Mazda Problems

Given that it’s just a small piece of stamped aluminium, a car’s compliance plate is a big deal as it confirms that the vehicle to which it’s attached meets all relevant rules and regulations to be used on the street. The laws vary from State to State, but in WA right now, it seems that replacing a damaged compliance plate with a new one is not permitted. Instead, what you may have to do is to apply for an exemption to have a compliance plate fitted to that particular vehicle.

According to the WA authorities (who I contacted about this) “If a vehicle’s original compliance plate is destroyed or lost, it cannot be replaced, however the vehicle owner can apply…for an exemption from having to fit a compliance plate”. There’s a process to be followed including having the car inspected and, if the vehicle is deemed to qualify for the exemption, a note will be made on its registration record to reflect the fact that it doesn’t require a physical compliance plate. This inspection will confirm that the vehicle is legal and hasn’t been stolen or written-off.

My concern is that it’s something you’re going to have to explain to a buyer when you sell the car on. Even though a car with this exemption is perfectly legal and shouldn’t present any insurance hassles, some buyers might be leery of a car without a compliance plate. For that reason, I’d be doing everything I could to preserve the original compliance plate. Unless there was a fire that melted it, even a bent and buckled compliance plate may be able to be straightened and left attached to the car. That would certainly be my preference.

There are still plenty of great small cars around within your budget, Agnes, and they all have good safety packages (or we wouldn’t recommend them). Look at offerings such as the Suzuki Swift Navigator (with the optional autonomous emergency braking) for around $17,000 (plus on-road costs) or the Kia Rio S at around $19,000 or Kia Picanto S (one size smaller than the Rio) at closer to $16,000. Both the Kias also feature the brand’s excellent seven-year warranty, capped-price servicing and free roadside assistance which is great peace of mind.

The Volkswagen Polo is a classy drive but a little more expensive at closer to $21,000 for the 85TSi Comfortline. Actually, to be honest, you’ve missed the boat on bargain small cars by a couple of years. Firm favourites such as the Toyota Yaris and Mazda 2 have both been updated relatively recently and have recorded big price jumps in the process. The cheapest Yaris with an automatic transmission is now around $23,000 (it was less than $17,000 back in 2018) while the Mazda 2 Maxx went from being a sub-$17,000 proposition in 2018 to a $23,000 car by the time you add an automatic transmission in 2020.

Let’s start with the basics here, Bryan, before lashing out on mechanics. Are the tyre pressures where they should be? A tyre can be pretty under-inflated before that’s actually obvious to the eye, but a tyre with an incorrect pressure can be harder to turn. Next, what about the wheel alignment settings? Has the car bounced off a kerb lately? Has there been any incident that could have wrenched the front end out of alignment? When was the last time the wheel alignment was checked?

For all of that, however, I’m tempted to suspect that there’s something wrong with the valving in the power-steering rack. I’d be having the rack checked for any foreign matter inside that could be blocking the valves or in some other way preventing the rack from guiding the wheels smoothly in both directions. A dodgy steering system is an obvious safety issue, so don’t mess about having it checked.

I’m not in a position to guide you around the financial aspects of this problem, Joseph, but it remains that the transfer-case in this model Mazda has, indeed, earned a very patchy reputation. It seems that Mazda never specified an oil-change interval for the transfer-case and, over time, the oil can break down and lead to high operating temperatures and internal wear of the mechanical parts. This can include metal fragments breaking off and damaging other components, as well as the high temperatures causing fusing (damage) to the metal parts. In some cases, that can also damage the spline shaft that joins the transmission to the transfer-case and, if that happens, the transmission will also be severely damaged. This has been known to occur in cars with as little as 70,000km on board.

The reason the transfer-case oil wasn’t changed when you had the car serviced is simply because that task is not listed as a service item for this car. Which was, remember, the problem in the first place. Most workshops now agree that the CX-9’s transfer-case oil be changed every 60,000km or so, but sadly, it seems that’s all a bit too late for you. There was a Special Service Bulletin issued for this problem in the USA, but don’t assume that this will also apply to Australian Mazdas. That said, I’d still be having a chat with Mazda Australia’s customer service department.

To put your question into context, an overdrive gear is one where the output shaft of the gearbox spins faster than the input shaft. Or, put another way, a gear in which the car’s propeller-shaft is spinning faster than the engine’s crankshaft. This means the drive wheels can be spun faster (for more road speed) without making the engine rev too hard. Overdrive gearboxes have been common for many years now, typically when five-speed transmissions replaced four-speed units. Those earlier four-speeds generally had a 1:1 ratio on their fourth (top) gear which means the output shaft (and propellor shaft) spun at exactly the same speed as the input shaft (or engine).

Many manufacturers have now, of course, switched to six-speed transmissions and some do, in fact, use that opportunity to fit an overdrive fifth and sixth gear. But in the case of your Mazda, only sixth gear is overdriven (with a ratio of 0.794:1) while fifth gear takes the place of a traditional fourth gear by being 1:1. That gives Mazda the chance to make fourth gear a little lower and tighten up the gaps between all the gears to eliminate any dips in the power delivery. Ultimately, of course, how fast the engine revs at a given road-speed is also down to the differential (or final-drive) ratio fitted, and the diameter of the wheel and tyre package.

This is a known problem in the Mazda turbo-diesel, and many owners have suffered similar failures. The problem begins with the formation of hard, carbon deposits in the top end of the engine which eventually find their way into the engine’s sump and block the oil pick-up. When that happens, the engine can’t pump oil efficiently and some parts of the engine become oil-starved. That’s when a build-up of friction and, therefore, heat, will cause a catastrophic failure with the attendant metal shavings that were subsequently discovered in your engine.

So why was the problem missed? An enthusiastic mechanic will always have a look at the oil that comes out of an engine, looking for just the symptoms you’ve noted. A really keen technician will sometimes even cut the old oil filter open to check for anything that shouldn’t be there. Unfortunately, in the context of a busy workshop with price-conscious customers, this doesn’t always happen. In the Mazda’s engine, the normal practice should be to check the strainer that covers the oil pick-up, but, again, that may not have been the case with your engine. If the workshop you used was a Mazda dealership, I’d be asking management why that process wasn’t followed. Even then, it’s difficult to say whether this check would have saved your engine, as the damage may already have been done.

Refuelling is actually a pretty dangerous practise, even though it’s one that most of us do on a weekly basis. So the first thing to know is that you need to stick to all the safety requirements issued by both the car-maker and the service station you’re using, including not using mobile phones while you refuel and making sure that even a few drops of spilled fuel is washed off the car and diluted with water on the ground.

Beyond that, the Mazda 323 should have a fuel-flap release lever on the floor, down beside the front-right hand corner of the driver’s seat. If the seat is positioned for a shorter driver, you may need to slide the seat back to reveal the release lever. Then, once the lever has been pulled upwards to release the external flap, you should be able to turn the actual fuel cap anti-clockwise to remove it. But take it slowly and don’t be surprised if there’s a hissing noise as some air is sucked into the tank as you break the cap’s seal. Once you’ve refuelled, replace the cap and turn it clockwise until it clicks once and spins freely, close the fuel-flap and you’re all done. It’s also a nice idea now to zero your trip-meter so you can calculate your fuel consumption next time you fuel up (not all cars back in 2001 had trip computers).

It’s nice to see somebody taking the long view when it comes to vehicle ownership. Cars have become an increasingly throw-away commodity, and it seems a shame that all that engineering and development doesn’t get a longer lifespan.

The BT-50 and Ranger you’ve nominated are, fundamentally, the same vehicles under the skin, so the choice will come down to the options fitted and the trim level that combines the features you want in one package. As a rule of thumb, the five-cylinder engine option will do a better job of hauling a slide-on camper into a headwind and will always be worth more as a trade-in (although that’s clearly not a concern for you).

If you’re planning to keep the vehicle up to 300,000km, there’s a very good chance you’ll need to spend some money on the vehicle’s direct injection system at some point. A set of injectors and filters as well as an injector pump are all likely to need replacement over the distance you’ve nominated. That said, all modern common rail diesels seem to be in the same boat here, but if you’re prepared to service the vehicle religiously, then those expenses should be kept to a minimum. Take it as read, though, that a modern turbo-diesel will not appreciate neglect in this area.

The other thing to watch out for is a vehicle that has already had a hard working life, as these dual-cabs often have. The tray-back you want also means the vehicle is likely to have been a work truck rather than a lifestyle accessory, so have any prospect checked independently before handing over the money.

You can probably rule out anything like a split turbo hose as this would cause the vehicle to lose power all the time, not just after prolonged use. Modern turbo-diesels like the one in your car use a range of electronic sensors and controls to keep everything running properly. It could easily be that a sensor is sending erroneous messages to the computer. An electronic scan of the vehicle should offer some answers.

The other possibility is that the fuel system is not keeping up with the engine over time. This could be due to a blocked filter, a blocked fuel line or return line or even a fuel pump overheating. A check of the fuel system would also be in order.

To connect your phone via Bluetooth to the Mazda 2, there’s a simple procedure to follow. The first thing to do is to make sure your phone has Bluetooth enabled and is switched to Visible/Discoverable. The second is to make sure that the car is stationary.

The pairing procedure then goes as follows: Select the Settings icon on the info-screen in the car. Then select the Devices tab. Then select Bluetooth and turn the Bluetooth to On. Select Add Device and switch to the device operation.

Using your phone, search for the car’s signal which should show as `Mazda’ from the list of devices on your phone’s screen. Depending on your phone, you then need to input the four-digit code (devices with Bluetooth 2.0) or a six-digit code displayed on the car’s screen (Bluetooth 2.1 or higher). That should complete the pairing process and form there you can add functions such as downloading your contact book to the car’s system by following the prompts.

For more instructions on how to play music through the system, more setup options, and troubleshooting problems, refer to the vehicle’s owner’s manual.