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

[jkbreazeale]

Hello all, Thanks for the help on my previous postings for my wife's 95 mx-3.

Purchased a 93 MX-3 with B6-ME mated to 5 speed tranny. Changed plugs and wires today... plugs all had a good amount of oil on them. There was some kind of sludge on the second one to the driver side. Engine bay is pretty nasty, gonna spray that off and try to find a leak. So my problems are...


This beeping thing that sounds like "Oh you better put your seatbelt on" noise that comes on every 2 minutes.
Oil in the plug chambers
Occasional jumping of water temp gauge.
The window is really hard to crank up. Goes down easily. (Track issue?)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Keith

[wytbishop]

The beeping of the seatbelt warning, I would guess to be a pure electrical problem. Unplug the circuit under the seat.

Oil in the plug holes is likely a leaking valve cover gasket. Fairly inexpensive fix.

Occasional jumping of water temp gauge is tricky. Could be a bad sensor. Could be a bad gauge. Could be a ground fault in the circuit somewhere. Try installing a new sensor otherwise it's tracing electrical again.

The windows going up slowly is common for any older car. The electric motors just get tired over the years. You could disassemble the door and grease things up and that'll help. Use white lithium grease in the tracks. You can get it in spray cans so it's easy to apply very accurately.

Good luck with your new car.

[Ryan]

The temperature guage on the B6 is controlled by a little single wire sensor on the front of the block on the disty side. I think its a 12mm to get off, but you either need a tall socket or a wrench.

[jkbreazeale]

The windows are the manual crank type though. Yeah, if they were electric windows, then I would definitely expect problems... but these crank down real easy but you have to use two arms when it gets past the middle. Supposedly the car has never been in a wreck. I will investigate the thermostat with the thoughts that were provided for me, thanks for that and I will be attacking the irritating beep today.

Thanks,

Keith

[jkbreazeale]

Also, after changing the plugs and wires (which looked really bad btw) I have noticed that the car is ticking louder than ever, sounds like it is coming from the valve cover or injector area. While the car warms up, the oil light will flicker on and off. The ticking does not stop regardless and can be heard at all speeds. Is this a sign that the oil pump is not sending enough oil to the top side of the motor? Or is this a problem with the HLAs that I am hearing about all over the forum?

[Ryan]

How's the oil level? If its good, the only way its monitored is by the oil pressure switch which is another one wire sensor on the back of the block, on the drivers side of the oil filter. $15 replace. Its a big wrench to get it off, don't know it off hand.

The HLA's (lifters) tick normally when cold in these engines, to many different degrees.

[jkbreazeale]

It is really hard to say with the oil level, I will probably change the oil anyways because the previous owner was cheap. The air filter has a date of 04/96 Fram on it... this is going to be a long project I forsee... From looking into the motor via oil cap the engine has a golden color to it and has some grit in the corner (probably from the 10+ year old air filter)

[Ryan]

What do you mean its hard to say with the oil? Use the dipstick.... if its between the marks/in the knurled region, its good. The difference between high and low is about 1 qt IIRC

light gold is good.

The grit in the corner could simply be from dirty engine. It doesn't make sense that any gravel let in via air would make it up to the oil cap. Both the GF's civic and mothers sentra have massive ammounts of gravel over the valvecovers/around the oil cap. Not sure how they do it.

[jkbreazeale]

Well, the dipstick looks like it is good but it doesnt seem to be getting enough oil on it, maybe it is just me, but I think I will still change it simply because the air filter scared me

[jkbreazeale]

oh and the dirt/gravel was inside the motor where you peer into the oil cap. Sorry

[Ryan]

Yeah change it regardless. Oil filter too, fuel filter is a good idea as well. I need to do that one next.

What I mean with oil around the cap is when people re-fill the oil they knock it down there.

[jkbreazeale]

Oh ok, is the fuel filter on these cars inline with the fuel lines or are these gonna be in the tank. Sorry I was involved in an accident three days ago. A lady decided to park her Cheerokee into the back of my Forenza... so I havent checked anything on it except for the easy stuff.

Thanks for your help,

Keith

[Ryan]

No problem, I don't mind answering questions this morning


We've got two filters, one is in tank (access from back seat) but don't change that, its kinda like a pre-filter. The filter you'd want to change is on the firewall. Trace a fuel hose down to it. I guess thats simplest.


Does your window jump/grind when you crank it that hard? You can still lube the rails, it should help a lot. Use a grease, not anything in a rattlecan.

[jkbreazeale]

Oh god.... it is like the Mercury Tracer Trio I had... (1.9 Liter) It is on the back side of the block underneath the brake fluid resevoir... that's gonna be fun.

[Ryan]

Its not 100% nesc. If you're lazy, just leave it... but its a good idea. People have had noticable benefits from changing it. If you could get it up on a hoist it would be 100x easier.

Tracer LTS (and maybe others?) has the same bay as us.