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Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

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Trim
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Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby Trim » August 15th, 2012, 10:25 am

Pleasant Good morning Everyone,

I am currently looking at a van to purchase (B2500) TBR Mazda pickup. it has a WL 2.5 turbo engine doing a mileage of 166k presently. I am a total Noob when it comes to diesel engines and pickups and what to look for when making an informed purchase so i am kindly asking for assistance please as I have a few questions to ask.

1) When i saw the vehicle I noticed that there was a slight oil residue around the turbo of the engine, should this be a cause for concern?( Granted that the engine had been washed before me viewing it) I spoke to a mechanic and he informed me that this is a normal occurrence and that I have nothing to worry about but I am not sure.

2) Upon doing some light reading on the forums i have discovered that the instance where the engines often go bad, Is it for the WLT only or both WL and WLT's have an frequency of going bad at various points in time. can anyone estimate the amount of mileage that would be have to be incurred on the engine for such a problem to arise. "DO ALL MAZDA ENGINES GO BAD?"
Also whats the price range for a new engine?

3) I want to know also, what can be done on my part as a form of "preventative maintenance" to mitigate or if not stop such problems from occurring within the period that I may be the owner of the vehicle?

4) Are there any other known problems with this type of vehicle?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated thanks!

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby neckto » August 15th, 2012, 12:09 pm

best bet is to take a trusted mechanic to view the vehicle and let him start/run/drive the vehicle with u and go from there

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby lighthammer » August 16th, 2012, 3:22 pm

Trim wrote:
1) When i saw the vehicle I noticed that there was a slight oil residue around the turbo of the engine, should this be a cause for concern?( Granted that the engine had been washed before me viewing it) I spoke to a mechanic and he informed me that this is a normal occurrence and that I have nothing to worry about but I am not sure.

Some oil around a turbo isn't a bad thing, that can be a normal sign of wear and tear. What you wanna do is take the intake hose & air filter off from the turbo and rev the engine to see if it's spitting out any oil and check that the impeller turbine is still working.


2) Upon doing some light reading on the forums i have discovered that the instance where the engines often go bad, Is it for the WLT only or both WL and WLT's have an frequency of going bad at various points in time. can anyone estimate the amount of mileage that would be have to be incurred on the engine for such a problem to arise. "DO ALL MAZDA ENGINES GO BAD?"
Also whats the price range for a new engine?
It's a known fault in the WLT engines (not so much the WL's) in both Ford Rangers & Mazda B2500's (maybe even the newer BT-50's). The head tends to crack after approx 120,000km or more - usually to poor cooling system maintanance. Easiest thing to do is check the exhaust while revving the engine, look for white smoke (sign that water is in the combustion chamber) and you can also check the radiator levels on consecutive days (if he allows you to) as long as you know the radiator and hoses aren't leaking.
Avg. price for a new head and block WLT - approx $4500-$6000

3) I want to know also, what can be done on my part as a form of "preventative maintenance" to mitigate or if not stop such problems from occurring within the period that I may be the owner of the vehicle?

- regular oil & oil filter changes every 5000km
- change out all the belts
- change diff fluids
- purge and clean the radiator, or even get an aluminium core radiator and change the hoses & clamps
- use proper rated coolant
- change the clutch fan oil
- change the thermostat and get the water-gate checked for proper opening/closing
- change fuel filter and clean/purge the fuel tank, or at least use a diesel-conditioner to cleanse out the fuel system (Liquid Moly, redline and Amsoil disel concentrates are tried and proven to work well)
- change the power steering fluid
- check alternator for proper charging (new alternator can cost about $1200)

that's about it really. It depends on how serious you are about buying and keeping the vehicle. being a diesel engine, it'll last you a significantly longer time than a gasoline engine.

4) Are there any other known problems with this type of vehicle?

Keep an eye on your clutch, master and slave cylinders too. Other than that... just look over moving parts like your suspension, make sure the boot rubbers and bushings are good or not cracked.

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby wagon r » August 16th, 2012, 9:33 pm

..that last part is the easiest thing to repair. It is actually cheaper to buy the master cylinder complete than buy the rubber parts...! And as it's a normal Mazda part, you could use one from the old B1600.

But engines are a funny thing, some WLT's have no isssues, some do....guess it was a manufacturing process issue. But as we always say, take care of it, it will take care of you....!

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby Trim » August 17th, 2012, 6:22 am

thanks guys i think wagon r and lighthammer have eased some major concerns that I have and I appreciate it very much.

Duly noted neckto I do plan on having a mechanic check the vehicle out before purchase.

is there anything else that I should keep in mind that I may have forgotten?

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby droppa » August 17th, 2012, 12:38 pm

good info from the guys before, as said, some have issues and some dont......

i think someone recently changed a head and it costed ave 10K...

the cooling system is the main thing to check, try to drill the owner as much as possible and get all his service info out of him, also i would advise u go with a mech in the morning, try to get the van to see the first start and see how it starts, note the heater light, how long it tumbles over, whats coming out the exhaust, check the coolant level before starting and while running, look for bubbles or steam in the radiator.......

on the maintenance side, what LH said along with changing the fan clutch fluid, and adding an external temperature gauge(a good one)

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby lighthammer » August 18th, 2012, 9:09 am

^^ oh yeah, forgot to say the part about an external gauge - that's a good thing to have.
All this heat we have, and standing still in traffic.. not friendly towards hot-running diesel engines!

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby Trim » August 25th, 2012, 8:56 pm

So guys, I drove it a couple times and its a real comfortable driving van. However I discovered that when I really decide to accelerate with the van on open road, the temperature gauge shoots up like crazy. This happens especially when the air conditioning is on full blast. however, when I decelerate, or come to a complete stop and turn off the ac, the gauge returns back to normal,( it takes about 30- 40 seconds the most)

What do you think may be the cause of that and how do i rectify the problem?

I checked the oil levels and its quite normal i am not seeing any of the symptoms outlined for a bad head.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated thanks!

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby INDAVID WORKSHOP » August 26th, 2012, 8:46 pm

I believe that issue could be that your Radiator hoses to and from the Engine has gotten SOFT from the age in the vehicle, you can squeeze them if they feel soft change them if the hoses are good check your overall cooling system engine temp unit , radiator for pluggage, clutch fan not spinning at full speed, thermostat may be sticking.

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby oro » August 26th, 2012, 10:33 pm

Trim wrote:So guys, I drove it a couple times and its a real comfortable driving van. However I discovered that when I really decide to accelerate with the van on open road, the temperature gauge shoots up like crazy. This happens especially when the air conditioning is on full blast. however, when I decelerate, or come to a complete stop and turn off the ac, the gauge returns back to normal,( it takes about 30- 40 seconds the most)

What do you think may be the cause of that and how do i rectify the problem?

I checked the oil levels and its quite normal i am not seeing any of the symptoms outlined for a bad head.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated thanks!


Yo Trim I have a mazda B2500 now going over 205,000km. Its a good old pickup once you do the maintenance these guys suggest. As for the temp issue I've had that problem for the last year and just recently fix it. My temp would go up fast on the highway and drop off very fast when I crossed 110km/hr. I had changed the thermostat but it still happened so i just drove under that speed. Recently the original radiator developed a leak and I changed it with a new metal radiator and the problem has fixed itself so it was the radiator itself. Like everyone said the cooling system needs to be up-kept in these vans. I've not changed the radiator houses yet but as a precaution i've looking for new ones to replace the old. New metal radiator cost $1800 installed give or take. Hope that help ya.

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby streetbeastINC. » September 8th, 2012, 2:39 am

waht bout thermost removal on these? recommended?

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Re: Purchasing a used Pickup (B2500) HELP!

Postby oro » September 18th, 2012, 10:47 am

i don't believe in the remove thermostat. All engines have a optimum operating temperature and the thermostat helps with that.

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