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To shorten this story I wound up with a 1989 Festiva L. Bought new, air conditioning, 4 speed, rear defog and probably some other stuff I can't remember. The car ran great, got almost 40 MPG and never let me down. Also the air would do for a meat locker - you can't beat r12.
Put about a total of 106,000 miles on it. I began to notice a ticking sound from the engine which I thought was lifter noise. Since I run nothing other than synthetic 10-30 and change it regularly I was at a lost to explain. I changed the oil and the noise went away. Whew! Pretty soon it was back. I tried my best to figure out the problem and months went by. By chance I opened the hood to check the oil and the sun was just the right position to show me a rainbow of color on the drivers side of the engine at the back. There it was, a bad fuel pump diafram that allowed fuel into the oil. I fixed that, but now I was getting a bearing knock every now and then and well I just new that the engine was about to cost me a lot of money to fix.
Now those of you who have stuck with me this far here comes the real story.
I sold the car to a fellow for 300.00 and told him to just use it to get around short trips, stay of Interstates and cross his fingers and he should be able to get about 6 months out of the car.
He payed no attention to anything I said. An older gentleman, he came by where I work a few days later with the engine roaring. When asked why so much RPM he admitted that some times he forgets to shift into third gear. He drove the car on several trips of at least 100 miles round trip at 65 MPH. He stopped by to purchase oil (I work for a auto parts store) and when I checked the stick the was nothing on the stick. He kept the car for 12 months with the odometer reading 120,000 and then sold it to another guy and I have since lost track of it.
This car is one of the toughest autos I have ever run across. I thought Chevy small blocks were pretty tough but that Mazda 1.3 is definately a match.
I have found a bunch of Festivas and am trying to buy them and fix them up one at a time. Enough people around here know about this experience so I think I can find owners for them.
Just thought you might find this interesting.
Old Geezer
Put about a total of 106,000 miles on it. I began to notice a ticking sound from the engine which I thought was lifter noise. Since I run nothing other than synthetic 10-30 and change it regularly I was at a lost to explain. I changed the oil and the noise went away. Whew! Pretty soon it was back. I tried my best to figure out the problem and months went by. By chance I opened the hood to check the oil and the sun was just the right position to show me a rainbow of color on the drivers side of the engine at the back. There it was, a bad fuel pump diafram that allowed fuel into the oil. I fixed that, but now I was getting a bearing knock every now and then and well I just new that the engine was about to cost me a lot of money to fix.
Now those of you who have stuck with me this far here comes the real story.
I sold the car to a fellow for 300.00 and told him to just use it to get around short trips, stay of Interstates and cross his fingers and he should be able to get about 6 months out of the car.
He payed no attention to anything I said. An older gentleman, he came by where I work a few days later with the engine roaring. When asked why so much RPM he admitted that some times he forgets to shift into third gear. He drove the car on several trips of at least 100 miles round trip at 65 MPH. He stopped by to purchase oil (I work for a auto parts store) and when I checked the stick the was nothing on the stick. He kept the car for 12 months with the odometer reading 120,000 and then sold it to another guy and I have since lost track of it.
This car is one of the toughest autos I have ever run across. I thought Chevy small blocks were pretty tough but that Mazda 1.3 is definately a match.
I have found a bunch of Festivas and am trying to buy them and fix them up one at a time. Enough people around here know about this experience so I think I can find owners for them.
Just thought you might find this interesting.
Old Geezer
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