19th Jun 2003, 21:53

I never did write any comments about how the engine rebuild went or how well it runs, so I thought I'd update my first message. The rebuild went well, except that I didn't have the money at first to replace all of the valve timing components. I had the cam, but not the rocker arms. So I finished the motor and ran it on the old cam for a while. The rocker arms were so worn that if I took it up to highway speeds, the engine sounded like it was about to blow. The hydraulic tappets in the rockers would collapse and my engine sounded more like a teletype machine than a gasoline engine. Eventually, I got them replaced and after that, the engine ran so smooth and quiet that once when my neighbor rode with me to the store, he thought the engine stalled at the light, when it was just idling. At one point I hauled over 900 pounds of equipment over the Tuscarora Mountains in PA. It had to work to do it, but I was always able to keep it at or just below the speed limit.

The biggest problem I had afterward was getting it to pass emissions. Even though the engine ran perfectly and had a lot of torque, it was failing badly, emitting well over 600 ppm of Hydrocarbons (the limit was 217) and 6.5% carbon-monoxide (Limit was 2.1%). I rebuilt the carburetor, but it still didn't help. It turned out to be an air/fuel solenoid that is controlled by the computer via two wires that protrude from the top of the carburetor. The solenoid is screw-mounted to the top portion of the carb, and seats into an orifice at the bottom of the float bowl. The solenoid was dirty and gummed up and wouldn't actuate when power was applied. I tried cleaning it with spray cleaner, and it would work only sporadically, then quit altogether. It turns out that in the de-energized position, the solenoid valve is open, which caused the engine to draw way too much fuel. I finally had to cut the solenoid open with a Dremel tool and clean all of the internal parts directly. I've had no problems with it since. Now my truck gets 22-23 MPG with a mix of town and highway mileage. It still has a lot of torque, although it will never win any races, but hell, I have a Mustang for that.

In one of my last comments I promised to start a message board to help Mazda Pickup owners get information about maintaining and repairing their Mazda Pickup. Carsurvey.org's board is geared more toward surveying customer satisfaction, so rather than clutter up their board with maintenance tips and troubleshooting, you can post questions on mine. Hope to see you there.

3rd Aug 2010, 09:23

The B2200 tech forum is no longer hosted at cowpensvets.org. Thanks to those who participated.