MX3 Starting Problem

lastkiwi · Post by **lastkiwi** » March 25th, 2005, 6:14 pm

Help ! All MX3 owners.
I have just purchase a 1993 Mazda eunos presso V6 Manual with only 80,000 k on the clock.
I drove it home from Auckland about 350 k & parked in our garage. Four days later I went out to it & it will not start .
I can smell fuel so I am fairly sure petrol is OK. I took one spark plug out out & cranked the engine over to see if there is a spark. There is a spark but it appears to be very weak!
Can anyone in the club give me some idea of what may have gone wrong?
Colin ---- down under

92rsmx-3 · Post by **92rsmx-3** » March 25th, 2005, 6:49 pm

if you can smell fuel it probably flooded. try starting it again later.
was it turning over slowly? or normal

lastkiwi · Post by **lastkiwi** » March 25th, 2005, 7:38 pm

Thanks for the reply . I did try starting agin next day . Have cleaned plugs . As i mentioned the spark is to weak . I am fairly sure this is the problem. Couldf it be a failed component in the ignition system such as the ignitor. I am familiar with the old style points & coil systems but technology has passed my advancing years & unfortunately I know very little about Electronics.
Colin ---- down under

jimishadow · Post by **jimishadow** » March 25th, 2005, 10:36 pm

do the spark plug wires look original?is battery fully charged?if wires are old you mite try changing them..you will need to do it anyway.if its turning over slow it can need battery.if your wires and battery are good the disty can be going,,,see sticky in v 6 tec section and do the module mod,its muuch cheaper than getting a replacement.hope this helps keep us posted on progress

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 26th, 2005, 6:13 pm

12 year old car with only 80k km, nice find. However, this may be why you're experiencing problems. Although you were able to drive it a substantial distance home, I'm thinking that perhaps there's a number of items to check. I say this because it's apparent the the car sat for prolonged periods of time or only did very very short trips. In either case there may be a lot of original items on the car that have never been changed since it was first purchased since it hasn't hit that 96,000km milestone?? or whatever it is. So, it probably still has the original fuel filter, original cam belt, original rotor in disty, etc, etc. You see where I'm coming from. All of those have got to be changed. They haven't hit the mileage milestone yet but they're 12 years old and it's a time expired issue here. I'd wager that the battery is probably the original one and I would change that straight away. Change the plugs cause they may be original too and for the cost...why not. Change air filter. As far as your starting issues, I'd take the distributer cap off and check the rotor, hell change the rotor..it's time for that too. Check the disty cap for unusual or excessive wear of the carbon contact. After new rotor, clean/scrape with flat edge screw driver the disty cap contacts to revove grayish carbon deposits. This will ensure good electrical contact to feed plug wires.

You shouldn't really ever smell gas or even get a flooded engine. No fuel ever gets to the engine no matter how many times you put your foot on the pedal. It's an electric fuel pump and will only deliver once ignition is turned on.
I think you've got a lot ahead of yourself, but lucky you for latching on to a good find. Good luck and welcome to MX-3.com

kiwi_MX3 · Post by **kiwi_MX3** » March 27th, 2005, 3:21 am

350km.... Hmm puts you somewhere in the middle of the north island..

Edited..........

The Jspec ones you can flood.
As you are going to find out last kiwi, these Motors are techy little buggers

Order Chiltons #46802 mazda handbook from techbooks in jafa land...
its a VERY! good investment....

Secondly there are no fast fix's on these motors and parts are OUCH!
mazda charge 900 for a new Dizzy Assy a wreaker 500...

Third a weak spark is not great on these motors, NEW Plugs straight away
you might be very suprised, gap them to 0.039-0.043 thou..

lastkiwi · Post by **lastkiwi** » March 27th, 2005, 5:26 am

No actually I am almost at the top of the North Island - I go the other direction. Thanks for everyones input so far.
My battery is new & motor cranks fast.
I have removed the Dizzy cap & cleaned the rotor & the 6 poles in the cap & the end of the rod that fits into the coil.
All leads look as new & fitting well.
PLugs look to be new & gapped to .040.
Is it possible the coil is faulty & if so what is the test?
With REference to Flooding tendency.
How should these motors be started ? Foot on or off the Gas Pedal?
Colin ---- down under

Grants · Post by **Grants** » March 27th, 2005, 6:58 am

Off the pedal but if you suspect its flooded flat to the floor. Its a long story but its a bit of a work around by Mazda. I think its covered in the online manual (link on main page of MX-3.com). You'll also probably find a test procedure there for the distributor but I haven't checked as yet.

Hopefully someone else can add a bit more than that but let us know if you want to know anything else and I'll try to look into it for you.

Let us know how you go and good luck with it.

kiwi_MX3 · Post by **kiwi_MX3** » March 27th, 2005, 5:38 pm

Internal coil test

Disconnect the distributor plug ( 6 pin's )
Disconnect the coil plug ( 3 pins )

Check the resistance of the primary winding
on the three pins Pin A is the closest to the 6 Pin plug
B is the Middle C the end one..

A to C resisitance should be 0.58-0.86 ohms

With the cap off check the resistance of pin C
to the coil tower ( put a screwdriver down it to
touch the contact at the bottom

Tower to C should be 11.5 - 18.5 ohms..

If it an't in this spec range your screwed.......

lastkiwi · Post by **lastkiwi** » March 27th, 2005, 7:07 pm

Thanks everyone for your help with starting prob.. Indeed it was the battery . 4 years old but like the rest of the car looked brand new . Though it was cranking the engine over at what sounded like a good speed there was insufficient voltage left over for the spark plugs. These babies need a good battery otherwise you get the condition of weak spark & overfuelling. Whewwww !!!
Colin ---- down under

Grants · Post by **Grants** » March 27th, 2005, 7:27 pm

Thanks for posting back and well done.

Nd4SpdSe · Post by **Nd4SpdSe** » March 27th, 2005, 7:36 pm

Just curious, what with the NZ guys and Kiwi?

Grants · Post by **Grants** » March 27th, 2005, 9:33 pm

Everyone from the land of the long white cloud are called kiwis.

The kiwi is a flightless endangered bird that is considerably better looking than their human counterparts.

kiwi_MX3 · Post by **kiwi_MX3** » March 28th, 2005, 1:36 am

Makes Grant a Honaray Kiwi......

Grants · Post by **Grants** » March 28th, 2005, 2:03 am

Makes Grant a Honaray Kiwi......

Does that mean I can move to Bondi now???