just got a few tune-up parts that i wanted to go ahead and install since my car is getting up there in miles. it's at 92k miles and going strong, but i need to keep the maintenance going to keep it up for another 92k, hopefully.

there has been a constant debate about one aspect of the FS motors (2.0l) and that debate is whether the engine is interference or non-interference. with this install, i intend to find out for sure. i will assume that these findings hold the same for the BP (1.8l) motors since they share similar features, heads-up. anyways, on to the work.

parts to be installed;
timing belt
timing belt tensioner
water pump
valve cover gasket
thermostat
crank seal
cam seals
new spark plugs

i will keep a pictoral of the work and post it below. be back soon.

 

pics will be in the next post. here are some of my notes;

a friend of mine recommended to me that i should do the tension spring on the timing belt but not worry about the whole assembly. he has a lot more experience than me in this area, so i went ahead and ordered parts as he said. he was 100% right. apparently, the tension spring is kind of an achilles heel on this motor in specific. other parts were in perfect working condition, but the spring was on the verge of a break. it wouldn't have really broken, but it would have gotten loose enough to drop out of place and into the bottom cover. i have experienced that on other cars and it means an instant failure of the timing belt. i replaced the belt and the spring, but didn't worry about the remainder of the assembly. the belt itself was actually in great shape, but i was there already and had a belt in hand.

the entire front cover was incredibly clean and only had some dust in it where the belt was wearing down. since it was so clean, i left the cam and crank seals alone. they weren't broke, so i didn't fix them. the valve cover gasket definitely needed to be replaced and this is the third time in 40k miles it has needed replaced. another downfall, i suppose. the water pump was difficult to get to, but it was worth it to take the extra few minutes and do it. thermostat was very simple, especially since i have an aftermarket header which frees up some space on the left side of the motor. even still, it wouldn't have been complicated to do with the stock manifold.

i also have some new oil that i am going to try next. i needed to change it with the rest of the work, but i didn't have time. anyways, the oil is Total synthetic 10w 50. i sourced it through a friend who services higher end imports, otherwise i don't know where to find it. it is french made and there are much higher standards on oil in europe than the states, so it will be interesting to see the performance of it. the castrol syntec that i use now is very high-quality and will be tough to beat. i will have some more notes up with pics later

 

back for more updates;

the question that i get more than any other is whether or not this is an interference engine. here is the conclusion that i have drawn from this work; the engine is interference. it seems to me that mazda built this engine with service in mind, so it isn't interference in the same way that the 4g63 mitsubishi motor is, in my opinion. i have worked on the 4g63 motors more extensively and can see exactly how much interference those motors have. they are sure to bend valves in a bad way when the timing belt snaps and i have seen them knock guides loose on higher rpm breaks. i believe that the FS motor will bend valves on bad breaks, but i couldn't see it causing damage further than that. i have worked on 4g63 motors that have had the heads machined to or beyond service specs and they needed adjustable cam gears in order to keep stock timing. at that point, coolant ports suffer also and i recommend gasket matching along with porting to correct this.

anyways, back to the FS motor. the reason that i say mazda had service in mind is here; the timing on the motor doesn't line up perfectly. if you hit TDC on the engine, the timing marks will line up (every other revolution) in the middle, but the lines don't perfectly face each other. the intake cam will stay just a little lower than the exhaust cam. if you mill to the service limits, those lines will line up a little better. also, the engine is interference, but not so much so that it would negatively effect serviceability. with maximum machine work, i believe that the valve timing will still be just fine with no adjustments at all.

on to my work;
here is the candidate


2002 Mazda Protege5, manual trans, 92k miles. it has a few bolt-ons and appearance mods, but nothing really in-depth. i bought it at 64k miles 3 years ago and it is starting to come up on a few scheduled services. i am totally insane when it comes to maintenance, so i am doing all of these early so that the car will hopefully not have a break-down the whole time i own it. there are a few things that i won't be able to avoid just with scheduled maintenance, but there are plenty of things that i can avoid by keeping up with or staying ahead of this schedule. this car needs to last me for a very long time since it is going to be replaced soon as the daily and become my step-daughter's first car. it's 8 years old and we need to try and get another 6-8 years out of it. maintenance is the only way that i will be able to do it.

here is the teardown

start with the strut brace and cruise control stuff. i just disconnected the bracket, wiring clips, and vacuum line and moved it out of the way. it stayed out of the way most of the time, so i didn't worry about the throttle cable. you will want to get a pic of how the plug wires sit or number them before you remove them. for reference, i have one of these.

fairly simple. i left the wires connected and just pulled them off of the plugs. if you get confused, one pack goes over the back cylinder and sends another wire to the front cylinder. then, the second pack goes over the second cylinder with a wire over to the third. there are only two places where the packs can bolt down, so you have a 50-50 shot if you look at it rationally.



valve cover off, time to check timing. turn the motor over until the crank is at 0 (TDC) and look at where the timing marks are. there are two locations for you to hit since the crank turns twice to the cams once. it is technically alright for you to set the timing at either side, but a lot easier to set it to the middle. this is the timing set on the outside.


the exhaust cam, in this location, has the "E" to the right with the notch level with the head. the intake cam (not pictured) is perfectly opposite. the "I" faces the left and the notch is level with the head. in the other position, the "E" on the exhaust cam faces inward and the "I" on the intake cam faces it with both notches level with the head. i didn't take a picture of this one because it can be very misleading in pictures. basically, you need to take your own picture here (whether mental or actual picture) and make your own comparison. the advice that i will give here is that the notches won't perfectly line up. they will be a little bit lower than level with the head. you can experiment with it a little to see what you want to do with it, but that is my 2 cents.

 

alright, now time to get on with parts.

here is the package;


that is a nissan water pump (genuine and japanese built), continental timing belt, some NGK plugs, a genuine nippon oil filter, and some other standard off-the-shelf parts (valve cover gasket, grommets, thermostat, tension spring, and cam and crank seals). i got all of this stuff from a friend of mine who works at an import shop. he works mainly on bmw's, but his local mazda club has been going to his shop a lot in the last year or two, so they keep all of this on-hand now. he gave me a great discount and it worked out to almost at cost for me. it all looks better grade than any of the stuff that i would have gotten at the local parts store, especially the water pump.

as i stated before, he got me some oil that i am going to try soon. it is Total synthetic oil and supposed to be very high-quality. we will see because it is going to be hard to beat the Castrol syntec that i use. it has kept my crankcase and cams completely spotless over the last 30k miles and i don't know how it can be topped.

 

Awesome, please keep it coming..........

 

What luck!!! I'm getting to this point in my maintenence schedule on 2001 Protege and the timing couldn't have worked out better. Thanks !!!
How does the oil stack up to Castrol?

 

So far, it's doing well. I'm not sure if I have justified the expense yet. It worked out to about $8 a quart (sold by the litre though) while my castrol is about $7 and some change for a quart. It did, however, come in a weight that I can seldom find in castrol. That was mainly because of the fact that I can order it from a dealer while the castrol is limited to what's on the shelf.

 

I am looking at replacing my timing belt very soon on a 2002 protege 2.0. was it just your case that you didn't need the tensioner and Idler ?