2004 Mazda 6 V6 wagon with blown head gasket. Plan is to wrench on it with nearing-driving-age son and get it ready for him to drive. I'm guessing the engine is a 3.0 Duratec not unlike the one in my 2005 Mazda MPV. Any special problems to look out for?
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
The same engine is used by the Jaguar S-Type, Lincoln LS, Mazda MPV, Mazda6, Mondeo ST220 and many other Ford vehicles from wiki. though only the mazda version and the jag version has vvti
mzr swap.
The noble m400 uses a twin turbo version of the 3.0 making 400ish hp and the is a Jag badges version that makes like 350hp NA
Well, we went out today prepared to buy it, i.e. with a trailer and 550 bucks. We hemmed and hawed a bit, but in the end, it wasn't quite nice enough to commit. It had been sitting a while. Most of the interior was in very good shape. Body mostly very good. Couple of small dents and chips on the hood. Small area on the rear wheel well that was bubbling paint. Needed tires. Couldn't get excited about it. There's bound to be another one out there. Came home with an empty trailer and money in my pocket.
Smart move. Head Gaskets are not a weak point on those engines, so a blown head gasket is likely either an incorrect diagnosis or a secondary symptom of something much worse.
In reply to drdisque :
Yeah, thanks for that. I thought maybe I was just feeling lazy. I think my son kinda wanted us to get it, but as I told him, it's better to have money in your pocket and be looking for the car you want than to buy the first thing you look at and be stuck with it.
I was most put off by the many months it had been sitting. The owner admitted a recent oil change, but it was easily a quart over-filled. Not sure if that was in anticipation of it going away or due to coolant in the pan. The oil did look good. No evidence of coolant on the stick. The transmission fluid looked pretty dark for a vehicle with just over 100k miles on it, but it didn't smell burnt.
If the body and/or interior had been just a tick closer to perfect, it would probably be in my driveway right now.
Ya gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince.
The right one will come.
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