New MX3....and my first Mazda, idle kinda funky!

Pigman · Post by **Pigman** » March 22nd, 2005, 5:33 pm

Greetings boys, and girlz!

I have just migrated to the MX3 after a stint on the Impalassforum.com forum, my caprice is now just a drag car. Annyhow, just got the car 3 days ago(96 GS V6 5 spd)...and the idle gets real low in closed loop, it did stall repeatedly the first two days. Almost did every stop today. Also, the engine seems to lack guts below 3700 rpm, then it just comes alive like a (small) tiger, could be normal, but hey...I'm new to this FWD Japanese stuff...so teach me dammitt!!..lolol.

Any pointers...you guys seem like a very respectable bunch of people, hope I can learn alot!

Cheers people!

mxmaz · Post by **mxmaz** » March 22nd, 2005, 5:57 pm

Stalling could be a lot of things. You could start by checking for any vacuum leaks.
Its normal for these car to lack power till the revs get up and then the vris point kick in which is like Mazda's vtec.

Pigman · Post by **Pigman** » March 22nd, 2005, 6:06 pm

I re-did the ribbing on the intake ube after the MAF (or VAF, for you guys???), the last owner had it taped up . Used gasket maker all over the ribbing, should be 100% leak proof!

Filter is "dirty", but it's an old k&n... I noticed a vacuum tube with a screw in the end and a loose plug...probably fron the original airbox I would figure. Runs perfect in open loop, the it drive fine while moving, it's when I step on the clutch or am stopped, it goes down REAL low and has stalled numerous times. Ran some injector cleaner also. It does run better than it did, hasn't stalled today, but almost!...lol

Appreciate the help very much!!!!!!

Ciao people!

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » March 22nd, 2005, 6:42 pm

Couple of things to check.. TPS sensor.. they do wear out apparently, and possibly clean the throttle body and IAC valve. There is more info on this in the online shop manual on the home page.

Tunes67

hgallegos915 · Post by **hgallegos915** » March 22nd, 2005, 8:23 pm

yup check the idle screw on top of the tb. pull ecu codes its in the faq and its easy.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 22nd, 2005, 11:07 pm

Rather than try and fill your head with all sorts of techno maybe's, my suggestion is to go to my thread (KLZE TB) in this forum and find BabyBlueMX3's post - PM or email him, because he's just around the corner from you in Gatineau. Arrange a face to face or phone call because he is quite conversant with the MX. Best source of info you can find at the moment...IMO

Steve's (AKA babybluemx3) web page is:
http://www.cardomain.com/id/stracmx3gs

His MSN is:
steve_racine17@hotmail.com

Hope this helps

babyblueMX3 · Post by **babyblueMX3** » March 23rd, 2005, 9:24 am

Pigman wrote:I re-did the ribbing on the intake ube after the MAF (or VAF, for you guys???), the last owner had it taped up . Used gasket maker all over the ribbing, should be 100% leak proof!

Filter is "dirty", but it's an old k&n... I noticed a vacuum tube with a screw in the end and a loose plug...probably fron the original airbox I would figure. Runs perfect in open loop, the it drive fine while moving, it's when I step on the clutch or am stopped, it goes down REAL low and has stalled numerous times. Ran some injector cleaner also. It does run better than it did, hasn't stalled today, but almost!...lol

Appreciate the help very much!!!!!!

Ciao people!

the vacuum you probably have a screw in it is probably for the fuel pressure regulator..people did this to bump the fuel pressure a little on idle..the other other loose plug you're talking about is wich ? you should take some pics and show it to us...
I have 2 guesses..first you problem can be one of the above. ans second it couuld be bad tps settings.
I had a simillar problem when I first installed my cold air intake. happened to be vacuum mixed up and unplug.

Pigman · Post by **Pigman** » March 24th, 2005, 5:32 pm

Thanx alot guys!!

Blue, Ièll be in touch, if you don't mind. I'm doing the plugs tonight, TB clean out tomorrow and I'll take it from there. Today coming home from work, it felt like I had a miss...car seems very underpowerred under 4k rpm, then POW! jumps to life. Might be a bad wire or plug. I'll get those out of the way, cacuum leaks are good, checked with TB cleaner.

It seems to idle as if not all cylinders where firring, and sometimes it runs like a champ....very weird! How are the dirtributors on MX-3's?

I'll keep you guys posted, Blue, glad to know help aint too far...if that's cool with you!...lol

Cheers, have a great Easter weekend people!!!!

mxmaz · Post by **mxmaz** » March 24th, 2005, 5:44 pm

The distributors on the early mx3's are junk but the 94-96 ones are pretty reliable. Rarely do I hear of anyone having disty problems on the newer ones.
Is your valve cover gaskets leaking?

babyblueMX3 · Post by **babyblueMX3** » March 24th, 2005, 6:18 pm

[quote="Pigman"

I'll keep you guys posted, Blue, glad to know help aint too far...if that's cool with you!...lol

[/quote]

yeah sure it's cool...if you need anything...just give me a shoot

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 24th, 2005, 10:30 pm

babyblueMX3 wrote:...just give me a shoot

Hope it's not loaded

Pigman · Post by **Pigman** » March 26th, 2005, 1:48 pm

Regarding the vale cover leaking...some of the plugs had some oil on them when I removed them. Nothing to indicate oil in the combustion chambers, all the tips where good. I guess there is a gasket that seals the plug acess tubes??...could it be the cause of my bad idle/bubbling exhaust???

It seems much better since doing the plugs yesterday, I'll ge the wires done and we'll see...but it seems air/fuel related somehow. What's with that screw on top of the TB????...and the sensor on the left...can I remove/clean those???

Sorru about all the Q's people...I'm just used to my LT1 9C1....little learning curve here!...lol

Much appreciated!

babyblueMX3 · Post by **babyblueMX3** » March 26th, 2005, 4:21 pm

the screw on top of the TB is the idle air screw..you play with the screw normally to play with your idle's rpm..the sensor on the left is call the tps sensor (throttle position sensor). You have a multimeter with you ? take the voltage - close throttle, from the second wire from top off the tps sensor..right that down..then manually open the throttle wide open and again mesure the voltage at the same wire..
then post your results..we'll tell you if your tps settings are good
you should be in the range of 0.65-1.00V close throttle and around 4V WOT.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 26th, 2005, 10:11 pm

mxmaz wrote:The distributors on the early mx3's are junk but the 94-96 ones are pretty reliable. Rarely do I hear of anyone having disty problems on the newer ones.

I must be the exception to the rule, fortunately. Original disty swapped over to ZE last fall and working like a champ 270,000km +. I change the rotor and cap every 3 years.

Pigman · Post by **Pigman** » April 2nd, 2005, 11:42 pm

Ok, so....Checked all vacuums, no apprearent leaks. Changed plugs, cleaned K&N filter, changed oil, cleaned out TB.

Car starts fine, But idle is different everytime I step on the clutch once warm, it idles high or real low.

Car is underpowerred. Until the VRIS opens, it feels sluggish and the car feels like it's rocking back and foward on level ground on steady rpm.

Sometimes the car will act very normal, but most of the time it feels underpowerred until 4000RPM.

Also, the car will sometimes change sound and become real "low tone" and gathers speed like a turtle, no power at all until 4000RPm, I can mash it in first or any gear and it gathers RPM's VERY slowly, until the VRIS, then all the power is there.

I'm stumped!!!...getting wires done on monday, but I doubt it's my problem, seems a sensor is not happy about something in my oppinnion??...

Any ideas people??

I REALLY appreciate this, just trying to get it running right before I go and buy all those go faster mods, but I'm getting itchy!!!!

Cheers !!!