96 Mazda B2300SE Emissions

[KaraokeMassage]

Hey all, so my wife bought our Mazda in 98 used and it has about 185k miles on it. In the past 6 months our "check engine" light has come on constantly. Our local mechanic says the motor is throwing an "emissions" failure code, and that tracking it down to fix it would be super rough. However, he's not a Ranger expert, you guys are.

I'm curious if you've heard of a similar issue and if there's a simple fix. We will need to smoke the sucker at some point here and apparently that code is an auto-fail. Having the light on all the time kinda sucks too, if there was another, more serious, issue I would never know it.

I'm gonna take the truck back to him to get the actual code number and see if there's anything else he can tell me. The truck might need a new steering pump soon too, yay. Wish Ford brought the global Ranger to the US. Oh well.

[modelageek]

Originally Posted by KaraokeMassage

Hey all, so my wife bought our Mazda in 98 used and it has about 185k miles on it. In the past 6 months our "check engine" light has come on constantly. Our local mechanic says the motor is throwing an "emissions" failure code, and that tracking it down to fix it would be super rough. However, he's not a Ranger expert, you guys are.

I'm curious if you've heard of a similar issue and if there's a simple fix. We will need to smoke the sucker at some point here and apparently that code is an auto-fail. Having the light on all the time kinda sucks too, if there was another, more serious, issue I would never know it.

I'm gonna take the truck back to him to get the actual code number and see if there's anything else he can tell me. The truck might need a new steering pump soon too, yay. Wish Ford brought the global Ranger to the US. Oh well.

I would not go back to the guy......he either is an idiot or he is trying to make it sound like brain surgery so he can screw you........get the codes read soemwhere or buy a cheap codereader. Then post the actual code"s" and I am sure we can figure it out......

[KaraokeMassage]

Ah, thanks for the suggestion. If anything I think he's lazy.

But I like the idea of having my own codereader. Do you have any suggestions for an inexpensive one that will work on the Mazda? That's available to peons like me (i.e. not a mechanic hehe)

[RoberticusMaximus]

well, i think you'd need one for OBDII for sure. (i think either 94 or 95 & back were OBDI)

[cvar]

Go to Autozone; they'll read your codes for free. It takes 2 minutes. The plug for OBD-II reader is fright under the steering wheel. It has a plastic cap to hide it. The code reader looks like an oversized hand-held calculator.

http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/ford/

Yeah, stay far away from that "mechanic". Sounds like he's preying upon you.

[modelageek]

Originally Posted by cvar

Go to Autozone; they'll read your codes for free. It takes 2 minutes. The plug for OBD-II reader is fright under the steering wheel. It has a plastic cap to hide it. The code reader looks like an oversized hand-held calculator.

http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/ford/

Yeah, stay far away from that "mechanic". Sounds like he's preying upon you.

He lives in the peoples republic of California. They banned reading codes at the Autoparts store. If you have an android device get torque and a elm 327, ultragauge is good too or get a cheap reader, etc

1999, Reg Cab, 2.5, 5 speed, 145k. (Sent from my DROID BIONIC using FRF App)

[KaraokeMassage]

I do live in California. I do not have an Android device as it happens, my wife did until it bricked. I'll look to see if i can find an OBD-II reader. Thanks all!