Both XT's are down with head gasket issues. Have had the block check and the heads milled down on both also. I'm using Felpro PT gaskets and have done head gaskets before on lots of cars. They run fine for a couple weeks and then blow. Only thing I have not done yet is try a new set of head bolts. Guess thats the next step for Spring. Well it gets worse. I bought a 2001 Mazda 626 to make a daily driver out of it. Nice car, 29mpg and rides nice. 2.0 4cyl auto. Bad keyword there 'AUTO'.... Yeah you guessed it, the Ford CD4E transmission and yup, it went out. Now I'm driving a fricking Montana until the tranny gets replaced under warrenty with another used CD4e tranny. I need Spring to get here, atleast the Harley stays running..... I know, go lay by my dish and whine. I will.
I feel your whining is justified. I feel for you. Best of luck on the head gasket thing, wasn't there a thread on here about really really fine cracks in the head? Have you had the heads crack-checked?
Yeah, the tranny also went out in my husband's Mazda 626 beater. Luckily it was quick fixable and we got rid of it.
well I had both sets of heads check and the block in the AWD XT. May have to have CHUX do a swap for me in one this year and the other next year if he is still into it by then. Just dont get it, why they last a few weeks and then give. Bolts are the only thing I can think of unless the old ones now are to long and hitting bottom. Not sure if that can happen but I'm running out of idea's. Whatever it is if I get one figured out, I probably have the other too. lol The SVX was nice but I did a tranny in that too. Guess thats where my bad luck started. Mazda should be back on the road by end of week and then I better get a tranny cooler on it asap.
My brother in law's tranny on his 626 is close to shot. I feel your pain on the crap breaking as I put a new short block in my STi in Aug-Sep and now it's got a blown turbo. It's quite a lot of $$$ to shell out.
my friend says she's had her 626 into the shop for the 5th and last time with a tranni issue. Not sure whats wrong with it, but the smoke I saw coming from it last time didnt look too good.
well The Ford CD4E or LA4A-EL which Mazda calls it had some issues. I dont know how many have gone bad but sounds like alot. They also ran this tranny in the probe and Contour. Also Merc ran it in a few cars. They had problem with line pressure getting to high and blowing out pump gaskets and cooling issues like the SVX had. They have no pan to drop so you have to hook them to a machine to pump the fluid out with new. I'm getting another one from a 2002 626 with 53000 miles on it. Going to replace the axle seals and sidepan gasket and then add a external tranny cooler like I did to the SVX and with luck that will last me till the car is long gone. I have 145000 on it and my old Mazda 323 went to 302000 before I had to part with it because of rust issues around the rear controller arms. Hope to get the same mileage out of this 626. So it looks like I got a few problem childs now with the headgaskets on the 2 XT's and the tranny in the Mazda. Think I need to ride the bus. lol
