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Hatchbacks Mazda 323 Mazda 323
419 messages, Last post on Nov 22, 2009 at 12:45 PM
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As i'm familiar with this board and know some great informed ppls & minds at work a quick question. My girlfriend is looking at buying an older Geo Prism, which looks to be the same car as Toyota Corolla. 1991 with 89,000  $1,000 clean as can be and well maintained w/very little rust. Any comments? (and yes looking into the proper forum now =-) Art
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Replying to: thevine (Jul 06, 2009 10:03 am) 91 Prizm, may be a Toyota. Not positive though. Price seems steep for an 18 year old, so that means current owner needs to prove maintenance a bit more before I dropped any money. If he knows nothing, the car will talk! So it is a serious talk with the car if the owner has not kept a maintenance file. Yup, I'm nuts. We elect people into Washington who shoot other people, so why can't an old wise woman???? give advice on used car buying? Dealers hate me at times, because I fly under their radar until they known me. Then they know, I take no bull. Who drove this car, sounds low mileage for a 91? Even at 89K a lot bad can be done to a car. How long does girlfriend want to keep this one? The longer, the better. Pull the oil dipstick. How does it look. Hopefully not changed. The condition of the oil will tell you a lot. Ask who and how often they change the oil. What kind of oil they use. If it has been changed, pull the PCV valve and open the oil cap. Take a strong flashlight and look inside valve cover. Should look clean with no gunk buildup. If you see a gunk in it other than a light varnish, walk away/bargain lower price. If a/c works, reconsider carefully. Penzoil and Quaker State are bad for this. Most Toyota heads and camshafts get replaced if worn out at a later date. Been there and have that problem on the 86 I rebuilt. Valves nicely adjusted, valve train looked good and passed inspection at overhaul. 30K later, she is tapping away. Valves are still in adjustment. I have researched this one the "hard way!" Check the radiator. If you have an antifreeze tester, use it. How does the coolant look. Hoses show any signs of replacement? Probably not at 89K, but their age renders them questionable. What you are looking for is what kind of care has been given to this car. Auto or manual. At this age, I prefer manual. Fact is, not many sell today, because most people do not know how to really drive! Auto, pull the dipstick. Color of fluid should be a nice pinkish red. Smell it. If it smells burned, that is bad news. This applies to discolored oil. Did someone install an additional transmission cooler? If so, was it for towing? If not for towing, it was a PM move to extend the life of the transmission which upgrades the maintenance score as far as a purchase is concerned. What about last fluid changes? Tires, matching or different brands. 2 of these, 2 of those or all different. Same is best. Check the date codes, if any on sidewalls. If they have a lot of tread and no date code/over 4-6 years, you have a dry rot problem coming, but a true low mileage car. Still worth considering. Four different kinds of tires, someone did not care much for this car. Fire it up. How does it sound? Hit the air: pop in a thermoter in the vent with a/c in recirculate. If she gets cold and you live in south, she is easily worth a grand in my book. From there, use common sense on how it drives. Do not hesitate to see if you can have a mechanic look at it. If told no, I would be a bit concerned. Check for body work. Even if it has had some, at this age it makes little difference other than it is sound. Write down your inspection findings and read over them before you decide. Like my father told me years ago, if it is for sale, there is a reason. It is up to you to determine that reason. So Dr. Holmes, hopefully it was driven by a little old lady and it is a true "creme puff." If so, move on it. You are wise to think carefully even on a low mileage. The more positive answers you get the better. But be aware, when it comes to maintenance records, any thing goes on used. Even some of us good mechanics have been burnt on deals. The dealers get burnt all the time. I have been burnt. Exactly why we thinking hard about new. Getting too old to mess with these things. The more you know beforehand, the better. One reason why my husband does not get screamed at when the car breaks, my department! So who am I going to scream at? Best to you on this endeavor, involve her if possible on the deal. If she is involved learning and making the decision, the less she can scream at you if all goes wrong! The more informed she is on what she bought, the better as well. |
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Replying to: girlcarbuilder (Jul 04, 2009 4:55 pm) Cheers, Stewart |
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We bought what was described as the complete 3-ring binder Shop Manual for our Mazda 323. Its table of contents lists the last section (50) as Wiring Diagram. But the last page in our manual is section (40) Special Tools. Could someone please scan in the Wiring Diagram and post it as an image file so we can download and print it to complete our Shop Manual? Our 323 has the B6 EGI (not DOHC) engine with 4-speed manual transmission. I and my female friend who owns this 323 would be very grateful for this help. Her father bought the car new, drove it for a few years, then gave it to her. So its entire history is known. I has traveled 87 thousand miles to date. During the last thousand miles it developed a stalling symptoms like what numerous other reports describe. So I'm trying to chase down possible causes. We do not have access to the "SST" (Self Diagnosis Checker) tool and the nearest Mazda Dealer, about 60 miles away does not have one either. Thanks for any help with that Wiring Diagram (50) scan. LoveLearn |
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1989 323 4-speed manual standard engine has a plug-in wiring-loom section with 4 plug connectors to injectors, 1 plug connector to block-mounted sensor, and two leads, one black, one brown, both of which were cut off of chewed off by some rodent. To what are those two wires supposed to connect? Still need a wiring diagram image that I can study for this car, which section of our 3-ring-binder Shop Manual is missing. Any help would be appreciated. John |
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i have a mazda 323 1987 4-door sedan i'am looking for the drivers side rear brake light assembly and also i need the passenger front side marker light lense please someone help me
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Replying to: jjfranks (Aug 07, 2009 2:14 pm) |
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i 'am looking for a rear brake light assembly for the drivers side part # 51-150Z thats the madza part number i tried junkyard dog.com with no luck i need one of you mazda 323 lovers who might have some parts laying around to help find me one please somebody out there must have some parts like this some where. please help me find this light.thank you olzalero msn.com
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Replying to: jjfranks (Aug 17, 2009 6:26 pm)
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Replying to: sschmid (Aug 18, 2009 3:08 pm) Now.....if you still have dealer contacts with a dealer who will dig stuff up that may still be out there, call him. You would be surprised what some of them can find. If not, try this dealer. diamond mazda. 1-800-527-0189. they have gotten a few things for me, but not cheap. I pay the price! Also, on a rear bumper I needed for an 86 Toyota took me a lot of time searching on the internet. Finally found one after several days in a junk yard across the country. Check every new and used parts supplier you can find. Look in parts catalogs. If you speak Spanish, try some places in Mexico. They run a few years behind us on parts supplies. It can be done, but is time consuming. Find out what other vehicles the part may have been used on. Contact places like LKQ and Pull a Part via phone and internet. Look for e-mail resources that may contact you when a car comes in. Pull a Part has that. The last 89 323 I saw was about 6 months ago at a LKQ. It has become tough finding parts, but there are still a few. Check e-bay motors for parts as well. You never know. Happy hunting...... |
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