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My first Mazda

507 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  DrFeelGood 
#1 ·
Just picked up my first every Mazda a couple of days ago and so far im in love with this car. It's a 2003 Mazda 6 S with 189K miles and I got it for only $1600. The only issues that it has seem relatively minor. The previous owner told me that the check engine light comes on when you fill it but goes back off when it gets around half tank, there is a really small oil leak, it needs new brake pads, the remote doesn't work, and there is a light occasional thunk noise coming from the driver front wheel when driving. Since I got it the only other issue I've had is the code reader from OReilly's not able to connect to the car. It drives great though and is a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be at first(used to driving pickups)
 
#5 ·
Great looking car! You don't see to many non-sport cars with the appearance package (air dam, sport grill, side diffusers, rear diffuser).
1st, if it's an auto change the trans fluid.
2nd if you feel any hesitation at all when accelerating change the spark plugs and coils.
The clunk up front is torn suspension bushings (usually the lower ones)
The oil leak is likely the timing cover or rocker cover
The CEL for fuel is likely a bad gas cap (needs OEM replacement, others wont work)

These are just guesses at this point. An engine code would really help out the fuel issue. With a beast this age I would invest in an OBD reader. I have one that uses bluetooth to communicate with my phone and I keep it in the glove box.
 
#4 ·
Welcome to the forum!

Man, that makes me miss my 1st gen - those things are a blast. I forget if there's a TSB about the fuel causing a CEL or not, but @DJ Raydiate or @DrFeelGood might know better than I do.

How do you know there's a leak? Have you seen it coming from somewhere? If not, and it's just consuming oil, depending on how much it could be perfectly normal for an aging engine.

The thunk noise up front is likely a bearing or worn strut if you're hearing it when hitting divots or potholes. You can check if the strut is leaking at all to see if it's on its way out, and you can check a bearing by getting the tire off the ground, grabbing it with two hands on opposing sides, and trying to jiggle it - if there's movement in any direction except rotating, it's a bearing.
 
#7 ·
So the biggest reason why I know that it's leaking oil is because you can smell a slight burnt sent until you've driven around for a little bit and the other day when I drove it over to the car wash to wash it before I start spraying anything I could see a little bit of smoke coming out from the passenger side wheel well. I was planning on doing the brakes anyways so I will probably check the struts when I've got the wheel off for the brake pads
 
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