Possible new Millenia owner.

[Renesisking]

Hi everyone,

I have been looking for a cheap and reliable car. I prefer to keep it in the Mazda family as my family has owned quite a few of them and have had plenty of luck with them (except for the RX-8 but thats different) and I've always loved the Millenia and would love to get another one. I've found a nice two-tone white with tan bottom 2002 Millenia 2.5 with 67K on it and I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. My dad has a 2001 Mazda 626 ES V6 5-Speed with I believe the same engine. He has only had the CELs for the O2 sensors but we took care of that and the car runs great. He has about 120K+ on the car and it runs perfectly. Since its pretty much the same engine, I'm not worried about the supercharger or the coolers that will need to be fixed and or replaced with the normally aspirated engine. The only thing I don't know is if its a timing belt or chain? I'll replace the belt when necessary and I'm not so worried about it but I was reading the first 5 pages and it seems as if its the 2.3L that has the Lysholm seal issue and the supercharger problems. Am I safe in assuming that? Anything else I should know about? Thanks for your help!

[Saint_]

Just to make it clear, 2.3L has supercharger, 2.5L doesnt.

Your dad's engine is similar to milly's 2.5L. But not the same:

Mazda K engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am assuming it is worse reliability than milly since it has ford stuff in it.

Change timing belt when its time. Nothing different than other cars.

67k is pretty low.

And supercharger doesnt go bad if oil changes are done correctly.

[Renesisking]

Yea, sorry, I know its the 2.3L that has the supercharger. I didn't mean to make it confusing. Other than typical maintenance for a high mileage car, I don't expect much difference. I think I will try to go for the Milly, if not that particular one. Thanks!

[MUtiger93]

I have an 02 Two tone White/Tan personally that car is not good... It's great!!! Love it every day I sit down and the engine turns right over with no CEL at 120K. I will say that you will possibly creep up on some tie rod/ lateral link repair. The car is the perfect combo of luxury and a little hint of sporty when you want it. An intake and cat back really zip up the 2.5L. And... when your in my position in a few years and you want a little more out of the car you can buy a direct replacement KLZE engine to swap in for a good price. First car was a 3000gt VR4 (R.I.P) and although the milly isn't even close in performance it makes up for it in lots of style points!

Long post over

[Renesisking]

Thanks a lot MUtiger93. I loved the VR4. My RX-8 was my first car, and this is going to be my second. To be honest, I wasn't even looking at a car this cheap but I also didn't plan on my engine seizing up. Trying to balance a surprise engine build and trying to find a reliable used car is making it difficult. Its nice to know you can mod it. No CEL with the intake? Thats probably the only thing, I'd do.

[MUtiger93]

The best thing about the car is that when i drive it, I don't feel like I'm driving a car that only cost 5 grand. This particular paint job looks so good under street lights at night. As for the intake It will give you no problems if it is done right. There are unfortunately no aftermarket intake, you will need to make one or get one from someone on the forum by someone i mean Yel-low. Making one is very easy though is you have basic mechanical abilities. I can go more in depth on how i made my intake if the is the route you want to go.

[Renesisking]

I'll let you know when I get to that point. This winter, I don't think I want to do anything to it, other then change the oil and routine stuff. I will definitely get in touch with you regarding it though.

[MUtiger93]

Well enjoy the new milly

[bigb]

hehe. the 2.3 also "zips up" the car too

I dont know why everyone is so afraid of it

[Renesisking]

What are you seeing for fuel economy? My dad's 626 is supposed to take Premium but he uses regular and gets the high 20s to low 30s for mileage which is fine. Do you use premium or regular or mid grade?