My Mazda 1992, 323 1.8 DOHC is 11 years old with 250.000 km on the clock, still runs sweet, but a little noisy. I love this car and don't want to replace it with a new Mazda.

How many km can an engine run sweet if taken care of before having major problems.

How many km have your cars done?

Thanks

Well that noisy sound your getting is probably either the tappets or the cam belt, if you get a tune up this stuff will be fixed, little things like that can lead to major damage if left that way. My advice is keep looking after it and dont hoon to much and it will last longer than the body!

I keep getting the feeling that Mazda service centers don't like to do a top notch service job on older cars and pretty expensive. They keep pushing me to get a new one, but I love this motor.

What other major parts need to be looked at. E.G. CV joints?

There are many things that can contribute to screwing up an engine:
Gearbox
Clutch
Engine mounts
Suspension
Cv,s
ect.
There are sum little things to look after yourself, make sure you do an oil change about every 10000k's, Thats an engine flush change the oil filter and refill with sum good synthetic oil. you should keep an eye on the gearbox oil. Make sure you change the fuel filter aswell as they can lead to blocked injectors. And a radiator flush is a good idea to. I fully sevice my car by myself and do it all at the same time. Im sure you could get sum higher quality and cheaper work done by some other mechanic. The mazda service centers are the biggest rip off, thats parts and service.

How do you guys rate expensive 100% Synthetic oil on older mazda 323 1.8 DOHC cars. I know it's more expensive, but does it help the car run quieter and sweeter.
If so what brands do you recommend.

Many thanks

Mobil 1 all along... stuff your engine would thank you for...

Hey man I have a 90 protoge 1.8DOHC with 320,000 and it still runs great. This is a good car man keep it. If you have any anformation on wheather they sell cold-air intakes for this car please let me know.

Watch out with wynthetic oils. While they do lube better, they also have a detergent factor to them which tends to clean away the grit from old seals and actually causes leaks. If you run synthetic in an old engine, chances are you will have to change all the seals before long.