MX5 Mania Hose Kit any good?

[hks_kansei]

Logic beats me, how did you ever come to drive a car Morlock? From your comments I'm honestly surprised your not advocating we just keep breeding faster horses.

Mr Morlock used to work in the car industry, and from memory was involved in some way with the QA process, so he does have quite a bit of knowledge in regard to it.



As for my thoughts, i'm sure that a lot of the chinese made parts like hoses etc don't have the same QA as say Mackay rubber etc, but as long as the retailer (mania) are happy to replace any with issues, and the buyer is happy with the inconvenience of sending stuff back, then there's no problem.

For me, the $120 price is cheap and i'd be willing to deal with a few mistakes for that price.
In saying that, most of the hosing at home is bought by the roll and we just cut off the length we need.

[RS2000]

Just a quick note on these hoses for the NB8a/b/c, the larger 4 hoses fit, the small hoses (off the thermostat housing to the throttle body, oil cooler, etc.) don't.
The internal diameter is way too small.

What does Mania say & do about this problem?
Cheers

[Mr Morlock]

I don't really buy the replace all hoses routine because hoses don't all fail at the same rate and the same applies to shock absorbers- people frequently replace say the rears or the fronts or one if it has an obvious fault - leaking etc. People replace tyres individually as well at times. Hoses are replaced individually all the time and customers would not be too happy at a big bill just for one gammy hose causing a problem. DIY's with their own money make their own choices.

The whole point about quality is that it is supposed to be inbuilt in the processes which need to be "capable" and proven by statistical process control. The new maxim is that you cannot inspect quality into a product. many of the sources selected on price are producing rubbish that looks good and ends there. Sellers often put up with lesser quality because the cost of replacement is outweighed by the sales revenue.


Fully agree with Rolley car makers do have items that fail the fit for purpose test ( not many for MX-5. These problems have improved over the past 20 or so years for most makers. Designs are also supposed to be subjected to failure mode analysis etc.

Rolleys comments about Ryco are also interesting.My understanding is that much of their product is now sourced off shore- maybe all of it. If Ryco do their job properly they should only use automotive approved component makers i.e. ones with full ISO standards. The failure of my mates filter rather shocked me- it just should not happen. Incidentally I think Mazda did a terrific job with MX-5. A very capable design and renowned for reliability.

[Nevyn72]

Just a quick note on these hoses for the NB8a/b/c, the larger 4 hoses fit, the small hoses (off the thermostat housing to the throttle body, oil cooler, etc.) don't.
The internal diameter is way too small.

What does Mania say & do about this problem?
Cheers

If I recall correctly, they were aware that the four smaller hoses didn't fit an NB and were quite impressed with my ingenuity for re-purposing them as vacuum lines.

[1600Dave]

I've literally just finished installing Mania hoses. Burst a heater hose on the way home from work Tuesday evening, rang Mania yesterday morning, hose kit arrived this morning. The smaller hoses fitted fine, except the small bypass hose (which Mania says on their website doesn't fit 2000-2004 NB's, mine is 2001). I also bought their hose clamp kit - $0ish for a bag of

As well as the heater hose that burst, the other was pretty soft and swollen so probably wouldn't have lasted too long. Did I need to replace the rest ? Probably not, however it was only another hour or two of my time. My bypass hose also looks to be on its way out, so I'll be replacing that as soon as I can source one.

For the money, they seem to be a decent product. I was particularly happy with the service and quick postage.

My only tip - don't lean too hard on the dipstick, the yellow "handle" on top is fairly easy to break........

[Nevyn72]

My only tip - don't lean too hard on the dipstick, the yellow "handle" on top is fairly easy to break........

Wow!.... you had one that wasn't broken already!!

I think they're made of the same plastic as the radiator top and bottom tanks......

[1600Dave]

A further update - the one hose that isn't in the kit costs $40 from Mazda, and will take a few days to arrive.

Yep, the dipstick broke when I was just poking around to see where the leak was, I hadn't even started replacing stuff at that point.

And another point regarding replacing all hoses at once (not sure if its for or against the idea). I bought the car from a guy at work a few months back. When I was telling him about the burst hose this morning, he mentioned that he had replace both radiator hoses earlier this year, one needed replacing and the other wasn;t far off. So, my car probably needed to have at least 3 hoses replaced in 6-8 months.

On the downside, I cut the two radiator hoses off last night and replaced them with the Mania hoses - that would be the two near new, genuine Mazda radiator hoses that he had put on the car earlier this year...

[Mr Morlock]

That's the point ie don't replace a hose that is in good condition. People just do the feel and visual test. Also hoses don't all come under the same operating conditions.

[1600Dave]

Horses for courses.

If I was buying genuine hoses (at a genuine hose price) and paying a mechanic to install them, I would think carefully about replacing stuff that doesn't need to be replaced.

If I was buying a cheap hose kit and replacing them myself, its not that much effort and expense to do the lot.

One other consideration (after going through the process of replacing them all last night) - its not particularly easy to check some of the hoses to determine if they need replacement (yes, bottom radiator hose, I'm looking at you) without removing various bits in and under the engine bay. If you spend the time to remove the various bits for a good look, why not do the hoses while you are there ?

End of the day, there's no "right" or "wrong", its personal preference.

[rpost77]

My 2 cents.

Have cheapskate relative with MX5 bought about 5 years ago.

One of his coolant hoses burst and, against advice to replace all of them, he cheapskated and only replaced that one.

Then the next one went - complaints and moans and he replaced only that one.

Then another went and he cooked something - now he has regular overheating issues he can't figure out (he is a "mechanic" ) and wants to sell the car (without disclosing (of course) the eventual overheating that will occur if you drive it for more than 20 minutes).

Due to the age of his car (1989 Eunos import) and the unknown history - the advice to replace all hoses at the 1st incident would have saved (in my opinion) his engine.

If you know for sure the history, age etc. and believe the 1 hose failure is an anomaly then just replacing that would be OK.

If not - then replacing all at minimal cost is advised (minimal cost measured against the cost of a warped head/block and engine rebuild).

Personally - when my MX5 went in for its 2nd Timing Belt/water pump change at ~160K, I included a new (well regarded cheaper aftermarket) radiator (even though the original 22 year old probably could have had some life left apart from the brown top cover etc.) and I had all the hoses replaced (preventative measure and might as well as all the ancillaries were being updated).

Sure - some/all of the hoses may have gone another 10-20-30K but now I know (hopefully) the exact age/mileage etc. of what is in there and good for another 10 years or more.

[wedge_A]

Thanks to everyone for all the thoughtful feedback and info!

In the end I went with a full set of genuine Mazda hoses because the price difference wasn't that vast (mania say one of the hoses wont fit so an extra OEM hose is required anyway). Replacing the hoses wasn't too much of a job, and I actually enjoyed myself as it gave me some 'bonding time' with my car. I changed the rocker cover gasket at the same time, so I definitely saved a lot of money compared with having a mechanic do it! I'd definitely have to recommend buying some worm drive clamps from Repco or another auto shop though, at least for the small hoses. Getting the standard spring-loaded clamps back on around some of the tighter fiddly areas was not a lot of fun, and using worm drive clamps made it a whole lot easier to get a precise fitment.

Anyway thanks again for all the feedback people.

Cheers

[tbro]

UMMMM!!!!!!! Mr M,
its called PROactive maintenance NOT reactive maintenance.

The difference is proactive.............. no stuffed motor or being stranded on the side of the road.

Reactive, take what ya get...............and don't whinge when it cost ya..........................

Imagine if I took that type of attitude to maintenance, lots of breakdowns, lots of pissed off people, lots of lost revenue, no contract!!!!!!
That's not even thinking of the safety aspect.......

T

[Mr Morlock]

you do maintenance programs on things like buses and the authorities pay the bill and that is normal process.Most of us do preventative maintenance on cars in line with Service book recommendations and many things are covered by "inspection".

[manga_blue]

Hose failures are the biggest cause of early retirements at club track days. They're often accompanied by major engine damage.

With the high cost of preparing and entering a car for track days and the risk of $1,000s in repairs it makes perfect sense to go for a serious preventive maintenance program for the cooling system, the main part of which is full replacement of ALL hoses with quality reinforced rubber ones at least every 5 years. The UK manufactured kevlar/rubber sets are only about $200 and take a couple of hours to fit. It's a solid investment.