Lupercal_CATS

I am in the process of buying a FD in PA ( I am in Texas) and I had the car inspected by SGS. They noted a few things that concerned me and I have e-mailed the seller asking about them but I wanted to run it by the community to see if they are normal problems or if they can be easily and fairly cheapily fixed.

The one that concerns me most is that it said the underside of the engine was covered in oil. Any information about what could be cauing that would be helpful.

The right inside doorhandle was missing. How expensive is this to replace?

The ABS light was staying on. Is this a big problem?

They were pretty through except that they listed it as being a 4 cyl and non turbo.

Thanks for your help!

Silverstone

First of all, don't make the same mistake I did. Find the the best local Rotary specialists in town and take it to them. Most mechanics don't know sh*t about FDs, not even the Mazda dealers themselves with very few exceptions. I took mine to the Dealer in Roseville CA thinking they might know something. They missed so many things and expensive things. There was a $1000 coolant leak they missed and they improperly diagnosed the AC condition. Cost me $3000 to replace the whole thing because it was all clogged with an imcompatible fluid which changed to a concrete like material in all the lines and valves and everywhere in the AC.

On the oil leak it could be serious or not so serious. Depends on the location of the leak. FDs are famous for leaking from the oil metering pump which is fairly unique to the FD. Very expensive part that would need to be replaced if you wanted to stop the leak. Most people just let them leak. It is usually a very slow drip and will not result in low oil of any measure. Just check your oil often because these babys were designed to burn oil in the combustion chamber as part of lubrication and cooling design.

Lupercal_CATS

I talked to the seller and should of talked to him before posting this. The oil leak was small and the seller knew about it but didn't care because it wasn't causing problems. He got under the car to check things out and figured out the problem very quickly.

The passenger door handle was missing because he had taken it off to fix a wire on a part that lowers and raises the passenger window and hadn't gotten it back on before the car was inspected and it is now on the car.

Thanks for your reply and for the PMs I got.

EZFD

as for the leak, i have the same problem, it is either the OMP or the oil pan. I change the oil every 2000 miles and it is never down more than half a quart. the ABS light is more than likely a sensor at one of the hubs.

hanman

Not that it is a big deal, but the part about taking the door pull off to fix the power window doesn't really ring true. The power window switch pops out of it's housing, you don't have to remove the pull. And, if it was something more than that, he would have to remove the complete door panel.
My guess is the pull broke (very common) and he was trying to do a homemade repair. It may or may not work. I just replaced mine for about $250. You can't buy just the pull (handle) from Mazda, you have to buy the complete black piece.
Just an FYI. Maybe his home repair will hold.

CantGoStraight

The company you used to inspect the car while doing a fair job at assessing the obvious missed the turbo's ????? These cars only came with twin turbos and if they couldn't see that then I'd say there service isn't worth the money you paid to say it's worth the risk or not based on there judgement.

Lupercal_CATS

Thanks for the replys!

I got the car extremely cheap so I am expecting that the car is going to need some repair. The door handle doesn't really worry me because in the grand scheme of things it is a pretty small issue. The first thing I will be doing when I get the car is driving to Gotham Racing or another rotary shop in the DFW area and having it all checked out to be sure that there are no coolant leaks or anything of that nature.

I am a little worried that they listed the car as non turbo and a 4cyl. I think it was listed as 4 cyl probably because they don't have an option for rotary, it looked like a form that the inspector used, had drop down menus to select things like make and model, hatchback, etc. I may e-mail the company and inform them of what happened. I am forsure buying the car but maybe I can get a refund for the inpsection :-P.