What's so bad about the Z5?

[TylerW]

Hey everyone..new to the board here.

I am curious why everyone seems to say "dreaded Z5"...what is so bad about them?

I just picked up a '98 LX really cheap with 181,000 on it. It runs and drives pretty good, but from doing some searching on the board it appears to be suffering from a couple chronic issues:

1. From the way the starter sounds, one cylinder seems to be down on compression.It also tries to misfire for a little while..and all this is intensely familiar from the Isuzu truck I had that I neglected adjusting the valves on.

These engines are supposed to have valve adjustments aren't they? I would think that neglected valve lash adjustments would be a BIG cause of burned valves over anything else, because even if the valve springs are weak, that would just cause the valves to float at abnormally low rpms in most cases.

Warm however, the engine runs good.

2. The Check Engine light flashes constantly. I'll have to pull the codes out.

Thanks for sharing any input...

PS, this is the second Protege to come into the family..the first was a 1991 LX with the 1.8 BP that my mom bought new...talk about a screamer...that car shifted right at 7,000rpm if I remember correctly.

[firelizard]

There's no aftermarket support, it has a weak valvetrain apparently, and being the small non-performance engine that it is, it has very little power.

There's nothing wrong with it as a daily driver though.

[mannydingo]

You must have been reading my mind. Today I was thinking about starting a thread called something like "I don't have problems with the Z5, how about you?" or some title like that. The reason is that I've owned three cars with that engine now. All worked fine. The one I bought to re-sell and make a buck on had a problem but it was not the engine itself. Rather, it was some component and wasn't a horrific problem. I sold it that way.

All I've had to change are the things that have gone bad on both my American and Japanese cars including my 1st gen BP. You know, the starter, alternator, compressor, etc. Actually, I didn't own the first two 2nd gens long enough to have to change anything but the water pump and a MAF sensor on one. As a matter of fact, the one with the bad MAF was obviously mistreated. You don't want to see the guck from burnt oil that had hardened all over the cylinder head under the valve cover. It ran perfectly after I replaced the MAF and routed the vacuum lines correctly that someone disconnected and incorrectly put back on even with the mistreatment.

I only sold it because I got a one year newer one with the A/C working. I never replaced the A/C compressor on the other car and sold it that way. These are cars bought in the 130,000 and up mileage range.

All 3 I've owned came with the single sprocket design instead of the "true" twin cam design. It seems there was a very large batch that came with bad engines in the valvetrain area, as you've read. One guy even had to replace the engine, or head 2 times and just replaced it with a BP engine, instead. What's strange is a certain amount went bad throughout it's 4 year run. Anyway, even though it was made to be economical and, therefore, not strong, keep in mind it's a 1.5 liter engine. What do you expect?. As a matter of fact, for a 1.5, it's not all that bad. I can take off pretty good at the very beginning when I need to cross a street quickly. It just tapers off almost immediately after that. You can't get much torque in there after that. It could get dangerous crossing a multi-lane highway until you learn the engine's limitations.

I'm glad I got this chance to comment before the posts start coming in like "The Z5 is a piece of -------(fill in the blank with your choice of vulgar language).

[yes-n]

I have absolutely no problems with the Z5 engine which is in my 323F BA/Lantis.

I drove this car to Croatia for 17 hours non-stop and back (apart from filling it with fuel) and there was not a single problem with it.
During this trip it became better and better and more enthousiastic on the throttle, I think that was because normally it drives small distances, so it was kinda lazy.

I think it is an overall good engine, but not from a performance view of things.

a pic of my 323F BA/Lantis:

[mannydingo]

I love the way that car looks regardless of it having a Z5 or BP. What years did it have that design? Did it also come with the 1.8 BP engine?

[yes-n]

From 1994-1998 in Europe.
The had the 1.5 Z5, 1.8 B8/BP (OBDII) and the 1.8 V6.

[mannydingo]

From 1994-1998 in Europe.
The had the 1.5 Z5, 1.8 B8/BP (OBDII) and the 1.8 V6.

I've seen you guys talking about it here before but never asked. So the OBDII was only on the BP, huh? What years was the OBDII installed on the cars and what car company makes it?

[redline2000]

Just wanted to say i love my z5.

[Squeekster1]

My Z5 has never done me wrong in anyway....yet. I prefer more power, but as a college student, it does just fine. Saves me speeding tickets and tires. In the long run, i'd like more power. Something that says, "yes, i can pass this car goin uphill with all your friends in the backseat".

[yes-n]

OBDII = On board diagnostics, so the way the errors and malfunctions can be read from the engine, OEM Mazda...

Also available on the Z5 engine.

[mannydingo]

OBDII = On board diagnostics, so the way the errors and malfunctions can be read from the engine, OEM Mazda...

Also available on the Z5 engine.

Oh, I'm very familiar with the OBD I & II systems. Here they started in 96, officially, and many car makers included it in their 95's too.

[gybe]

With Z5 you may not have raw power and performance but with a neat set of tires, some driving skills and so I was able to compete with 2.5 TDi Audis, VWs and other cars, which are longer, have more grip on the road and a lot more horsepower and torque than mine has. But the thing is if you know your car limits to the max you can predict almost every corner on the road. Mazda provides great handling experience and I don't know why. It does not lean like boat while cornering - it just stays put and ready. I know I am able to run 100+ mph in 90 degree corners on the road to my house (which I drove almost every day). So knowing the car and road conditions is critical.

Maybe the first response from a Z5 engine isn't all around good, but we have a similar car with 1.5 engine and 88 hp, but it is 8 valve. It may have a little bit more torque but accelerating above 2500 rpm is way behind Z5's performance in this range.
Also in USA it is more conventional to have bigger block with more ccm. In Europe 1.5 GASOLINE engine is - let's say - almost a no-go since already 1/2 people drive diesels or 1.0-1.3 polos, etc. The upper 'limit' (I have to put this in quotes because there's no official obligations or rule about that - it's just a way of life here) of ccm is somewhere 2.5 for gasoline engine. If you ask an ordinary European car owner if he would be satisfied with something having let's say 5.0 and 300+ hp he/she would say that's non-sense. I know my neighbour has Audi A6, 2.4 V6 engine with app. 170 hp which is a neat car and drives like a dream. He's doing 25-28 MPG and he is not satisfied with that. What else do you want man?? My car does 35 MPG and the difference between blocks is almost 1 litre... Every engine has its lower MPG limit, you can't beat that... If I would have 2.4 V6 engine my MPG would be somewhere around 15 probably. Now that's fuel consumption.

[gybe]

I love the way that car looks regardless of it having a Z5 or BP. What years did it have that design? Did it also come with the 1.8 BP engine?

Agree! But it would look nicer if it had a coupe design - only front doors which go way back and the trunk lid.

Also almost 90% of these 323F (Lantis, if you want) are GREEN! I am sorry to say that but that color looks awful when it gets aged a bit.

[mannydingo]

Agree! But it would look nicer if it had a coupe design - only front doors which go way back and the trunk lid.

Also almost 90% of these 323F (Lantis, if you want) are GREEN! I am sorry to say that but that color looks awful when it gets aged a bit.

We have different opinions on looks. I prefer that sedan look. I think you're looking for that BMW look if you want the coupe doors to go all the way back. So did they put the BP in that 323F/Lantis also ???

[gybe]

We have different opinions on looks. I prefer that sedan look. I think you're looking for that BMW look if you want the coupe doors to go all the way back. So did they put the BP in that 323F/Lantis also ???

Of course they did. They have also put in 1.8, 2.0 and 2.5 all three V6 (marked as 323F GT version), also 1.5, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 16v. And if I'm not mistaken there are also 2.0 turbodiesel engines with app. 100 hp. If you want a wide range of engines you should go for these F's (Lantis if you want). All engines except the Z5 and 1.8 16v BP are extremely hard to find. I know there's only one Lantis with 2.5 V6 in Slovenia and it came originally with that engine, chrome details (e.g. window frame bindings...) and is slightly lower than 'stock'.