Does anyone have a suggestion on how to go about replacing all the vacuum hoses. Is this something I can conquer myself or should I have the dealer do it?

If I do it myself does Mazda sell all those short hoses under the plenum in a kit or do I have to buy them one by one? Has anyone tried to do this on their own yet?

I would appreciate any advice on this matter. Thanks.

 

Doing the Vacuum hoses is a VERY big job, and everyone here knows it. I wouldn't recommend it unless you are mechanically inclinded. If this is your first time doing it, don't be shy :p. Expect the FD to be down for at LEAST a minimum of 2 days.

Have you even seen the vacuum hose diagram? Looking at this will either frighten you or actually give you the courage to attempt this evil deed :p

 

 

These three sites are very helpful.

http://www.robrobinette.com/hoses.htm
http://www.maxcooper.com/rx7/how-to/hose
http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/turbos.html#HOS

most people here i've seen went with the hose from hosetechniques.com. I think these cost around $100 for all the hoses you need. I got mine from mcmaster-carr for less than $50 and im happy with the quality, even though it isnt a pretty color like the ht hose.

i recommend using a handi-cut cutters from sears to make a clean cut in the silicone hose

this is a big job, your back will hurt. make sure to label everything before you pull it off. my hoses were screwed up by some mazda service department before i got my car, so i didnt label mine and it made the job alot more difficult.

good luck

 

Quick question on this topic........Without goin to read one of the how-to's wouldnt it be easiest to just remove and replace ONE hose at a time? Is it possible to go that route? Or is it one of those things that need to be separated just to get to it?

 

I was actually thinking about attempting the project myself. My car has a high eratic (Up and down) idle. I'm pretty shure that the high idle part is due to a intake gasket somewhere. But the eratic part is due to a loose line, i'm shure of.

Trying to get the courage up to do it, and was wondering can you for the most part just do one at a time?

Realy, how hard can this job be, if you do one at a time, and when you can't do it one at a time, mark it, and take some digital pictures? CJ

 

My thoughts exactly. Logic would dictate that you could replace one hose at a time and with this systematic method ... hopefully not encounter any problems. I would like someone to tell me if this is the case or not. Is a manual or diagram a necessity or can it be done as described above? Bottom line ... has anyone done it this way before??

Thanks to those of you who responded. In the least I will plan to buy the kit from one of the suggested companies. I am assuming the hose kit does not come with instructions?? That would be too much to ask for I guess.

 

I dont think id be willing to so much as HELP do a hose job again for anything less then $1500!

it was by far the worst chapter in my history of teh rx7!!!!
PAY SOMEONE TO DO IT!

 

the hose kits do not come with instructions, they are just the silicone hoses. btw - if you really want good hose, use viton (available from mcmaster-carr) but it costs about $300 for all the hoses.

it is not as simple as you would assume. you need to take apart all the intake pipes, extension manifold, air pump, alternator, ignition coils, solenoid rack and acv. i would recommend testing all solenoids while you're in there, and also testing all the check valves. ALso, there are a few vacuum hoses which are in very inconvient places, and are hard to reach.

I would love to have taken my car to a trusted mechanic and pay them $500 to do this, but i dont know any trusted mechanics. In fact, the previous owner had some vac hoses repaired at a mazda dealer, and they screwed up, which gave me a crappy boost pattern. After taking everything apart and studying the diagrams, i found that the mazda mechanics left two check valves missing, and another couple of hoses crimped.

 

I'm actually pretty happy I did the hoses myself. I now know pretty much how everything is hoses up in there, and makes it easier for my to diagnose my FD since I know the setup.

It's the perfect opportunity to learn about one of the most complex systems in your car, but if you dont have the patience and/or time to do it, that is perfectly understandable.

 

flybye: what method did you use?

 

Method? The lean over your fender and break your back method. Thats the method I used :p

 

This argument is actually kind of silly if you think about it. Go check out this pic: colored vac hoses. Of course you're gonna replace one hose at a time (at least I would damn well try), but don't think of the diagram as a necessity, it's simply an AID. I've not done the hose job (yet) but from what work I have done to the car and the crazy tight spaces I've had to get into, I can imagine that it'll be lots of fun.

Here's a freebie... a tip for printing the diagram. Go into MS Word and change the margins of the page to something like 0.25 all around. Copy the pic from the web page and paste it into the Word doc. It'll resize it for you and it turned out beautifully when I printed it on a color laser printer.

-Scott