03 Diesel Mazda 6 Head Gasket Blown

commandz

Ok, had a break down today and was towed to the nearest garage. The mechanic, with a heavy heart informed me the head gasket was gone.

I payed just over 3000 for the car and I've only had it about 2 months, I was really enjoying it up to this point. It's very hard to get a quotation from a mechanic, which I appreciate is due to the dificulty of quantifying the damage over the phone, ball park figure anything up to 1500 euros but no one has really given me anything solid or be that bothered find out about a replacement engine. I just want to get some opinions of repair and options. I have an awful feeling given the age of the car, I may have to walk away from it and chalk it down to experience. It actually feels like a death in the family!

Any input appreciated.

sh1tstirrer

Mazda 6 diesels are a disaster with engine and gear box troubles.

Leonard Hofstadter

Just let it die and go on to something else. Those engines are an absolute nightmare. I am generally a believer in trying to rescue cars that are not that old when they have problems, it's to be expected that as cars age things will go wrong, but in this case I'd say no way is it worth sinking that much money into it.

Ironically the petrol engined models are absolutely bulletproof, few cars are more reliable than a petrol engined Mazda 6.

Sorry for your troubles OP, if it's any consolation the same thing has happened an awful lot of other 6 diesel owners.

Tea 1000

Previous two posts are typical of boards attitudes. Neither have ever owned one. HG failures aren't that common on them. How much were you quoted to fix?

When you say brokedown what actually happened?

For example, noticing a rising temp gauge and pulling over and noticing a lack of power and lots of smoke are both HG failure but in the former it may well be fixable for reasonable money.

If you spent €3000 buying it two months ago I'd be getting a proper opinion on what damage is likely rather than trying to get over the phone quoted for a HG on a diesel 6.

Car needs to be examined before a decision is made, admittedly it can be hard to quanitify what actual damage has been done without some work.

commandz

captainspeed wrote: »

Just let it die and go on to something else. Those engines are an absolute nightmare. I am generally a believer in trying to rescue cars that are not that old when they have problems, it's to be expected that as cars age things will go wrong, but in this case I'd say no way is it worth sinking that much money into it.

Ironically the petrol engined models are absolutely bulletproof, few cars are more reliable than a petrol engined Mazda 6.

Sorry for your troubles OP, if it's any consolation the same thing has happened an awful lot of other 6 diesel owners.

Your words are like posion But I'm afraid you might be right, my only hope is I do have a distant relation who is a mechanic, if the labour was reasonable, the numbers might crunch to get it repaired. But yes, I have started digging a mazda sized hole in the flower bed.

commandz

RoverJames wrote: »

When you say brokedown what actually happened?

For example, noticing a rising temp gauge and pulling over and noticing a lack of power and lots of smoke are both HG failure but in the former it may well be fixable for reasonable money.

If you spent €3000 buying it two months ago I'd be getting a proper opinion on what damage is likely rather than trying to get over the phone quoted for a HG on a diesel 6.

Car needs to be examined before a decision is made, admittedly it can be hard to quanitify what actual damage has been done without some work.

No I agree with you completedly despite my maudlin outlook, I going to get a proper appraisel as soon as possible. Sorry to qualify that, it's the lack of powers loads of smoke kind.

commandz

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Previous two posts are typical of boards attitudes. Neither have ever owned one. HG failures aren't that common on them. How much were you quoted to fix?

The thing is I have'nt really got a straight qoute (over the phone) and I have been speaking to a lot of apathetic mechanics who advise walking away. I just have to find one who will give it a decent once over and yay or nay. But the the original gargage it was towed to, ball parked anything up 1500+. Again I appreciate its very hard to judge the damage with looking at it objectively.

Does anyone have a good mechanic recommendation in Portloaise area? I'm willing to tow it a reasonable distance.

johnos1984

commandz wrote: »

Does anyone have a good mechanic recommendation in Portloaise area? I'm willing to tow it a reasonable distance.

George Dalton

commandz

johnos1984 wrote: »

George Dalton

This the guy in question:

http://www.daltons.ie

Cheers, I'll drop him a line tomorrow.

johnos1984

commandz wrote: »

This the guy in question:

http://www.daltons.ie

Cheers, I'll drop him a line tomorrow.

That's the one. He is a user on here and goes under the username George Dalton

commandz

johnos1984 wrote: »

That's the one. He is a user on here and goes under the username George Dalton

The clandestine devil! Would he mind if I threw him a PM?

johnos1984

commandz wrote: »

The clandestine devil! Would he mind if I threw him a PM?

Doubt it

MuppetCheck

johnos1984 wrote: »

Doubt it

Based on the thanks In posts two and three I can imagine the conversation!

johnos1984

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Based on the thanks In posts two and three I can imagine the conversation!

Might not be as bad once inspected

sh1tstirrer

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Previous two posts are typical of boards attitudes. Neither have ever owned one. HG failures aren't that common on them. How much were you quoted to fix?

For your information i am on my second Mazda 6 petrol. I was more interested in the diesel model when i was buying my first one but i did a bit of research first and it was nothing but bad news about them which is why i went with the petrol model.

Leonard Hofstadter

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Previous two posts are typical of boards attitudes. Neither have ever owned one. HG failures aren't that common on them. How much were you quoted to fix?

I see, so you have to own a car now before you're allowed to give an opinion on it:rolleyes:? Everyone knows those engines have a significantly higher failure rate than other cars.

The fact that they give so much trouble even in the UK (a country that loves its cars and where people look after them) is proof that they're not good as opposed to some cars which give trouble purely because the typical Irish attitude of not bothering to maintain a car properly.

run_Forrest_run

folks, I too have read horror stories about the Mazda 6 diesel engines but do ye think perhaps in the newer models (say, 07+) the problems have been rectified.
I'm asking cos Parkers said the 07 models have excellent diesels. Or is it a case that they can't go around saying HG problems for the fear of being sued?

Tea 1000

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

For your information i am on my second Mazda 6 petrol. I was more interested in the diesel model when i was buying my first one but i did a bit of research first and it was nothing but bad news about them which is why i went with the petrol model.

Exactly, proves my point!!

captainspeed wrote: »

I see, so you have to own a car now before you're allowed to give an opinion on it:rolleyes:? Everyone knows those engines have a significantly higher failure rate than other cars.

The fact that they give so much trouble even in the UK (a country that loves its cars and where people look after them) is proof that they're not good as opposed to some cars which give trouble purely because the typical Irish attitude of not bothering to maintain a car properly.

You don't have to own one, but there's a trend of talk around here that a Mazda 6 diesel is guaranteed to fail. Despite this belief, there are many 10 year old ones still around... why haven't they failed? The dreaded problem is the big-end bearing on the no. 4 piston, but that affects a small enough percentage. Less of a percentage in fact than the front suspension snapping on VW Passat's, which could be potentially fatal, but perish the thought of criticising a VW...

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

folks, I too have read horror stories about the Mazda 6 diesel engines but do ye think perhaps in the newer models (say, 07+) the problems have been rectified.
I'm asking cos Parkers said the 07 models have excellent diesels. Or is it a case that they can't go around saying HG problems for the fear of being sued?

The new 2.2 is a decent engine.

johnos1984

Tea 1000 wrote: »

perish the thought of criticising a VW...

They are shyte.





there I said it

George Dalton

Tea 1000 wrote: »

.... there's a trend of talk around here that a Mazda 6 diesel is guaranteed to fail. Despite this belief, there are many 10 year old ones still around... why haven't they failed? The dreaded problem is the big-end bearing on the no. 4 piston, but that affects a small enough percentage. Less of a percentage in fact than the front suspension snapping on VW Passat's, which could be potentially fatal, but perish the thought of criticising a VW...

I don't want to drag this thread off on a tangent but this is totally wide of the mark in my opinion. Saying that nobody on boards criticises VW is just nonsense. The fact is that all known reliability problems on all makes of car get blown out of all proportion on internet forums and the like. The main reason being that you only hear the bad stories not the good ones.

A 2003 Mazda 6 diesel isn't the greatest engine out there but of course it isn't guaranteed to fail so you need to take the advice of the doom-mongers with a pinch of salt.

In much the same way if you did a search on this forum about a 2.0TDI VW/Audi you would think it would hardly be capable of completing a single journey without either an oil pump or an injector failing, while the reality is that there are thousands of them on the roads of this country and comparatively few give any trouble at all.

The problem with both the Mazda and the 2.0TDI VW is that when they do give trouble it can be catastrophic and end up costing a lot of money which is why people kick up such a fuss about it.

Tea 1000

George Dalton wrote: »

I don't want to drag this thread off on a tangent but this is totally wide of the mark in my opinion. Saying that nobody on boards criticises VW is just nonsense. The fact is that all known reliability problems on all makes of car get blown out of all proportion on internet forums and the like. The main reason being that you only hear the bad stories not the good ones.

A 2003 Mazda 6 diesel isn't the greatest engine out there but of course it isn't guaranteed to fail so you need to take the advice of the doom-mongers with a pinch of salt.

In much the same way if you did a search on this forum about a 2.0TDI VW/Audi you would think it would hardly be capable of completing a single journey without either an oil pump or an injector failing, while the reality is that there are thousands of them on the roads of this country and comparatively few give any trouble at all.

The problem with both the Mazda and the 2.0TDI VW is that when they do give trouble it can be catastrophic and end up costing a lot of money which is why people kick up such a fuss about it.

Yes, but a reply full of thought and reason like yours is unwelcome... you shouldn't have posted anything without recommending an Octavia or Superb and slagging an Alpha or Fiat in the same post!

s14driftking

gavin hyland very reasonably priced for doing work based 5 mins outside portlaoise;)
pm if u want his phone no

argosy2006

''2003 mazda 6 engine overheating.One mecahanic reckons it's early signs of head gasket going,mazda dealer said it was thermostat,which was then replaced and as I said above it was running perfect''

argosy2006

Do you want to do head gasket first,
test drive it then, o still over heating, try thermostat ,,
yay ok now
GEEZ TRY THERMOSTAT FIRST,
And water pump, All these should be replaced with new head gasket anyway
so why not try them first

argosy2006

argosy2006 wrote: »

''2003 mazda 6 engine overheating.One mecahanic reckons it's early signs of head gasket going,mazda dealer said it was thermostat,which was then replaced and as I said above it was running perfect''

where did you pull that from?

argosy2006 wrote: »

Do you want to do head gasket first,
test drive it then, o still over heating, try thermostat ,,
yay ok now
GEEZ TRY THERMOSTAT FIRST,
And water pump, All these should be replaced with new head gasket anyway
so why not try them first

What's that post about?


W

galwaytt

George Dalton wrote: »

A 2003 Mazda 6 diesel isn't the greatest engine out there but of course it isn't guaranteed to fail so you need to take the advice of the doom-mongers with a pinch of salt.

The problem with both the Mazda .......is that when they do give trouble it can be catastrophic and end up costing a lot of money which is why people kick up such a fuss about it.

"isn't the greatest" ? - LOLOL..........Well, I have owned one, and I can state, categorically, that the 2.0 RF series Turbo D in Mazda's is the finest............ball of shyte/boat anchor to come out of Japan for decades. It has the normal DMF issues of any modern diesel, and add in the crank issues, pump issues, and turbo issues they are known for, they are, frankly, rubbish.

You second point is correct: even if you CAN get parts for them (and forget used ones...! ), they are horrificly expensive - parts to rebuild mine alone came to €4500. So I didn't bother. I scrapped the car.

Junk, is, well, just too small a word for them...........

Their petrol engined cars are, however, fine. And I DO have one of them, and it's great.

sh1tstirrer

Tea 1000 wrote: »

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

For your information i am on my second Mazda 6 petrol. I was more interested in the diesel model when i was buying my first one but i did a bit of research first and it was nothing but bad news about them which is why i went with the petrol model.

Exactly, proves my point!!

captainspeed wrote: »

I see, so you have to own a car now before you're allowed to give an opinion on it:rolleyes:? Everyone knows those engines have a significantly higher failure rate than other cars.

The fact that they give so much trouble even in the UK (a country that loves its cars and where people look after them) is proof that they're not good as opposed to some cars which give trouble purely because the typical Irish attitude of not bothering to maintain a car properly.

You don't have to own one, but there's a trend of talk around here that a Mazda 6 diesel is guaranteed to fail. Despite this belief, there are many 10 year old ones still around... why haven't they failed? The dreaded problem is the big-end bearing on the no. 4 piston, but that affects a small enough percentage. Less of a percentage in fact than the front suspension snapping on VW Passat's, which could be potentially fatal, but perish the thought of criticising a VW...

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

folks, I too have read horror stories about the Mazda 6 diesel engines but do ye think perhaps in the newer models (say, 07+) the problems have been rectified.
I'm asking cos Parkers said the 07 models have excellent diesels. Or is it a case that they can't go around saying HG problems for the fear of being sued?

The new 2.2 is a decent engine.

You are contradicting yourself.

L-M

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Yes, but a reply full of thought and reason like yours is unwelcome... you shouldn't have posted anything without recommending an Octavia or Superb and slagging an Alpha or Fiat in the same post!

Please stop posting.

just do it

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Mazda 6 diesels are a disaster with engine and gear box troubles.

Does this still stand for the newer diesel models from 2008 on?

commandz

Got it looked it at by a distant relative who was going to charge me a reasonable price (after towing it from Portloaise to Louth while incredibly hungover, I don't recommend) he informed me that it was beyond saving and total fecked. Oddly enough, I think I'd still fancy another one, but slightly younger. Anyone interested in Mazda parts bar the engine block let me know!

commandz

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Previous two posts are typical of boards attitudes. Neither have ever owned one. HG failures aren't that common on them. How much were you quoted to fix?

For your information i am on my second Mazda 6 petrol. I was more interested in the diesel model when i was buying my first one but i did a bit of research first and it was nothing but bad news about them which is why i went with the petrol model.

How do you find the mileage on the petrol? I'm doing a round trip from Portlaoise to Limerick a day, but I would like another one.