Twin Turbo

Yo man, silly bloke you are, the place where Lalith's a/c guy bought the a/c spares is atco in jubilee post. If you wanted a good job with guarantee at low cost, ya should have gone there! ( they have a workshop)

Finally someone has got over the phobia of going to a dealer in SL

Taas Agengencies Park Street Colombo 02 Agent for KYB Japan

Get the Starter motor serviced and check the charging system

As I guessed, you have the most common of issues with the Astina in SL, Engine temperature management. It must be said that this car was NEVER intended to be Exported to countries like SL by Mazda Japan. The cars ended up here through USED CAR dealers. My car had a high capacity radiator already put in by the previous owner,and the thermostat valve taken out for better coolant flow ( since Colombo does not have a subzero winter, no problem ). Yet the engine needed more cooling to cope with the Colombo Heat. I flushed the cooling system added coolant,and most importantly added two more cooling fans, one behind the rad and the other in front of the condenser,together with the existing factory fitted units, it was a time consuming and expensive modification which reduced the operating temp to a point where the engine would not suffer long term. Let's hope your engine head/ gasket has not died already. Another issue is ENGINE WASHING/DE GREASING, all BG mazdas develop probs of engine misses due to water and de greasing chemicals getting in the electronics and playing mayham with the ECU. I learned that a very famous car clean joint had once towed an astina after washing the engine to the agent all the way fom Dehiwala because they could not start it. ! further more the pulleys start to corrode and chew through the belts for a few months after de greasing the engine as the chemicals dissolve the anti corrosive coating on them. As for your the fuel consumption, no one I know used genuine spark plug leads(more than twice the price of made in no where cheapo junk) or ever changed the air filter, Best get this sorted out @ the agent They know what they are doing.

Well what do you have to get sorted out? ,.While you are untangling the issues, let me focus your attention to your car's engine cooling system,. It will need attention before you come to it.as our SL "Owner/Engineers" would have had their run of re engineering with it.

You might wanna junk the wheels totally and go for a 185/60/14 tyre with 14 inch alloy wheels, [plus half inch spacers all round],man that will look cool.

overall winner of Dakar2009 held in south America is,................ The VW touareg diesel . Eat carbon petrol heads! -TT.

recommend you to seek auto electrical specialist like p[ala auto electrical;

It's a very good car, having all the things looked for by SL car buyers. excellent reliability ample availability of spares. most grease monkeys know how to fix them..... Good luck finding a running example .

Before attempting to hook up the meter, make sure it is compatible with a 24v electrical system.

The two versions of the Mazda you are referring to is the Japanese domestic model brought to SL as "Recon cars" (Familia) and the export model with special upgrades and mods to suit the superb driving conditions of our country. As enlightened used car guru's will point out, the export model imported brand new commands a better re sale value , and being better suited to out driving conditions. Having said that it's not unknown for our "Honest Ed's to go to the agent and get the 323 badge and swap in place of the Familia badge.

Sorry to hear your engine letting you down and eventually having some one kill it. the over heating problem in your case could have been caused by a number of reasons. The engine could have been running on wrong timing after the overhaul leading to over heating when stressed, ( our highly skilled grease monkeys use their own settings as to the manufacturer's) Most engines overhauled in SL have some form of over heating at least till the first 10,000 km after the rebuild because of extra low clearances in honing the cylinder bores and not using new pistons when over hauling. The bespoke engine oil our grease monkeys use also have a tendency to cause long term damage as well as over heating due to it not meeting the specifications of modern car manufacturers ,especially of a turbo engine. The engine should have not been revved up to 6000 at any cost. When you get the van back, The extra condenser fitted for the dual a/c system along with the existing a/c condensor should be removed and fitted a dual a/c condenser from a hiace or caravan which does not get in the way of air flow to the radiator, + Next, replace the alternator with a higher capacity unit capable of running a dual a/c , as the original unit will give the engine extra load trying to keep up with increased demand.

your van and the later models had a mini truck version offered from the manufacturer http://car-blueprints.narod.ru/images/mits...truck-2005a.gif as seen in the attached figure, the under carriage is having a truck type ladder chassis making the truck carry heavy loads. But the the van has a steel monocock without a ladder frame and would suffer serious safety probs if the body is cut to make a truck. the best thing is to look for the real thing.( factory truck model) Alternately , you can get a L200 2wd chassis and make measurements if that can be grafted in to the under carriage of the van, then modify the bodywork. But taking the cost into account,this may not be viable.

The car in front is a Toyota !

Brilliant powers of deduction , This is the prob of most of the time . remove the wheels or where the hand brake applies(in some old jeeps, the gearbox) and clean +lubricate Good luck

interesting to note that the noise dissapearing when you engage 4th gear. Check the gear box for the proper oil level .Most service stations don't do this as it's a time consuming and difficult job which most don't know how to. The Grear box oil is checked with the speedo cable spindle. the max and low levels are marked on it. access it from the back of the engine( in between the firewall) there's a 10mm bolt holding the thing , undo that and pull out straight along with the speedometer cable. Refill or replace oil to proper level. if prob presists, it may have worn out counter shaft bearings ( the thing is not loaded when you engage 4th)

the heating is caused by excess friction caused by possible binding. Jack up both wheels and turn ,check for resistance. (could be a bit difficult if your 's is a front driver. Your mechanic is doing on a good method of diagnosis. Replace the caliper(if having Disks) repair kits (paying particular attention to the caliper pins) along with the break hoses and bleed the systecompletely m with new brake fluid. it's a good precaution to check the master cylinder washers ,if replacing, do so complete with the pistons(repair kit) basically the fluid should freely flow when you pump the brake pedal with the hose disconnected at the wheel.

From ur discription I assume that you have a vehicle with a transverse engine with electrical cooling fan for the A/c condensor. From the symptoms you have mentioned I suspect that the a/c condensor cooling fan is not working. get the engine cooling system (electrical fans) looked at as the same fan/s are used to cool the radiator as well. So, the problem you are experiencing is a gradual build up of heat in the condensor of your a/c system causing lopwering of cooling inside the car. Or , as another poster said the evaporator is freezing up as the compressor is not cutting off when the evaporator reaches near 0'c. I have seen many places who do A/C jobs and have reasonable charges. but the customer is left sweating like melting ice in a traffic jam somewhere in Colombo cursing the gaskets off the repair guy.

the fish tail is a 60's merc

The bulb you're referring to is a brand by an automotive after market parts supplier. Personally I have used the regular bulbs by the same guies and have been not satisfied. In the quest for the best possible light with conventional halogen bulbs,I 1.upgraded the wiring 2.replaced the alternator with a high capacity unit 3.replaced the battery with higher capacity unit.(just for the hell of it when I replaced the old one ) 4.replaced the lead lamps with good condition units as mine were faded. 5.And after much testing , settled for Koito 100/90W Halogen bulbs(in the blue and white box) Impressed myself and my friends.;-)

just an after thought. it may be a prob with the cold start system, choke , hot air intake etc.

Simple answer> Water+Electricity=Problems. use anything but water to clean the engine. the only place water belongs in a modern engine is the windscreen wash and coolant expansion tank.

Apart from the carb , have you checked theother systems of the engine eg:ignition system, for it may also cause irratic driving . I have also heard that when this guy finds a problem which he cant figure out he just recomends a carb be replaced as most of the time the recon carbs come with the jap factory settings, and after replacement the car runs like a dream. you don't need a so called specialist to get that done do you? I suggest taking the car to one of the many tuning guru's this forum is familiar with. Fellow contributors,I hand you the thread.

One thing you don't wanna hear, Maintenance, 1.It is is of utmost importance that you use high quality engine oil as the standard garden variety recommended by most traditional service stations and grease monkeys is totally incapable of protecting your engine.Replace air filter taking into account driving conditions,i.e. regular inspections at service and in between for good measure. you'll be amazed at the performance and economy gains a good quality new air filter will give you. 2.Keep a tab of your timing belts , if you're not sure of the age/milage, change them 3.Keep the cooling system in good order, turbo engines, for that matter All engines running in sri lanka need special care to avoid over heating. Note: tap water alone is not recommended, use coolant, check thermostat valve, pressure cap. hoses for condition. 4.Fit a turbo timer, In running the rat race we often do not have time or forget to spin down and cool the turbo by idling for a while after hard driving.