Idle Problems

[tk1138]

1.Don't unplug feeds to the TB or anything after the filter without putting a filter on them. Sucking road grime into an engine is really bad for it.<P>2. This may fix the symptoms of your idle problem by letting more air in, and raising the idle, but is almost certanly not the real root of the problem.<P>3. Doing what you've done, there's now more air going into the engine than the maf is reading. More importatnly it's not really proportional any more, so your fuel curves are off. The O2 sensor is probably fast enough to compensate, but there is a slight risk of leaning out your engine. You're also letting a lot more unoxidized hydrocarbons into the environment now.<P>You're right that the problem for most people isn't head gaskets though. Usually it's electrical in nature; the alternator isn't big enough to drive all the accesories that people have, or the battery is dying, etc. Others have reported that the symptoms were fixed by cleaning the intake components/head.<P>Basically if you only have the problem after slowing down from highway speeds, it's probably air/fuel related. <BR>If it happens when you press the brake pedal, or your sound system hits a loud note then it's electrical in nature. If you're running more than 200 Watts to a sound system, have a lot of lights etc. you probably need to upgrade your alternator/battery/wiring (look in the stereo & general forum too).

[Cybin]

Sorry guy I should have explained that the plug you unplug is an electical item. This shuts off the air bypass valve. <P>the air mass meter is not affected by this one bit since it sits upstream of the air bypass. <P>It may affect you emissions a little, but I doubt it.<P>People who are having a idle problem try it. it's one electical plug sitting under the throttle body. If it doesn't work plug it back in. If it does work you know you need a air bypass valve.<P>Later<BR>Cybin

[mzdspd]

i tried inserting the jumper and that did nothing and then i tried unplugging the air bypass valve and that helped a lot but im kinda skepticle about leaving it unplugged cause if its their more than likly its suposed to stay pluged in

[Cybin]

right, then you know it's more then likely bad or clogged or something. Everyone is messing with their idle screw and messing with this and that. Most of the stuff in and around your throttle body doesn't need to be touched. As far as putting a jumper on ten and ground. That just puts your car into dianogstic mode. That's for when you need to set the timing on you car. You should not drive around with it since that shuts off most of you idle sensors and your computer ignores some warnings. I've been driving around with mine unplugged for awhile. I plan on cleaning it out soon. I'll let you guys know what happens.<P>later,<BR>Cybin

[anjin1982]

i didnt leave the wire in i just inserted it for about a min after the car warmed up with no load left it in there for about 1-2mins THEN TOOK IT OUT! i noitced it wont jump any more (which is a good thing)but sadly it starting doing it agian 2day so i did the jumper thing agian and voila no jumps. this problem sounds to be diff problems in mx-3s it would be nice if mazda could find it and fix it fir free considing its there fault!is that possible?like a recall type of thing? [img]shrug.gif"%20border="0[/img]

[Cheeto]

ok guys, my mx-3 was doing the same thing and i believe i found 2 fixes for it i reset the ecu and that worked for me (and its not by jumping the 10pin and ground) i have the procedure for reseting it out in the garage but cant remember it, also i was reading up on it and i found a book that said to replace the electronic control module, i never tried this so im not 100% on if it works or not, priced one out at canadian tire and it was around $150. try that and im sure it will go away

[anjin1982]

ok this goes to the head ppl of this ubb maybe it wont be a bad idea to put a faq post on this imfamous idle problem,this *** will have possible suggestions to fix this problem being as how everyone has a similar problem but needs different solutions im sure that a person will find there solution on the hopefully new faq?

[mmonid]

Try getting a can of that throttle body cleaner. Clean out the trottle body with it. I tried it, and it worked fairly good. It will have the shakes once and a while, but most of the time, it will stay smooth. Getting the cleaner in was a bit of a problem, because the instructions say to have the engine runnning while spraying the stuff in. As soon as you take the intake off of the throttle body, the car will die. What I had to do was take the intake off, spray it all over the throttle body and the valve, put the intake back on, and start the car and let it run for a few minutes (the car will take longer to start). I did this a few times, and things improved.

[Gkreator]

I was having the same problem with my idle...I decided to buy new spark plugs just to make sure if that was the problem or not. I found that the idiot mechanic that installed the previous plugs obviously had no clue how to set the plug gaps! Sure enough, putting in new plugs totally fixed my idle problems other then a slight electrical drain I'm noticing.

[2fazed]

My car likes to stall when I slow down, or while I'm making a turn with the clutch in, I sometimes have to put it in neutral for it to go back to normal. I've had my gasket replaced, tune-up with new spark plugs etc, idle tuned number of times, all at different times. This car just has that problem. Someone is going to have to invent something to manage this problem, cause the car can't.

[anjin1982]

well since a bunch of mx-3's got this problem couldn't we get a petion to send to mazda to find out and fix the problem imean its really there car any1 think this would work?or maybe some1 knows some1 in mazda?just a thought! [img]shrug.gif"%20border="0[/img]

[992mmx3]

I have the same problem, i tried cleaning the throttle body etc. etc. brought it into the shop after it died on me once, i had a bad head gasket and a broken temp. sensor, (buddy broke it a week before hand). Pull out your plug wires cause a lot of 4 cly. mx-3's have bad valve covers and see if there is any oil on them, you might be misfiring. Total cost for me to fix all this is well over $1000 cause my head is also possible crakced. I'm just gonna do the b6t swap now.

[littlemantke]

first off replace your fuel filter the see where your car is idleing from their adjust your idle screw and should fix your idleing problems... I know it fixed mine...