Clutch Switch

V6 Technical/Performance Discussions
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Bluebird
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Joined: March 13th, 2002, 2:01 am
Location: England

Clutch Switch

Post by Bluebird »

Not been doing much driving lately - only 6500 miles in the last year. Going good then all of a sudden it seems like everything is goin wrong :) <p>First the handbrake wore out, not too bad though a pad had been sticking. Still a bit loose so I guess the other is on the way out too.<p>Then the throttle body broke, usual story revs going all over the place on tickover. I got a 2nd hand one for £500 - Mazda price for a new one is £900!!!!. <p>I don't know about everyone else on here but I think it's high time Mazda stopped ripping everyone off on parts, they are trying to become more mainstream and have dropped the price on their new vehicles to make them more accessible, plus all of the marketing they are now doing but come on!!! One wheel for my old 626 cost the same as a whole set for a Jaguar, that is seriously taking the piss! It's not as if some of the cars are as strong as trucks now, is it? Some are quite good but a local Mazda registered mechanic informs me that some Mazda engines (in particular the V6's for MX3 (MX6 too?) are not very strong engines at all and not a patch on the MX5's unit which rarely has any problems. If they are ever going to compete with the likes of Ford etc. and try and become more of a mass manufacturer, which they seem to be trying to do in the UK anyway, they need to sort their parts service out.
£900 for a throttle body, tch.....this is a 1.8 Japanese hot hatch (but we love em) and the parts prices are reaching Porsche levels (maybe an over exaggeration). Sort it out Mazda, grrrrr :) .... Today I found a gold nut just sitting there on the drivers side, I'd just been away on holiday and naturally was a bit supicious - had someone been in my car? Nah - just my paranoia as it turns out. But what I've found is that the clutch switch isn't connected - it's just hanging there held by a piece of tie-wrap around the steering column. The car runs fine and all I can see that the switch does is tell the ECU whether the clutch pedal is pressed or not and drops the revs a bit if the clutch pedal is depressed. <p>Is the car OK as it is or should I put the switch back in????? It seems fine without it.<p>When I first bought the car the air intake hose was torn (which I replaced) and I'm just wondering if the switch had been taken out by the previous owner to try and fix the problems with tickover that a torn hose can cause.
Does that sound like a likely explanation?
Cheers (I detect a discussion starting here ;) )
Bluebird
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Posts: 14
Joined: March 13th, 2002, 2:01 am
Location: England

Re: Clutch Switch

Post by Bluebird »

Does no one know about these?<p>Oh well, thanks anyway :)
David Coleman
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Re: Clutch Switch

Post by David Coleman »

The sensor just won't let the car start if the clutch isnt depressed. No big deal. 900GBP is ridiculous for a throttle body: I got my entire 2.5L 200hp KLZE V6 engine for about 700GBP. You need to find a new mechanic...
David Coleman
I used to know alot about MX-3's, but not so much anymore. Oh well.
IanL
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Location: UK

Re: Clutch Switch

Post by IanL »

David,<p>We are just a little different in the UK, so our starters work with the clutch not depressed. This is quite useful if the engine dies in a bad place - you can creep away from trouble in first gear on the starter motor ;)
Re-shaped and re-sized gearshift lever. Best driveability mod you can do!
Extra thick soundproofing in the boot (trunk) to quieten my stainless steel exhaust system :)
Mradio
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Re: Clutch Switch

Post by Mradio »

I have a question related to this topic. Anyone knows what has to be done in order for a manual mx3 to start without pressing the clutch pedal. I know this can be done, I did it on my civic (had to disconnect a connector near the clutch pedal). I tried it on my mx3 and it didn't seem to work...
Any ideas??
Check out my ride and leave some feedback please!
http://www.cardomain.com/id/mradio007
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johnnyb
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Location: Brampton, On, Canada

Re: Clutch Switch

Post by johnnyb »

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Vlad:
I have a question related to this topic. Anyone knows what has to be done in order for a manual mx3 to start without pressing the clutch pedal. I know this can be done, I did it on my civic (had to disconnect a connector near the clutch pedal). I tried it on my mx3 and it didn't seem to work...
Any ideas??
<hr></blockquote><p>press the switch and tape it
:shrug:
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Mradio
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Re: Clutch Switch

Post by Mradio »

If that works, I'll feel like a dumb a$$. I didn't even think about that... lol
Is this the only way?
Check out my ride and leave some feedback please!
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Bluebird
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Posts: 14
Joined: March 13th, 2002, 2:01 am
Location: England

Re: Clutch Switch

Post by Bluebird »

Yeah that's right - it makes no difference to starting on a UK car whether the switch is in or out. All it seems to do on a UK one is to drop the revs a bit - maybe just to save the clutch a bit when changing gear then, I can't think of another reason off hand. I suppose you can change quicker if you're keeping the revs on a little rather and the ECU drops the revs slightly automatically rather than having to lift off on each gear change.
Bluebird
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Location: England

Re: Clutch Switch

Post by Bluebird »

How I'm well peeved - I've jsut found a site on the net (UK) for spares for all types of cars, Mazda included - they've got back today with a quote for a throttle body - £64.63 inc. VAT. Methinks I've been robbed!<p>The URL BTW is
http://www.247spares.co.uk/mazda/
IanL
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Re: Clutch Switch

Post by IanL »

Very useful. Thanks for passing it on
Re-shaped and re-sized gearshift lever. Best driveability mod you can do!
Extra thick soundproofing in the boot (trunk) to quieten my stainless steel exhaust system :)
Bluebird
Junior Member
Posts: 14
Joined: March 13th, 2002, 2:01 am
Location: England

Re: Clutch Switch

Post by Bluebird »

Turns out that even though I had to pay £500 for one though I wasn't ripped off even at the ridiculous price, the price from the local main dealer today was - £1100!!!
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