2006 Mazda3 HB Blown Engine 2.3L

[Bluemazda3-S]

Just wanted to post pictures of an engine I pulled out of an 06 at work. The licensed mechanic at work diagnosed cylinder 4 was dead.... it was dead alright :chuckle Just a side not too.... always check your oil level... i think this car starved for oil and threw...... no wait, look for yourself.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs328.ash2/60787_445694704558_510104558_5163634_344519_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs689.snc4/62887_445694604558_510104558_5163630_6670702_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs648.snc4/60787_445694689558_510104558_5163631_1700893_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs648.snc4/60787_445694694558_510104558_5163632_3347435_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs648.snc4/60787_445694699558_510104558_5163633_5803075_n.jpg

[Thrizzl3]

HOLY #$%#..how many kms were on that?

[Bluemazda3-S]

I am not positive but I want to say 120k. We still have the car, I'll try to remember and check the k's. Easy job to swap an engine in these, providing you have a hoist :)

[Takumi616]

:whoa

[taz4432]

Don't even need a hoist, or, not the vehicle variety anyways - just the engine type =P This one may have been due to neglect but '06's have had the worst problems with spinning bearings/blowing engines. I speak from experience XD These cars aren't too bad to work on at all, not as much room as my '69 Malibu but then again that thing has a trunk half the size of my 3, and it's a coupe.

P.S. The owner is lucky nothing went BOOM! Just goes to show you the kind of forces inside ICEs.

[stevenma188]

Same thing happened to a buddy of mine from Mazda3London. He lost all his oil and ended up killing his engine.

[DumpInfo]

:whoa

+1

[Bluemazda3-S]

The way I did was simple, and a hoist would be a must. I removed the suspension, rack and cross member all as one (leaving the struts and knuckles in place on the car) and anything else that needed to be done before taking the engine out. I put three skids under the car where the engine is, lowered the car until the engine sat on the skids, undid the top mounts and lifeted the car up and it stayed there until the new/used engine was ready. It was my frist time doing an engine swap on this car... the second time is going to go WAY faster. I'd be willing to buy a busted a$$ Mazda 3 knowing that I can do the swap rather quick and easy.


Don't even need a hoist, or, not the vehicle variety anyways - just the engine type =P This one may have been due to neglect but '06's have had the worst problems with spinning bearings/blowing engines. I speak from experience XD These cars aren't too bad to work on at all, not as much room as my '69 Malibu but then again that thing has a trunk half the size of my 3, and it's a coupe.

P.S. The owner is lucky nothing went BOOM! Just goes to show you the kind of forces inside ICEs.

[taz4432]

The way I did was simple, and a hoist would be a must. I removed the suspension, rack and cross member all as one (leaving the struts and knuckles in place on the car) and anything else that needed to be done before taking the engine out. I put three skids under the car where the engine is, lowered the car until the engine sat on the skids, undid the top mounts and lifeted the car up and it stayed there until the new/used engine was ready. It was my frist time doing an engine swap on this car... the second time is going to go WAY faster. I'd be willing to buy a busted a$$ Mazda 3 knowing that I can do the swap rather quick and easy.

There are different ways to do it...bringing the engine in from the bottom is generally the best bet, especially to save you the trouble of keeping the hood off. You can do it with the car on jack stands and just an engine hoist by having the car high enough to get the engine out from under and lower the engine with the engine hoist. A car hoist is definitely the best bet though.

[TheMAN]

taking the engine out the bottom with the cross member/suspension attached involves realigning the vehicle... saves you time, but are you sure the customer wants to pay for an alignment too? ;)

[Cosmo77]

The bottom is the fastest....You do not need to remove the crossmember though. It can be done by just removing the engine/transmission assembly. Takes about an hour.

p.s. TheMan....I'm not sure the people would be too concerned about the price of an alignment....anyhow I would just work the $$$ into the quote. Its kinda part of teh job anyway.

Taking a 3 Motor out the top is FAR more labor intensive then out the bottom.....more so if its a man. tranny.

Cosmo

[taz4432]

The bottom is the fastest....You do not need to remove the crossmember though. It can be done by just removing the engine/transmission assembly. Takes about an hour.

p.s. TheMan....I'm not sure the people would be too concerned about the price of an alignment....anyhow I would just work the $$$ into the quote. Its kinda part of teh job anyway.

Taking a 3 Motor out the top is FAR more labor intensive then out the bottom.....more so if its a man. tranny.

Cosmo

I can vouch for the first point. No crossmember needs to be removed, just drop the hubs off the strtuts, pop out the axles, take off the mounts and drop the engine/tranny assembly. It's quite quick and straight-forward.

With regard to it being much harder to take a manny-tranny-engine out the top than the auto, I really can't say. I've never looked under the hood of an automatic 3 so I'll take your word for it. Out the bottom is easie regardless, though.

[Bluemazda3-S]

I removed the crossmember cause i didn't want to deal with rusty exhaust manifold nuts while it was in the car... so I took the member out so it will drop all out in one piece. Turns out the manifold nuts came off easily anyways.. LOL. Never thought of an alignment though, I highly doubt its out.

[Cosmo77]

LOL Those ex manifold nuts always come off easy for some reason....then you just leave the ex. manifold in the car for the removal.

[bhadreshl]

Just out of curiosity, how much did you get the engine for? What kinda mileage did it have on it?

[TheMAN]

I removed the crossmember cause i didn't want to deal with rusty exhaust manifold nuts while it was in the car... so I took the member out so it will drop all out in one piece. Turns out the manifold nuts came off easily anyways.. LOL. Never thought of an alignment though, I highly doubt its out.

there is always freeplay/adjustment room when bolting in the crossmember... the alignment won't be the same once you R&R it

[sol_searchin]

How the hell did this thing run low on oil?

[TheMAN]

these engines burns oil, that's why

only other usual possibility is if the oil filter housing is cracked and leaking oil

[Beatuz]

this is starting to get really worrying, i bought my 04 GT with 240,000 Kms on it, and with the engine already knocking, but price was right so i went for it, and i figured the knocking engine had been pushed hard enough, anyways i bought another used engine with 80,000 and i figured i treat it good enough it should last me long enough. But to my surprise i have read threads with same 04 engines blowing at just over 100,000 ! and read many threads about engines blowing in general, anyone knows if its a manufacturing issue or just bad maintenance from the owners?

[TheMAN]

engines don't blow up for no reason
checking your oil and changing it frequently is as about as much you can do

run synthetic for extra protection

[taz4432]

engines don't blow up for no reason
checking your oil and changing it frequently is as about as much you can do

run synthetic for extra protection

Yes and no.

Taking good care of it (regular, frequent oil changes, etc.) does help but these engines have been know to quite frequently blow/throw rods over 100k. I've spoken to Mazda Technicians/Dealership GMs/etc. and they've all seen it an extraordinary number of times. As soon as you mention blown Mazda 3 engine the first words out of their mouths are "2.3L with over 100k on it? Put a rod through the bottom, didn't it"

[MajesticBlueNTO]

Yes and no.

Taking good care of it (regular, frequent oil changes, etc.) does help but these engines have been know to quite frequently blow/throw rods over 100k. I've spoken to Mazda Technicians/Dealership GMs/etc. and they've all seen it an extraordinary number of times. As soon as you mention blown Mazda 3 engine the first words out of their mouths are "2.3L with over 100k on it? Put a rod through the bottom, didn't it"

my old 2004 2.3L probably now has over 200k on it and it is still on the original engine. it's been through numerous track days and had a steady diet of redline without an issue. oil levels were always monitored, as it started to consume oil late in the game, and it was fed GC 0w30 for most of those 200k.

however, if i was an owner that didn't monitor oil levels as closely as i did, yes, it would've thrown a rod.

[taz4432]

my old 2004 2.3L probably now has over 200k on it and it is still on the original engine. it's been through numerous track days and had a steady diet of redline without an issue. oil levels were always monitored, as it started to consume oil late in the game, and it was fed GC 0w30 for most of those 200k.

however, if i was an owner that didn't monitor oil levels as closely as i did, yes, it would've thrown a rod.

Haha, well diligence does pay off but relative to other engines, there is a largely disproportionate number of the 2.3L MZR engines that blow. For people like you and I who know how to take care of a car/engine it's not as big a deal but for the average consumer who just takes the car every 5-8k for an oil change and tops up washer fluid every once in a while, it can become an expensive expenditure.

[TheMAN]

Yes and no.

Taking good care of it (regular, frequent oil changes, etc.) does help but these engines have been know to quite frequently blow/throw rods over 100k. I've spoken to Mazda Technicians/Dealership GMs/etc. and they've all seen it an extraordinary number of times. As soon as you mention blown Mazda 3 engine the first words out of their mouths are "2.3L with over 100k on it? Put a rod through the bottom, didn't it"

technicians aren't engineers... they fix stuff, not figure out the intricacies of what led stuff to break.... you made no mention of the cause of failure... seeing as they "all" failed at high mileage, the only thing I can suspect is increased blow by and more oil consumption, and the unsuspecting owner ASSumes everything is good and not ever check the oil.... well 4000km after an oil change, boom!

it's already known this motors burn oil when using the "recommended" viscosity (many MZR motors I've seen that were still under warranty burned half a litre by the time they were due for their 5000km oil change... these are low mileage motors driven by normal people!)... and seeing as mazda (or many auto makers these days) doesn't care how long the car lasts long after the warranty is expired, it's fine to "recommend" 5W20 so that they can boost their MPG numbers for better CAFE brownie points... for one it's planned obsolescence, and the other is, as wear increases, already minor oil consumption increases exponentially

[taz4432]

technicians aren't engineers... they fix stuff, not figure out the intricacies of what led stuff to break.... you made no mention of the cause of failure... seeing as they "all" failed at high mileage, the only thing I can suspect is increased blow by and more oil consumption, and the unsuspecting owner ASSumes everything is good and not ever check the oil.... well 4000km after an oil change, boom!

it's already known this motors burn oil when using the "recommended" viscosity (many MZR motors I've seen that were still under warranty burned half a litre by the time they were due for their 5000km oil change... these are low mileage motors driven by normal people!)... and seeing as mazda (or many auto makers these days) doesn't care how long the car lasts long after the warranty is expired, it's fine to "recommend" 5W20 so that they can boost their MPG numbers for better CAFE brownie points... for one it's planned obsolescence, and the other is, as wear increases, already minor oil consumption increases exponentially

Never said they were nor did I ever mention what the root cause of the engines blowing was/is. I only made note of that fact that the final result for many of these MZR engines is throwing a rod/spinning a bearing/etc. 100k is not by any means high mileage, especially in this day and age. If it were high mileage, manufacturers would not be offering 5 years/100k warranties standard on their cars. As well, the recommended oil change interval is 8k, not 5k, and so doing oil changes at 5k will help circumvent some of these problems, although due diligence is always recommended.

I think we can all agree that for any engine - and in this particular case, the MZR engine - it pays off to do regular oil changes with high quality oil and to regularly pay attention to oil levels. This is simple stuff even a 'normal' person can do.

[TheMAN]

can do and won't do are very different things
you can only lead a horse to a river after all

[taz4432]

can do and won't do are very different things
you can only lead a horse to a river after all

Haha, agreed. I'm not going to feel sorry for people who can't be bothered to at least try and help themselves, though.

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

Haha, well diligence does pay off but relative to other engines, there is a largely disproportionate number of the 2.3L MZR engines that blow.

Unless you can validate this statement with actual ERI statistics from the manufacturer's Q&A team and not just base it solely on internet chatter, it remains the speculative equivalent of pissing into the wind.

Anyone can go onto any car forum for any car manufacturer and find countless posts concerning blown engines.

[manfredbailey]

Its fine to say , validate ones concern regarding blown mazda 3 engines , it is very easy these days with all the social media that we have to validate - look at all the posts on many different search engines - there are many . Saying that has one ever attempted to get a mechanic to rebuild a 2.3 mazda 3 engine , I have asked three so far and all three ( including one of Vancouvers most popular engine rebuilders) wouldn't even touch them . I have a 05 mazda 3 , 2.3 engine that just started ticking last week , when I checked the oil it was dry , can someone explain to me why an engine with no visible signs of oil leakage , no blue smoke and no greasy film on the tailpipe , oil changed 3000 kms ago and been serviced by Mazda dealership since day one all of a sudden lose 4 litres of oil or as the " knowledgable " people at Mazda would let me believe that I have burned this amount without any visible signs . As far as I am concerned Mazda has built an engine that doesn't last and they are not willing to come clean and admit their fault . I will never buy or recommend to anyone to buy a Mazda again - I knew I should have stayed with TOYOTA

[Como]

They're not the only manufacturer with these issues. I had a Toyota corolla. Same exact issue. I believe from 1998-2000 their 1.8L engine mysteriously loses oil. And a LOT of it. I threw a rod bearing in one because I didn't realize these engines burn through 4L in a week just out of the blue. Zero signs of burning oil. Just gone.
Google'd it. There's many articles regarding this issue.

[gabbygenier]

Its fine to say , validate ones concern regarding blown mazda 3 engines , it is very easy these days with all the social media that we have to validate - look at all the posts on many different search engines - there are many . Saying that has one ever attempted to get a mechanic to rebuild a 2.3 mazda 3 engine , I have asked three so far and all three ( including one of Vancouvers most popular engine rebuilders) wouldn't even touch them . I have a 05 mazda 3 , 2.3 engine that just started ticking last week , when I checked the oil it was dry , can someone explain to me why an engine with no visible signs of oil leakage , no blue smoke and no greasy film on the tailpipe , oil changed 3000 kms ago and been serviced by Mazda dealership since day one all of a sudden lose 4 litres of oil or as the " knowledgable " people at Mazda would let me believe that I have burned this amount without any visible signs . As far as I am concerned Mazda has built an engine that doesn't last and they are not willing to come clean and admit their fault . I will never buy or recommend to anyone to buy a Mazda again - I knew I should have stayed with TOYOTA

So you come on here, create an account. revive a 3.5 year old thread to complain about your 9 year old car blowing an engine?

[silverstarmazda]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k02kGB7LJY0

[aris]

Its fine to say , validate ones concern regarding blown mazda 3 engines , it is very easy these days with all the social media that we have to validate - look at all the posts on many different search engines - there are many . Saying that has one ever attempted to get a mechanic to rebuild a 2.3 mazda 3 engine , I have asked three so far and all three ( including one of Vancouvers most popular engine rebuilders) wouldn't even touch them . I have a 05 mazda 3 , 2.3 engine that just started ticking last week , when I checked the oil it was dry , can someone explain to me why an engine with no visible signs of oil leakage , no blue smoke and no greasy film on the tailpipe , oil changed 3000 kms ago and been serviced by Mazda dealership since day one all of a sudden lose 4 litres of oil or as the " knowledgable " people at Mazda would let me believe that I have burned this amount without any visible signs . As far as I am concerned Mazda has built an engine that doesn't last and they are not willing to come clean and admit their fault . I will never buy or recommend to anyone to buy a Mazda again - I knew I should have stayed with TOYOTA

Sounds more like the dealership screwed up?

[manfredbailey]

Yeah ,and I bet you would be the first one to complain if the same kind of lack of Mazda quality happened to you , pretty easy to criticize when you are wearing different shoes . Ask anyone out there -- todays engine with regular maintenance should exceed 200,00kms . Usually the clutch goes before the engine not the other way around .

[aris]

Yeah ,and I bet you would be the first one to complain if the same kind of lack of Mazda quality happened to you , pretty easy to criticize when you are wearing different shoes . Ask anyone out there -- todays engine with regular maintenance should exceed 200,00kms . Usually the clutch goes before the engine not the other way around .

Who you referring to too?

[Soyabean]

Wow. Perfect timing lol.

So some of you know already, but my engine just went on me this weekend. Spun connecting rod bearing. I do synthetic oil changes are regular intervals.

Anyways, anyone know where I can find used 2.3L motors for an 06? Damn these 06's lol

[yearoftherat]

Wow. Perfect timing lol.

So some of you know already, but my engine just went on me this weekend. Spun connecting rod bearing. I do synthetic oil changes are regular intervals.

Anyways, anyone know where I can find used 2.3L motors for an 06? Damn these 06's lol

Shitty news.... try calling Jimmy to see if he can source one out for you.

[Soyabean]

Shitty news.... try calling Jimmy to see if he can source one out for you.

Yup. My car is at the shop right now. He is looking but I thought I would try searching 1 myself. Im surprised since my motor is only at 170k... but then again with the 06s i heard this is a common problem :(