Shasta

Drove my car to a local mini car show and look what I got to see up and close. The car show was put on by the install shop that installed my alarm system to showcase their work and this badboy was there, pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi8ajtW2UJc

amsgator

i know most of those from aim, but what about car stuff. like wot and bov (i know them but there are others i am sure)

J-Protege

No, seriously, all of the car ones, are in the Glossary:

https://www.mazda3club.com/off-topic-8/glossary-42780/

amsgator

i didnt know we had a glossary. sorry thx

steve_protege

Not so much what I did to my 3rd Gen today, but what I had done to my 3rd Gen today....

Well, I had my 3rd Gen broken into and my headunit stolen. Looks like they stole XM satellite (sp?) brain as well.... Busted in thru my driver's side passanger window. My car was the second car this person hit that week. The first (that I know of) was a Dodge Neon SRT4.

On another note, I have a faulty EGR valve, a slipping timing belt and a CEL. Plus some overdue maintainence work (new plugs, wires, oil change, tires) etc....

Thats the gist of it all......

J-Protege

No need to apologize, just wanted to point it out

And about the HU, that really sucks dude. Is it worth going to insurance about? I know mine would be...

_Kansei_

Slipping timing belt? How many miles on the belt, and how did you know? crank position sensor CEL?

Having overdue maintenance is NEVER fun. at least your stuff is simple (aside from the timing belt which admittedly is NOT fun to install)

here's my list of overdue maintenance:
- air filter.. I've needed a new one since the accident, anyone who has seen it knows why.. it looks like it got in a fistfight with a bunch of sheetmetal because it kinda did
- water pump - yeah you're supposed to do it when you change your timing belt, but I wasn't aware or didn't remember at the time.. so now less than 10k miles since changing the timing belt I'll have to change it again. At least this time it should be a breeze because I can just do the method where you cut your timing belt halfway off, slip the new one on, then cut the rest of the old one off. Plus I don't think changing the water pump will be fun.. the clearance between the engine and the chassis sucks so much on that side.
- oil change.. it's been *gasp* I think 3800 miles since I changed. I haven't changed again because I have to order new Mazda filters and another ridiculously pricey case of oil.. I think I might just start using amsoil full synthetic, it's actually a couple dollars cheaper per quart.
- PCV valve or something.. my car wastes oil like crazy, I've added 4 full quarts since the last time I changed, two of which were Shell non-synthetic (omg I'm going to hell) because no gas stations have synthetic and I was ~500 miles from home.. still don't know why or where the oil is going, but I suspect it's a PCV thing. I need to put a catch can in so I can monitor how much goes out the PCV and compare that to how much I'm adding. -- thank god for the oil pressure gauge though, I wouldn't know I was low on oil until it was too late otherwise. The low oil light only comes on if the pressure is below ~10psi, which is far too low for my turbo to be very happy.

Once I get paid I'll get around to ordering stuff.. I haven't gotten paid since May 15th w00t.

aMaff

yeah, I'm kind of curious about how exactly a timing belt slips, and the car still runs...

_Kansei_

it doesn't. CEL and engine shuts off immediately. It happened to Mark on the way to Lime Rock during the memorial day race weekend. His car shut down and luckily he had a code reader and it threw a code about the crank position sensor.

I think his belt just.. stretched or something though, because the car ran fine after clearing the code and starting it back up.. he just didn't really romp on it again.

aMaff

that still doesn't make any sense...

How can they 'stretch' or slip without skipping a tooth on the cams? And there's a noticeable difference being 1 tooth off. Ask me how I know...

_Kansei_

^^ I'm pretty sure I know how you know, it's probably the same way I personally know.

perhaps the crank position sensor CEL was for somethin else, I dunno. I'm no ASE mechanic, I'm an IT guy lol. that's just the reasoning we came up with on the scene

aMaff

I see where you're coming from, but timing belts (assuming they're not in terrible shape) don't have anywhere to slip, as the crank and cam gears are all just that, gears with cogs. And as for stretching, that's why there's a tensioner (assuming it was working right).

amsgator

how can u tell if it's one (or more) teeth off? i wouldnt know

well...i am in the process of hacking my wheel locks off since the key cracked in half. two down one to go. i gotta go buy two more sockets though. they are like 2.69 a piece. and pep boys wanted 20 dollars A WHEEL to take them off. wtf? ghetto rig time

_Kansei_

Well I definitely don't see the tensioner working as good as new when over 100k miles, so .. yeah

Wait.. stock wheel locks? You know if you crack the key you can call McGard directly (or the mazda stealership if you choose) and get a new key in the mail quickly?

amsgator

well i got all but one off. how much is the new key?

the last one is a pain. i am gonna try one more time and then i am throwing in the towel. i called mazda and left a message and they never called me back