RPM's drop abruptly to sometimes 0 and loss of power wh

[blueskyguy007]

I did do a search for this problem but I just wanted to make sure that my symtoms are normal for a bad dissty?

So I was doing about 85mph on the highway in Dallas and then my rpms dropped to near 0 for a split second and the car jerked as it lost power...Now I know that my car couldn't of gone all the way to 0 rpm's since my car is a 5spd and a new clutch...I at first thought it was the engine locking up since I hadn't changed the oil in 4000mi. and was a lil low on oil. But no...because I changed my oil to Mobil 1 right after. This lil problem usually happens every 5 min or so and lasts from .5 to 2 seconds. It also backfired sometimes. Well when I finally got home I checked all the conections and made sure that the spark wires were sercure, and so far it hasn't had the same problem...yet I haven't driven it but about 10mi. since then. So I dunno...could a loose spark wire have caused this problem??? I had Mazda do a tune-up on it recently and they added new plugs so I'm thinkin it may of just been loose. But the RPMs showing 0 is what gets me...it's like I had turned the key to ASC...except not since I everything in the car acted normally. Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

-Aaron

[IanL]

Originally posted by blueskyguy007:
I did do a search for this problem but I just wanted to make sure that my symtoms are normal for a bad dissty?
..... But the RPMs showing 0 is what gets me...

That's a good clue. The tacho is displaying pulses output by the igniter to the coil primary. Falling to zero means the igniter was not outputting any pulses. This could be caused by the camshaft position sensors, or their amplifiers, or the igniter itself (all of which are in the disty), or a problem in the ECU (much less likely).

So, as you said, it's the symptoms for a bad disty.

<small>[ December 14, 2004, 05:21 AM: Message edited by: IanL ]</small>

[blueskyguy007]

Hey yeah..thanks alot...I test drove my car right after and it seemed to run fine the entire 20mi. I drove it. I figure that it will start acting up eventually since I know that the disty in our cars are prone to failing. I better start saving for a new disty. Another thing I failed to mention was when I did check my spark wires, number 2 had a lil snap to it when I pushed it in. I hope that was the problem, but knowing my luck, it's the disty.


-Aaron