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I have a 96 1.8 mx-3 that just shut off on the highway last night after downshifting into 4th doing about 90km's... All of a sudden the steering wheel just locked up and thats when I noticed the car wasnt even on anymore, and so i pulled over and turned it on again. It BARELY made it to my destination, juddering and such. I had to keep reving it with the clutch in at the intersection so that it wouldn't continue to stall. It almost seemed like it was gasping for gas...? ( I had between a 1/4 and 1/2 a tank in there... ) after 10 minutes of having it off it started up fine and made it home fine but I use it as a commuter car and now im just wondering what that little episode was about..? Any ideas would be a great help, thanks.

sounds like the ol torn accordion intake tube. i bet when you downshifted and the engine shifted slightly, making the tubing flex and letting in a bunch of unmetered air. check it out...

also check the connections at the battery make sure they are tight and clean while you are inspecting the intake tube.

chEck fuel pump maybe ours are fuel injected so it needs 46 psi I think to run good. If it starts to go out it won't create enough fuel pressure to properly atomize the fuel to the correct stoickeometric ratio<< always wanted tonier that word. I had a car start doin that new fuel pump fixed the problem. But I've been wrong b4

I would suggest intake as well. Battery terminals cause strange intermittent (starting/death) problems, but I've never seen it cause a running problem.

Distributor is suspect as well, as always.

Mechanical timing is suspect. Little bits of the timing belt cover gasket break off and get funneled down to the crank gear, skipping timing.

We don't really have fuel pump issues with these cars. Not often enough to check it first thing...

If you have access to a timing light, I'd try and verify that its still on. The distributor will reveal itself later if its the issue. intake leaks are easiest to find by hand... I've found the carb cleaner trick doesn't work great on little leaks.

Pull the codes yet, if you haven't. all you need is a brain and a paperclip. Procedure is in the FAQ.

Ryan wrote: all you need is a brain and a paperclip.

Laughed out loud...

I think we all remember the last kid....

[quote="Ryan"] We don't really have fuel pump issues with these cars. Not often enough to check it first thing... /quote]

Umm, better check this first. http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=75494" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
With the age of our cars the fuel tank and pump are probably the most neglected part of the car untill they either start to leak or fail like mine did. I actually checked that first because just about every thing else on the car is new.

Okay, so there's one example of F/P failure.

To test yours, open the hood, and jumper FP and GND in the DIAG box with a paperclip, and turn the key to 'ON'. You should clearly hear the pump.

If you're not sure, leave the key ON, and go plug and unplug the jumper.

If no change in noise, then you have a potential pump issue, or a relay issue.