After 5 years with only a handful of starts, and an equal amount of short drives, my FB withstood the elements for 8 months, out in an open parking lot before I garaged her for about 4 years. . .it remained dormant for that long. . .clear coat finish began to flake off, the interior plastic trim has faded, some plastic parts have brittled (mainly in the rear hatch area) and the brake rotors have a nice layer of rust up against the pads! Haven't checked yet but I'm sure the drums are probably just as bad.
And so begins my adventure of bringing my RX back from a coma! Before I get her started, I changed out the plugs, oil, oil filter, and air filter. I checked for frozen rotors and it appears that I do not have that problem (great!). The compression (just listening as I manually turned the engine) appeared to be strong. Bought a new battery, but haven't connected it yet.
That's all the time I had for today. Need to check the fuel pump because I believe this is what went out on me prior to storing her. More to come as I go through this adventure and will update with pics as time allows.

 

Welcome! I was told that my 7 had sat for a few years before I bought it due to a clutch issue. Turned out it was just a master cylinder issue and it runs great. Welcome and good luck with the project, I'll check in now and again!

 

you may want to look into draining the tank and also changing the fuel filter. worst case, remove the tank and check for carmelized gas that will plug the pickup and filter.

 

Aarrgh!!! More work. . .longer delay. . .but I guess you are right. I've never dropped the tank for anything and for a 26 year old car, I guess it's the right thing to do.

"Tanks" alot friend.

 

and probably change coolant too so you can sleep better at night

 

You're right. . .THAT would make me sleep better!

 

Funny how time escapes you. . .so I didn’t get started as originally planned. . .as in back in 2012! So I finally got to pulling the tank down after draining some nasty smelling, nicely dark-caramelized old gas. . .about 5 gals worth! Fearing the worst because when I looked inside the gas fill tube and noted a rusty flapper valve that didn’t snap back when I pushed it in. . .I thought “Crap! Now I really have a heck of a job ahead of me”. Here’s some pics. . . since I like pics when I read others threads. . .as the saying goes about pics and a thousand words!

There's looking inside the tank. . . as well as how much the pickup and sending units have collected a bit o' rust!

 

Did someone pour molasses in your tank? Seems to be going around.

 

Hey you stole my car lol. Nice same color as mine but the paint is in better shape then mine

 

I didnt know mazda used clear coat til some of the s5 colors.

 

Looking for pancakes. . .haha! You would've thought it was bad, but I was able to easily scrub the junk with just a rag. . .so it tells me that it I'm in good shape once I get some POR 15 up in there. I was surprised to see the rust flake off the sender unit too. . .may be ok since I've never had any problems with it in the past. . .but I doubt it's reliability since it's most likely the original and now with it having been rusted up.

 

I've always liked the brown color. . .never gave it a thought to change it even after a severe thunderstorm dropped some serious hail and the insurance paid in full for complete damage repair + paint! Cool to know another with the same color style!

 

Well, I can only assume that what I have flaking is the clear coat since it's an opaque (not brown) color. My other assumption is that when I had it repainted due to hail damage back in 1989, the shop used a clear coat finish as part of the repair. I'd have to look back at the receipts. . .if I even have it!

 

Anyone know what the strainer on the pick-up tube is categorized under when it comes to finding a replacement? I've done a google search for the darn thing and I can't pinpoint it! The closest identifier is the part number. . .42113.

 

You'll have to go to the parts store and look through what they have, pick one that looks right. It'll be a sock, not like the original strainer.

 

Crap!
Thx tho!

Anyone have a good fix with similar issue?