Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance New '95 findings

So I picked up my '95 LX on Saturday, 8 1/2 hours round trip and my truck hardly knew it was towing over 3000 pounds. Not too bad for a Mazda B3000 that's lifted and has no sway bars anymore. That and the entire towing trip was in the rain and at night.

Sunday:

-Installed the new battery.
-Added new oil (old had been drained since May)
-Pulled the fuel pump fuse and turned it over for about 30 seconds. It had no plugs in it since May so there was some water in the cylinders.
-Installed new Bosch Platinum plugs
-dropped it off the trailer and parked it where I am going to work on it.

Problem #1 found. Really bad clunk on every turn of what sounds like the passenger side. Maybe thinking it's brakes since it's sat since May. Brakes and bearings are new. One thing noted before is that the Strut bearings are going. I think that may be it as well.

Tonight (had a client cancel so I decided to go work on my new baby):

-removed the battery
-removed the airbox (I think I keep it off and go CAI)
-removed hoses to get at the water pump and thermostat.
-changed out the temp guage sender (pegged in the car on HOT)
-had to hammer the t-stat housing apart it had corroded together so bad
-had to hammer (gently this time though) the water pump off
-had to remove the tensioner (it was completely siezed, could not move at all)

Problem #2- WP tensioner is siezed. Now I need to find a new one.
Problem #3- WP original (200K km on the clock) black impeller. The pulley can turn without spinning the impeller. Impeller has a nice crack all the way from one edge to the centre. I figureed this was bad so I have a new one.
Problem #4- F'ing Canadian Tire ahs the wrong gasket and t-stat listed for this car. I have to try to find the proper replacement now.

So far it's been an easy fix up.

Hopefully tomorrow will be new WP & gasket, t-stat & gasket,
new tensioner and be able to start a coolant flush and then test the thing.

This is looking up so far.