Well the turbo version fixes the power issue :D

Though I think the new version with a turbo is only available with an auto :(

{sad trombone}

Hence why (well, one reason why) I'm still driving around the one we bought new in 2009.

So my trusty Mazdaspeed might not be so trusty after all. It just rolled over 220,000 and recently it has been going through oil at quite a rapid rate yet it doesn't smoke out the exhaust and it doesn't leak. I needed to get it on the lift to swap to the winter tires and change the oil so I gave it a quick checkover. Plugs look good and it's not leaking anything. No oil in the charge pipes, so that's a positive. I did a quick leakdown test and came back with 2% leakdown on cylinders 1, 2 and 4, and 16% on cylinder 3. With pressure applied to number 3 at TDC I can hear air coming out the hole for the oil fill cap. So, that's rings (or more likely a cracked ring land, pretty common on the 2.3 DISI engines).

As crappy as this car is, I kind of like driving it and my wife is a bit attached to it. I also can't easily replace it without spending a pile of money. It still runs fine, I just need to keep an eye on the oil level. I'm seriously contemplating swapping out the 2.3 bottom end for a 2.5 (like I have in the RX-8). They're pretty robust and the local salvage yard has a pile of low mileage units they are happy to sell me for $275 a pop. It would just be a weekend job to yank the 2.3, swap the cylinder head and accessories over to the 2.5, and drop that in. Even in its current state, the 2.3 is worth around $500 so I'd be roughly neutral on cost... it's just a lot of labor.

Decisions...

If it comes down to a weekend of labor and you like the car, what do you have to lose? It’s probably less effort & stress than you’d put into finding a replacement car right now.

How come a 2.3 lower end with a cracked ring land is worth the same as a 2.5?

The 2.5s have the same bore, just a different stroke?

Seems like a no brainer to do the swap if you’ve got a free weekend.

I think the answer writes itself

Yep. Especially considering the state of the auto industry currently.

I think because there are orders of magnitude more 2.5s out there than there are 2.3 DISIs. The 2.3 DISI also has a forged crank and the block is set up with an oil drain. But really, I don't know? :dunno:

2.5 is a larger bore (89mm vs 87.5mm) and a larger stroke (100mm vs 94mm).

Larger bore but the 2.3 head bolts up?