Welcome to the board and to Mazda ownership. Let's start there.
It seems you have a
LOT going on with your car. You've already stated that you are a newb and I will leave it there, because we all were at some point. Two days with my first car and I managed to temporarily screw it up by washing the engine and spraying water on the distributor. An experienced friend passing by saw me freaking out and helped me. After that I had enough confidence to tackle almost every job on that car myself. And so shall you. Let's continue.
You will notice, first and foremost, that when most people post here, they will put new ideas in new paragraphs. That helps us to read what you are saying more clearly and to respond more effectively. That's a skill you will learn to adopt. I will try to comment as best I can, on each point you raise.
So my Mazda 6s 3.0l has about 198k miles I just recently bought it. It leaks oil, a lot! The only work i have done so far is I replaced the spark plugs (but i think I used the wrong ones, I'll post the part number when I locate the box tomorrow) and coil packs because I noticed 2 coil packs had already been replaced by the previous owner and I wanted to do them all
You have the 3.0L V6 which has 6 coil packs. Did you replace all 6? When it comes to spark plugs in modern cars, it is important to buy the correct ones because modern engines are very sensitive to heat range and gap. Iridium plugs, which your engine calls for, come pre-gapped and cannot be gapped using any tool. Buying the correct one for your car eliminates the possibility of this being an issue.
I was driving on the freeway and my serpentine belt shredded halfway width wise but did not break the belt, forgive me for my idiotic decisions but I kept driving even tho I heard it flapping around because the noise eventually went away but after about a half mile the rpm gauge hit zero and the car was still in motion, i could hear the engine but had no power and could not get it to start.
This situation was caused because your alternator was no longer charging the battery and the battery eventually went dead. This would have caused the ECU and the fuel pump to quit working. That means the engine would shut down. A battery dying is not a good thing. Sometimes recharging it will not be enough because cells on the inside might have given up the ghost. At that point it may be strong enough to run the stereo or turn on lights, but might not have the power to run the starter, fuel pump, and the electronics simultaneously. Hence: crank-no-start. If this is the case, then you may very well be able to replace the battery with a new one and the car should be good to go. Technically. You still have the other issues to take care of.
I know one had to do with the o2 sensor not responding or something of that nature and a camshaft position sensor code and a variable valve timing code I'm pretty sure, which probably doesn't really help because I need the exact codes specifically.
The codes might still be present in the memory of the ECU but you would need a higher level scan tool to see them. I'm not sure that ForScan (our favourite, low-cost, 3rd party dealer-level scan tool) can see them, however. I've tried, to no avail. That said, whatever is causing these issues is probably still there. Changing the oxygen sensor is easy and fairly cheap, but will almost never cause you to have a crank-no-start issue. The issue with the camshaft sensor and the VVT issue may be related in some way and might also be an easy and cheap fix. There is a distinct possibility that the driveability issues might be found and solved right here.
I've read other posts that had similar problems, most say the timing chain which is what I'm pretty sure it is, but I've also read something about the EFI fuse or something like that.
The EFI fuse is either in tact or it is blown. There is no in-between or intermittency. If it is blown, then no workey. If it is in tact, then workey. No mystery there.
Also my traction control light is always on as well as my abs light.
This could actually be just a wheel speed (ABS) sensor which is required by the ABS, traction control, and cruise control. This is a cheap fix. You will usually need a higher level scan tool to determine which one(s) is/are bad.
If you are planning to work on this car yourself there are a few things you are going to need.
1. You will need a service manual. There are several ones that can be found online at no charge, or you can find copies of the Mazda service manuals on eBay for cheap enough (I paid $60 for the two volumes I have for my 2013). Don't even waste your time with the Chiltons and Haynes rubbish.
2. The next thing you will need is a good scan tool. I invested less than $100 on getting ForScan and a good OBDII-USB interface device. I could have done it all for less than $50 (there is a free version of ForScan and interface devices can be as cheap as $20 on eBay) but I'm not screwing around here. Those option limit you in what you can see and do. You can start there, of course, and you will probably be able to see as much as you need to see to fix the majority of things, but I've graduated past that stage.
3. You will need good tools. Don't go buying all kinds of things that you don't even know what they are for. Start off with a good set of
METRIC spanners (wrenches). Do not even waste your time with sets that have both metric and standard sizes. The only standard bolt on these cars is the spark plug. Get a set of sockets, again, with metric sizes. Screwdrivers (Phillips and flat), pliers (bird beak, and standard) are also handy to have. A decent floor jack helps too. Harbor Freight sells decent stuff at reasonable prices, as does Walmart. These are starter tools and if you so chose you can always go up to more expensive tools later on.
Okay. That's my $0.02 for now. I hope that helps get your head wrapped around what you are setting yourself up for. Good luck and have fun!
Sounds like we need your help more than you need ours...
