I just picked up this Probe from a co-worker for $300. 2.0L DOHC Mazda FS motor with a 5 spd. He parked it when he noticed a slight rod knock one day. It sat for about 5 months without running. I got the car home with high hopes that there is just excessive bearing clearance. I ran it for 30-45 seconds to listen to the rod knocking, and I'm getting lots of white smoke out the tailpipe, and residual smoke under the valve cover after running it. The car never did that before he parked it. The oil he had in the car was really nasty. I'm thinking the rings were already pretty dirty, and now they may have seized up. Suggestions on how to attack this without pulling the head/engine? I was thinking a piston soak with MMO, Seafoam, Auto-RX.... or maybe some of the stuff GM uses for the oil burning Saturns.
'95 Probe with stuck rings
- Thread starter Inliner
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Kestas
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5 months isn't a whole lot for a car sitting. You didn't say how far the car was run. The white smoke was probably just water that had condensed and built up in the exhaust and was being burned off. Give the engine some more exercise. You may find that you only have to deal with the rod knock.
I disagree. I would not run it if it were mine. It sounds as if something is broken, and can only get worse if run. Auto-RX will not fix a broken piston. Did it knock the whole time you ran it? The co-worker obviously parked it because HE was worried about it. I would open it up to see whats the issue, if it were mine. Sounds as if alot of blowby is getting into the crankcase. Maybe simply stuck rings, but with the knocking sounds and that amount of blowby I would think either broken/cracked piston. Good luck.
In addition to other problems, you have a cracked head or bad head gasket.
Add this to the bearing knock, and the motor is toasted.
Add this to the bearing knock, and the motor is toasted.
That FS-DE uses almost exactly the same lifters as the Miata and 323GTX.
My GTX ran much better with thicker oil, M1 15W50(redcap), than it did with M1 10W30.
The only time I had a lifter totally collapse was when running M1 10W30, then the turbo went...
What makes you think the lifters can't take thicker oil?
More pressure helps the lifters pump up.
All the rest I agree with 100%.
The FS-DE motor is also in the Protege.
Earlier models are shim-over-bucket solid lifters, later versions have graded solid lifters without shims.
The "hot" version to get is the jdm FS-ZE, it's got bigger cams and more compression?
www.corksport.com can get that sort of stuff.
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Wow ..lot's of "remote viewing" going on here. I need a crystal ball.
I would have idled it until full warmup just to assure that there was nothing additionally wrong other then the knock. Anything too out of whack would show itself (probably).
I would have idled it until full warmup just to assure that there was nothing additionally wrong other then the knock. Anything too out of whack would show itself (probably).
Was it clearly rod knock?
Because the hydraulic lifters in Mazda engines can collapse and the valvetrain will tick/knock badly, engine will stumble.
Holding the throttle at 2-3k for 10-15 minutes was the old Miata fix.
Or try thicker oil.
Auto-RX, etc...
Is there antifreeze or just water in the radiator?
Antifreeze will smell sweet when it burns.
Have you tried Probe/MX6 forums like www.probetalk.com or www.mx6.com ?
Because the hydraulic lifters in Mazda engines can collapse and the valvetrain will tick/knock badly, engine will stumble.
Holding the throttle at 2-3k for 10-15 minutes was the old Miata fix.
Or try thicker oil.
Auto-RX, etc...
Is there antifreeze or just water in the radiator?
Antifreeze will smell sweet when it burns.
Have you tried Probe/MX6 forums like www.probetalk.com or www.mx6.com ?
Go get your $300 bucks back.
P.B.
P.B.
Wow lots of opinions. Maybe I was a little unclear. I have (I strongly believe) two isolated problems. One is a bad rod bearing making noise. The second are questionable rings causing blow-by and smoke that wasn't present when the car was parked 5 months ago.
The oil pan comes off Sunday morning. I'm 99.9% it's just a bad rod bearing. The noise is down low - heard best at the oil pan. Broken piston??? I really doubt it, but who knows....
It's oil that it's burning. I don't why some say oil burns blue. I've seen a lot of oil burning cars, but I've never seen blue smoke. Maybe at the 4th of July air show...
The car's in great shape otherwise.
[ September 08, 2006, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: Inliner ]
The oil pan comes off Sunday morning. I'm 99.9% it's just a bad rod bearing. The noise is down low - heard best at the oil pan. Broken piston??? I really doubt it, but who knows....
It's oil that it's burning. I don't why some say oil burns blue. I've seen a lot of oil burning cars, but I've never seen blue smoke. Maybe at the 4th of July air show...
The car's in great shape otherwise.
[ September 08, 2006, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: Inliner ]
There's no bolts on the backside of the tranny?
Looks like you pulled the center bolts to the main caps.
Did you try hitting it with a peice of wood or a rubber mallet?
Start cutting at the RTV/sealant and gently pry it apart, then tap on it...
Looks like you pulled the center bolts to the main caps.
Did you try hitting it with a peice of wood or a rubber mallet?
Start cutting at the RTV/sealant and gently pry it apart, then tap on it...
There were 3 horizontal bolts connecting it to the bellhousing - got those. We tried mallets, hammers, pribars, screwdrivers, chisels... The front half will pry down a bit. Enough to get a 1/8" gap. The rear half won't budge. I'm thinking there may be dowels that line up the bellhousing in this piece. Maybe it has to slide forward and then down. We tried that too of course. I need to find some old Ford or Mazda mechanics.
Ok - found 2 more bolts. The upper pan structure is also bolted to the rear main seal housing. This piece actually extends into the bellhousing at the upper-rearmost part. Looks like the two holes in the bottom of the bellhousing are access holes for those bolts.
If you screw it up too bad you won't be able to get your $300 back.
P.B.
P.B.
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