One of the cars I maintain is a '95 Mazda Protege. It has the little 1.5L engine. 176K miles. It's really basic, but to have a good little car that gets excellent gas mileage is great.
One thing that has me scratching my head on this engine is every time I open the filler cap, visible vapors come out. Every time, even with new oil! Even when the engine is cold. Yesterday while draining the oil, the oil was flowing out along with visible vapor... it kind of looked like a smoker exhaling! It did this the entire time it was draining. I have had to clean out all along the PCV system on this car, it can get plugged and has been plugged in the past.
Anyway, it has 176K. It's like my 92 year old grandfather who eats mostly junk food. We've told him that if you made it to 92 years with those habits, don't change anything... it must be working. I'm just wondering what to do with this 1.5L engine.... now that I've changed it and don't plan to do anything for six months... ?
One thing that has me scratching my head on this engine is every time I open the filler cap, visible vapors come out. Every time, even with new oil! Even when the engine is cold. Yesterday while draining the oil, the oil was flowing out along with visible vapor... it kind of looked like a smoker exhaling! It did this the entire time it was draining. I have had to clean out all along the PCV system on this car, it can get plugged and has been plugged in the past.
Anyway, it has 176K. It's like my 92 year old grandfather who eats mostly junk food. We've told him that if you made it to 92 years with those habits, don't change anything... it must be working. I'm just wondering what to do with this 1.5L engine.... now that I've changed it and don't plan to do anything for six months... ?
