Here we go again.....
 

Hey guys, I need an opinion on a possible project. As you may or may not know, I already own two 2.3L sedans and now....I've found a hatchback with a shot motor. I figure this might be worth it to repair it and have a back up. The owner of the car lot was driving it as a demo for a while and drove it on almost ZERO trace of coolant. I was interested in the car when it ran for some fun...But its been sitting on the lot with a blown engine for about 8 months now. Its a yellow 05' 2.3 hatchback with 64kmi. What I do know is that it has no compression in 2 cyl and very little in 1...1 good cyl. I spoke with a few Mazda techs and they've only seen a couple blown 2.3L's come in...they said theres a risk of melted pistons of it overheated bad enough...but im thinking that its just the head! It still cranks over all day long with no hesitations...Any thoughts?

I'd be worried that more than the pistons were damaged - like a warped / cracked head. And i'm not sure with a head issue if that would do any damage to the valves - which could be what's loosing compression, and not the pistons being melted.

What mileage is on the car, and what do they want for it. If it's cheap enough and you want a project - go for it.