bother replacing these unless your are getting consistent O2 inversion errors because they are pricey.

Plugs - Napa is the cheapest from what I've found and has the best selection of NGK's, I'm not sure how good those platinums are most probe mx-6 guys say the good old v-grooves work the best....thats what I run

Fuel filter - Ugh these are the most annoying price wise, you basically have to use the MX3 filter unless you want to make a new bracket and change the hoses, for your average off the shelf non brand name made in china garbage they are about $37. That pissed me off so I got the OEM one, which I payed $44 for.... But it wasn't even OEM from MAZDA it was some stupid made in isreal crap which looks sub par quality wise compared to my stock OEM one.

[Chiggles]

Yeah, Rick, it's all for a V6.

Crappy Tire USED to stock them, now they have to special order outside of their usual distributors for them. I bit the nail and bought mine from dealership.... you don't want to know how much.

Water pump @ Autovalue. Thanks for the tip! It would figure though. Not a single Autovalue up here in Deadmonton. Closest one is in Red Deer, but I'm coming back home next week for a week, so I'll try finding one at the Sunridge location.

O2 sensors. Yeah, I'm starting to think about leaving them for now. Between all the other work I've got lined up, don't think I can afford those bad boys just yet.

Fuel filter - I haven't had a look at the stock OEM one, but the replacement I got from Napa (ate that $37 too, bah) looks to be really similar in shape and dimensions based on a illustrative comparison from the on-line manual. Guess we'll see.

[Rick Johnson]

Hmmm NGK wires at the stealership, They quoted me $145 or so a couple years back.

If your looking at doing the timing belt sometime I can get you the OEM one for $85.99 + tax

[Chiggles]

Thanks Rick, but the guy doing the work for me informed me that all 3 idlers around that assembly look like they need attention or WILL need attention sooner or later, so I exchanged the belt for the belt kit to get all the idlers, bearings, the belt itself, etc.