smooth idle but can't try to accel

[drobots]

In need of help. I had to leave my car at the side of the road. This is the weirdest thing.

I was just saying to a friend the other day how it's so nice my car has been running so great for a while now.

but what the.......

My car has been running so nice but while I was driving tonight doing about 60km on a main road, all of a sudden I had no rev, no acceleration. I had to let the car coast to a stop. It’s like I had dirty fuel all of a sudden but I’ve been driving for days now and its still got half a tank so that’s not the case

The car will start fine, the engine will idle fine, sounds fine, then you go to give it some gas even gently and it starts to choke but will continue to idle smooth. it will stall if you try to excel to much but I can get the RPMs occasionally to rev up as high as I want but that’s by slowly and gently easing in the gas pedal(very slow). It appears to misfire and you can hear the loud ting sounds of the exhaust pops but will go back to a very normal smooth idle when not trying to rev it up a bit. so the engine was running and I never stalled it but could not hold the rpms up even to 3000 without it choking and misfiring.
I'm not a mechanic but i think it has to do with the throttle body or something to do with the fuel pump(replaced four years ago).
A nice guy stopped and actually had some throttle body cleaner spray can ,we applied it and appears to do nothing. My sparks plugs replaced less then a year ago. Exhaust is 6 months new also.

I just don’t get how it happened while out driving one minute everything was fine ,the next minute choking and popping ,no power and then back to a smooth idle.

I need some help on this one

1995 Mazda MX3 V6 194000 km
but newer engine (had 60,000km) installed 4 years ago.
exhaust system replaced 5 months ago

[RS_OBD'oh_2]

you using the black plastic oem intake tube? probably has a rip in it. This is very common and there are probably 2 active topics on it already. Give the tube a pinch here and there and see.

[Ryan]

My money is on mechanical timing. You'll need a timing light to check it out.

[drobots]

Thanks for both of your replies. It's in the mechanics hands now. I'm truly sad I love my MX3. If it is a timing belt that has to be replaced it will be so expensive that it's not worth it i fear. I think it's a big job to replace timing belts on those models.

[Daninski]

Most shops want $550 to do a T belt not including the belt. I found a place that will do it for $285 and it just happens to be where I always go anyway. You can do the job yourself with our help and it'll take you a whole day. To bad you couldn't of tried to find out the problem yourself using us to help you. There's only a couple of things this could be.

[drobots]

looks like it's actually the MAF sensor which is not responding. The mechanic part quotes were crazy

A. $1750 from the dealership
B. a bunch of after market re-built quotes ranging from $550 and up
C. a used one 90 day warranty $150

I tried to find the part throughout the day and had no luck. So I have no choice really but to try the used one. $550 is just way to expensive I'm fighting to keep this old car on the road.

[mikeinaus]

where abouts do you live? if you have any local auto wreckers you can probably find one for fairly cheap. my local wreckers sells them for $25...

you can also swap the unit yourself to save on labor. its very simple, you just need a Philips screwdriver and 5-10min of your time.

if your not in a rush im sure someone on the forum has one they can ship you for fairly cheap aswell. id post in the wtb section.

[umcamara]

I have 2 JE50 VAF's in excellent condition.

[Daninski]

Yes we have JE50 VAF's aplenty. Buy from us and save $$$$

[spete701]

Dude you are lucky if it's vaf install it your self. Easy as changing an air filter.

[-eunos-]

could be the disty tho..?

[mikeinaus]

disty is more failure to start, misfiring and all around crappy performance. what hes describing is exactly what happens when you unplug the vaf

[drobots]

I had to reply,

Thanks for everyones input, it has been very helpful.

turns out your both right.

It was a combination of a used MAF sensor and a new (used) distributor that fixed the problem. what the hell,
I replaced the distributor ( new AKG) a year and a half ago.

Anyways the car is now running pretty much fine and likes the slightly colder weather. The only thing is it sometimes "garbles" "stutters" if i don't rev a little higher then i'm used to when taking off and shifting through the gears.

A friend mentioned that perhaps the computer should be reset if i have changed the MAF on an older car. (is this at all correct?)

[mikeinaus]

could be worth a try. disconnect the battery and hold the brake down for 30 seconds to reset the ecu