MX-3.com

Hia!
My original post has gone the way of the purple buffalo, so I decided to start a new one to get a little advice on the continuing issues of my car. If you read the original post you'd remember my car was idling a little low & the revs were all out of whack, climbing slightly when I disengaged the clutch instead of dropping, and the occassional stall, generally it was running pretty rough & I wasn't getting the power I was when I first got the car.

So I ran the codes first & got 08, 10 & 12. I called my mechanic & he wanted me to clear the codes & re-run them just to be sure, so I did that & the only code that came back was the 12, which is the TPS. Yay!! I was SOOO glad the VAF code didn't come back, cause I could swear that thing looks brand new & was going to go ape**** if it was the problem ($1000!!), considering I just dropped $2000 into the car when I bought it two months ago. <-- On that note I should mention when I put that money into it, it was for the timing belt, alt. belt, valve covers & gaskets, water pump, block heater cord (yep, I live in Canada!), cv boots, and a few other misc. this & thats.

Anyway, the car is going in on Tuesday morning for its new TPS. Before hand i'll check the wiring to the TPS & make sure theres no little bugs to work out before putting in a new sensor.

So i'll post on the progress of that, but now after making you read all the above, I have just a quick question. I'm thinking I may need a thermostat too as the car seems to take quite a while to warm up. It heats up to normal range, never overheats, but it takes a while to get there. Whats the norm warm up time for this car?? Should I even be concerned? Could the fact that my throttle is out of whack be holding the carback from warming up properly?

Thanks in advance guys. You have inspired me to learn so much more about my car, to the point where i've been looking at taking some night classes on engine repairs at the local tech school!!

Originally posted by J-Bird:
.... to the point where i've been looking at taking some night classes on engine repairs at the local tech school!!

That's great!

Warmup does depend on the outside temperature. If the only reason your coolant isn't ice is the anti-freeze in it, it's going to take a few minutes more than if the ambient is 65 deg F. I'd say between 5 and 10 minutes, driving at 30 mph.

Ya, 5-10 min is what it usually takes even on teh coldest days...i had to replace teh thermostat last year, i could drive 20min and it would barely get upto temp

A trick i learned which i'm just starting to try out is to put your temperature to max cold, with fans off of course, the car seems to heat up quicker...i read that when drag racing to put the thermostat to max heat to get it to open the thermostat and cools the engine, so i figured the opposite may work.

Than there's the old cardboard-in-front-of-the-radiator trick...

<small>[ October 06, 2004, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Nd4SpdSe ]</small>

You paid $1000 for a VAF? If you wanted, I could have sold you my old VAF for $1000, kicked you in the nads, and had engouh money to buy myself a fresh KLDE, KL ECU, and KL VAF.

Haha, gee thanks, if I had nads i'd be one sorry chica. But no, I haven't paid for a VAF, this is just what my mechanic told me it was worth. Perhaps he's trying to screw me?? When he did the initial work (timing belt etc.) he did show me all the old parts he took off the car, but who knows what lengths people will go to to snow someone. I gotta say, it sucks being female trying to get your car fixed. Every body is out to rip you off cause they think you don't know any better, and in a lot of cases, I don't know any better!! Hence part of the reason why I want to be able to fix it myself! I'd also get to utilize the creepy mechanics pit my bf & I found in our garage - the floor was covered in old carpet when we moved in, but when we moved it, Ta Da!!

As far as warm up, lately the weather where I live has been gorgeous, nice & warm, but it still takes 5-10 to warm up. If its taking 5-10 now I can only imagne what it will be like when its 30 below, even with the block heater plugged in! I've changed a thermostat before (with my pops) on my old escort, so I know its not too tough of a job, but where is the thermostat on my MX then??

If you come to the October 9th Meet at Sunridge mall in Calgary (11:00am) I'd be able to help you out with things and information like where the Thermostat is buried on our engines. Let me know!

If you look at the back of the radiator, there's one hose on top coming out to the top of the engine that's easy to see. Then, there's a hose at the bottom of the radiator that runs up under the distrubutor area. Follow the hose all the way back under there, and your thermostat is under there. And my point was a used MX-3 VAF is only $50 in good condition. Someone junks thier MX3 once a week on this board, so there are always parts available.