My garage messed up my timing belt replacement which resulted in them having to replace my engine. They installed one of those so called low-mileage engines imported from Japan. I now have a blown cylinder head gasket and/or potentially a cracked cylinder head gasket. I have 2 questions.

1. Is it possible to tell which cylinder head has the problem without have to take the whole thing apart? Is there a chance that both are blow/cracked?

2. Are the engines from Japan substantially different from the original engine? In other words will spares purchased here fit????

Thanks!

 

OUCH!! But welcome to the board, Paarlite2!

As far as what parts will interchange.... Nah, can't help you much there. I lived through the gray market cars of the '80's and this sounds a little like that. You may just have to go to the parts store and match things up. Chances are good though that the gasket set, or most of it, would be the same.
As for determining which cylinder(s) is leaking, yes, there are several ways, depending what/where it's leaking to or from.
1) Is coolant leaking into a cylinder?
2) Do one or two cylinders have excessively low compression?
3) How do the plugs look?
4) Some shops these days have a small camera that can actually be placed down into the cylinder through a spark plug hole to help determine the problem.
There may be other ways as well.

 

Head gasket leaks are very uncommon on that engine. The head gaskets are steel so if it does have a head gasket symptom it is more likely a warped head rather than a head gasket failure. What are the symptoms?

 

A few years after the "new" engine from Japan was installed the car overheated. I did not drive it hot, I stopped and got it towed to the garage. They installed a new radiator but the car kept on overheating. I never drove the car for long when it overheated again and again. I kept taking it back to the garage and the kept "doing" things to it over and over again. Things like replacing the hoses, the thermostat etc. Anyway, the engine started sounding "funny" so I took it in yet again and was told that my engine was full of carbon and needed to be cleaned out. They convinced me that this is what the problem was so I coughed up a huge sum of money to have this done.

2 Days later the engine overheated again. I took it back and this time forced the manager to drive the car. He took the car in and did some sort of test and diagnosed either a cracked head or blown head gaskets but they were not able to tell me which head.

The car spews out white sweet smelling smoke. The engine continues to sound "funny" (like the timing is off, engine running a bit fast) but it still goes. I put Barrs Leaks into the coolant.

I checked the oil - it is clean, no water in the oil. I have not checked the spark plugs.

The cost to fix the car is more than the car is worth but I do like the car and if I were able to fix it for about $2,000 I would be happy to keep it.

I did think about getting another imported engine but one is never sure what condition the engine is in beforehand.

Any suggestions/advice would be very much appreciated.

 

i think you should get rid of the car. the problems here are:

you dont know enough about the car

you are letting someone who knows even less work on your car

engine full of carbon? they are so full of **** their eyes are brown. to think that a reputable shop could come up with such a bogus diagnosis tells me that no one there has any diagnostic skill. the fact that they would try to sell this to a customer tells me that no one there is honest. even more lies is the "messed up timing belt" story. mazda engines are NON interference. you can DISCONNECT the timing belt, and spin the motor, and NOTHING will be damaged. amazing that they can sleep at night.

 

I have to agree. You are being taken by a shop that does not have a clue, or is taking advantage of you on purpose.
I personally know little about the Millenia, but know they are a little different. Perhaps it is not the best choice for you, and if at all possible, trade it before it eats you and your bank account alive.
Find a late model 626 (manual trans,) or, well, there are a lot of other choices. As I understand it, the Millenia is a thoroughbred like owning a British car, it takes special care and is known to have it's quirks.
Am I correct in this thinking, Millenia owners?