Tell me about 2004 Mazda6

My daughter needs a car & I've found a unicorn. '04 Mazda6 wagon with 5 sp. , It has 139k & photographs well. I haven't yet gone to look at it.

What do I need to be on the lookout for? Any common problems or troubles? I believe the engine is the 3.0 l Ford Duratec. How's it to change timing belt etc. on this car?

Asking price is nearly $5K. Seems a little high to me.

What do y'all think?

Thanks.

M2Pilot wrote: My daughter needs a car & I've found a unicorn. '04 Mazda6 wagon with 5 sp. , It has 139k & photographs well. I haven't yet gone to look at it. What do I need to be on the lookout for? Any common problems or troubles? I believe the engine is the 3.0 l Ford Duratec. How's it to change timing belt etc. on this car? Asking price is nearly $5K. Seems a little high to me. What do y'all think? Thanks.

They hold their value pretty well. That doesn't sound out of line. I really like them and almost bought one a couple of weeks ago. A close friend runs a very respected local repair shop, and he's leery of the Ford/Mazda hybrid nature of it. Doesn't think it'll hold up that well. I have noticed that when looking for used ones, they often seem to have motor issues. Now I'm looking for an IS300 Sportcross. It's not uncommon to see that motor with 300k miles on it and no troubles. Unfortunately the good ones are pricey.

Great car. They are well liked on here. Nothing wrong with the Mazda + Ford relationship. Haven't seen any with motor issues....

$5k seems inline with others on here. Search for past threads on the car.

kreb wrote:

M2Pilot wrote: My daughter needs a car & I've found a unicorn. '04 Mazda6 wagon with 5 sp. , It has 139k & photographs well. I haven't yet gone to look at it. What do I need to be on the lookout for? Any common problems or troubles? I believe the engine is the 3.0 l Ford Duratec. How's it to change timing belt etc. on this car? Asking price is nearly $5K. Seems a little high to me. What do y'all think? Thanks.

They hold their value pretty well. That doesn't sound out of line. I really like them and almost bought one a couple of weeks ago. A close friend runs a very respected local repair shop, and he's leery of the Ford/Mazda hybrid nature of it. Doesn't think it'll hold up that well. I have noticed that when looking for used ones, they often seem to have motor issues. Now I'm looking for an IS300 Sportcross. It's not uncommon to see that motor with 300k miles on it and no troubles. Unfortunately the good ones are pricey.

IS300s sportcross are amazing but you probably wouldn't find one for what he wants to pay, lol. If he could it would be the better buy by far.

what i've learned in 3 years with my '03 mazda6 sedan V6/5sp:

front wheel bearings were noisy when i bought it at 125k. so don't be surprised by that. before replacement it was rumbly and noisy all the time. after replacement it is vault-like in terms of interior noise. they did a nice job with NVH on these cars.

fuel pump had a weird pickup issue where it would suck air in right turns when the level was down to about 1/4 on the gauge. replacement pump assembly is about $300 from rockauto, and the whole job took about 90 minutes. remove rear seat cushion, remove access cover, disengage electrical connector, unscrew retaining ring, remove pump assembly.

timing CHAIN ftw

ignition coils (COP) start getting weak around 130k, maybe sooner. will set misfire DTCs on offending cylinder(s). i replaced mine at about 155k. upper intake has to be removed to access rear bank. not difficult or messy, as the upper intake is dry.

water pump is on transaxle end of the engine, and is driven by a short V-belt with an idler pulley ('03 - '06). when (not if) the idler pulley bearing fails, you lose water pump drive and will overheat. after '06, they eliminated the idler pulley assembly and went to a "stretch to install" belt, where you put the belt on as far as you can, then bump the starter to pull the belt the rest of the way over the pulley. i "updated" my car to the later setup rather than paying $70 for a new idler pulley assembly.

if it's had a life of quicky oil changes where they check the air filter, the intake boot between airbox and throttle body will be torn. this allows unmetered air into the engine and will cause lean fuel mixture DTCs. i wrapped mine with duct tape and drove it for another 18 months, then replaced with $20 chinese pos boot from rockauto when i did the coils.

rear caliper slides will quit sliding. it is a mazda. it is a way of life. both miatas, both probe gt's, and my 6 have all had this problem. replacement slides and boots are cheap. sometimes getting them apart is a mofo, so tackle it as soon as you see unusual wear pattern on rear rotors.

forums talk of weak clutches. at 165k i'm still on the original, so i think a lot of that is people not learning how to drive stick from someone who knows how to drive stick.

at 5 grand, i would buy that in a heartbeat if it's decently clean. in fact, if you buy it and don't like the wagon-ness of it, i will give you my '03 plus a grand and i'll deliver it to you.

Mr. Corvair, What do you know about the pre cat failure some cars had? I am not sure how big of an issue it is.

In reply to Sultan:

i bought this car from a good friend who bought it new, so i've got every record back to the window sticker. my car has never suffered this failure, although it is currently throwing a code for pre-cat 1 efficiency low. i should throw new O2 sensors at it to see if it goes away, but it does not appear to affect driveability or fuel economy. my code started within one tank of running a bottle of octane booster through it. it fell off the shelf and cracked and started leaking, and the mazda was the nearest car so i dumped it in. pretty dumb thing to do on a car that's OE-tuned for 87 octane, LOL.

if you believe the forums, clutches and cats fail everyday on these cars. i guess mine is the outlier. or perhaps people on the forums are douches who "mod" their cars without understanding potential consequences, or they just don't know how to drive, or they don't maintain their stuff, etc.

In reply to AngryCorvair:

Thanks Angry, these are just the type of responses I'm looking for, from someone with ownership experience.

Anyone else want to chime in?

You should PM KatyB (I think that is the correct name). Very knowledgeable!

Personally I love them and I have a coworker who bought it new and it now has over 125K and he still loves it. And it is a wagon like you are looking at except for the tranny.

I had a '05 with the 2.3L 5-speed. I bought the car with a broken clutch. PO said it failed in the driveway and upon inspection, the OEM pressure plate broke and sent metal bits flying everywhere. It looked like a rare component failure.
Loved the car. Sold it and bought a low mileage '06 Speed6.

I just got mine and I paid 7 but it had 68k on it.

Precat and ckutch failures are common.... recats only when vehocle os driven agressively. Engine runs a 10:1 afr under wot which is the cause. The ckutch failures i believe are due to popping the ckutch. Untill i started delivery driving mine held up great. Since then eh not so much. But thats on a modded car with stage 3 ckutches.

V6... Manual....wagon? You totally want a heavily modified ms3 instead so I can get it.... Right? I'd buy it 20 minutes ago.

Thanks again for all our input on this car. I've decided to not get it. So far as I know, it's still at Lee's Auto Center in Clayton, NC if anyone is interested.

My son (who's pretty knowledgeable about this sort of thing) looked at it. Negatives he noticed were: Some headline sag,needs wiper blades, a/c blend door noisy (sounds like leaves trapped behind cabin filter, well worn tires, wanky clutch, slight oil leak (valve cover ?), RF axle shaft input seal leaking some fluid.

Son tells me the folks at the car store were very nice & let him put car on lift. Other than that he nor I have no relationship nor experience with this store.

Since the car is a bit of a unicorn, I thought I'd report back. Sorry it's so far from MN.