Hi, I'm new to this board, so forgive me if I'm posting in the wrong area.

I have a 94 Mazda MX-3 GS 6 cylinder DOHC, automatic. It sat for a while while some work was being done to it, so the fluids were old in the car. I drove it around a bit and then drove it around 5-miles to get my grandson and it ran perfect. When I left, the car would only "chug" it took me forever to get it moving, and when I did it seemed ok as long as it was in first gear, when it went to second, it would start chugging again and die. The car is an automatic btw. It took me forever to get it home and I'd say it died at least 10-times on the way, but it always started for me.

The next day after I had gotten it home I went out to start it and it wouldn't start, but it would crank. When it was in the shop it was at a transmission place, and they said the transmission was fine (it was another problem they had to correct) and they also gave me a new battery. So, knowing how a car can chug if it is missing I decided to check the spark plugs. In one of the spark plug wells there was a pool of oil. After talking to several people at auto parts stores or friends that are mechanics the overall opinion is that I need to replace the Valve Cover Gasket.

Ok, so here's my questions: First: Do you think that is truly the problem, if not, what do you think it is.

Second: The value cover gasket looks huge on this car (backside plugs), and very complicated to remove. Can anyone direct me to an exploded view of this so I can see just what I'm looking at when I attempted to perform this fix.

I have worked on cars and I'm very good at following diagrams and instructions from books, so I'm going to attempt the fix. Plus I'm unemployed at the moment and don't have the money to put it in the shop. I am NOT going to give this car up, I love this car when it runs correctly and my desire it to fix it up and have a very nice little sports car.

Off the subject. The wiper arms for the windshield wipers are rusted and I'd like to replace them. I can't find replacements anywhere. It can't be that hard to find wiper arms, is it? If you know of any generic ones that work, let me know.

Thanks a lot, I'm hoping to be a regular contributor in this board and learn a great deal.

 

The gaskets are cheap enough from a Mazda dealer, you'll have to get an air intake gasket as well as to get to the rear valve cover you have to remove the air intake. I will be doing the very same job when the weather warms up as I live in Ontario and it gets a tad cold here in the winter and I don't have access to my garage, about five feet of snow that's about ten feet in width in front of the door and as a 70 yr old with heart problems I'm not about to shovel it. As for the oil in the spark plug hole, yes, that will definitely cause a spark problem as your plugs are probably shorting out.

There are two gaskets, one for each valve cover and each are a one piece rubber gasket that incorporates seals around where the spark plugs go into the head. These things tend to go hard after a number of years and lose their ability to protect the plugs from the oil that is circulated inside the valve cover, at least that's the way it is with the 2.5 ltr DOHC V6.