Changing water hoses
 

Hey guys...i wanted to change my water hoses soon and i was wondering what to tell the mechanic...I know there's 2 big hoses that go to the radiator but what else do i change. I heard it's not a pretty picture when you break your water seals. Also, what is the best motor oil to use for my fd?thanks guys..

If you're actually going to pay for that (labor), then change the water hoses to the turbos as well. I was assuming you were changing the coolant at the same time. Think about changing the trans and diff oil at the same time as well.

Oil, sorry no easy answer. I use strait weight but it does not get colder then 60 over here. If you are afraid of synthetic, spend the extra money on Mobil1 or K&N oil filter.

so mobil 1 full synthetic will be ok?? i heard you're not supposed to use synthetic....umm...so what oil should put in my car again?

I beleive the race shops that don't use synthetic run castrol or valvoline but from my reading quaker state is excellent. Do a search for "snythetic oil" if you want to read ALL night. Otherwise sped the money on a high quality filter or change it sooner if using oem. Quicky lubes will use a cheapy filter unless you request a better one but they will not replace the crush washer for the drain plug which will flatten over time causing them to overtighten the nut and strip the threads. Do we have crush wahsers is is that just my Honda? Ack, head ache.

there are around 14 total cooling system lines.(ast,overflow,heater etc...) turbo hoses are kinda difficult so they probably haven't been done before. I agree you should change them all if your paying for a couple already. Call Ray Crowe at Malloy mazda for parts if your mechanic can't get them.(awsome prices)

How long to change all fourteen ?
 

How long does it take to change all fourteen coolant hoses and what are some tips and/or caveats (e.g., remove Y-Pipe) ?

Thanks,
:-) neil

ttt

It took me a couple of days, but I fiddled around a lot.

First, lift the front end and drain the coolant (both from the engine block and radiator for good measure). I needed to remove the air box, intercooler and intake piping, intake elbow, throttle body, pressure tank, underbelly pan, and y-pipe assembly. To do the throttle body to engine hose, you need to take off the UIM, so I left that for when I did my vac hose job.

Use a dremel tool with one of those little scrubby wheels to remove the lime deposits on the hard pipes, and use a knife to cut off the old pipes. A couple of long-reach straight and bent needle nose pliers are also important (harbor freight has a decent cheap set). The clamps on the turbo pipes are the toughest, but once I had the right pliers set and technique it wasn't bad. First cut completely through the old ones and remove the foam cover to make some room.

Dave

Thanks to all! Damon: I got the pn#s from a previous post of yours and the discount from Mallory Mazda.

Happy New Year!

:-) neil

If you decide to do just a few of them, definitely replace the water hose that feeds the turbos. That one failed on me, and I have read several reports of it failing on other people, too. It is located under the air pump.

Make sure to keep the spring clamps rather than replace them with worm-gear clamps, at least for that hose. I switched to worm-gear clamps and due to the high temperature of that location, they heat-cycled their way loose pretty quickly. I had to really clamp them down (rubber extruding through the holes in the band, ugh) to keep it tight. I should have just kept the spring clamps, since they stay tight even through heat cycles.

Also, use the Mazda part for the turbo supply hose, rather than auto parts store hose. Even the Mazda one fails after years of service, but I think the cheap auto parts store stuff is likely to fail faster. I used auto parts store hose at first since I had to fix it quickly (on the road side), but I eventually got the Mazda hose to replace it for longevity.

-Max