Also known as: mzr, l3, lf, 2.0 mzr, 2.3 mzr, 2.3 disi, duratec he, l5-ve, l3-vdt, disi, l3-ve, l3ve
Mazda's petrol four before SkyActiv, in 1.8 to 2.5 litre forms — and the same basic engine Ford sold as the Duratec HE, since the two companies shared the design. A fault documented on a Ford Focus or Mondeo of that era often applies directly to a Mazda3 or Mazda6, which is exactly the cross-badge relationship this catalogue exists to make visible.
It is a chain-driven, port-injected engine (except the turbocharged DISI versions) with a good durability record. The recurring items are the variable valve timing actuator and its oil control solenoid, which respond to oil condition and produce a rattle at start-up, and the ignition coils.
The turbocharged 2.3 DISI in the Mazda3 MPS and CX-7 is a different proposition: direct-injected, highly boosted, and known for turbocharger and high-pressure-fuel-pump wear where oil changes have been stretched. On that version the maintenance history is the first diagnostic input.
Cars fitted with this engine
11 generations, across 2 makes. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Posted about this engine
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What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
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