Car just died! please help, ineed it to get to work!

violent_J_54021 · Post by **violent_J_54021** » April 12th, 2005, 4:55 pm

OK, two days ago I had my car, which is a 94 with a B6-ZE out of a miata, ACT clutch, and a CAI, out at my friends shop. I put new springs, ball joints and rear brakes on it. After that I drove it about 12 miles back to my house. I didn't notice anything wrong with it then. A couple hours later I was leaving my house and I noticed a slight decrease in power in the low RPMs. At an idle when I would hit the gas it seemed to hesatate just a little bit, and then at about 2K, it felt completely normal. This was such a small thing that I didn't even think to much about it, just thought it was a dirty air filter or something. Well, yesterday I went out and started up my car, fired up just fine. I put the car in reverse to back out of my driveway, went two feet and the thing stalled. After that it just woulden't start. I checked the timing, gas pressure, spark, and they where all fine. The only way I could get it to start is by flooring the gas as I turned it over, then it would fire a little bit, and run arould 150-200 RPM, strugling to stay alive. but if I did anything but floor it, it just would die.
Please help!
Thanks,
EricT

neutral · Post by **neutral** » April 12th, 2005, 5:08 pm

Symptoms sound very much like a possible unmetered air leak somewhere along the air intake path. Double ck. all the vac hoses connecting to the intake area as well as all the intake hose fittings and inspect carefully to make sure rubber air intake hosing hasn't developed any cracks or poor fitment at reducer joints etc.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » April 12th, 2005, 5:12 pm

How did you check spark? Also.. Check your voltage at the battery and list that as well. Did your headlights seem of normal brightness last night? If you can.. check your voltage at the battery both while the engine is off and while its running.. even if its only barely running. This is kind of a strange issue considering you have, fuel and spark. So lets make sure that the charging system is supplying all the power the engine requires to run properly. Post back and we will see what we can dig up from here.

Tunes67

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » April 12th, 2005, 5:16 pm

Wow.. an unmetered air leak can actually prevent the engine from running? I wasnt aware it could be that intensive. I figured it he had an airleak it would just run badly but not this drastic of an outcome. Good info to know.

Tunes67

violent_J_54021 · Post by **violent_J_54021** » April 12th, 2005, 6:28 pm

hi,
I just went outside and checked the voltage, it was fine. I also looked for air leaks in my CAI, but I didn't find any. I did how ever get the car to start. If I floor it when it is trying to start and then lift my foot off the pedal when it fires, it will start to idle normaly. then when I try to rev it up, I have to really feather the gas or else it will die. At about 1750-2000 RPM the engine will take off and rev normaly all the way to the rev limiter. As long as I keep the engine about 2K, it seems to run fine, but if I just let off the gas and let it drop all the way back down, it wont stop untill it almost kills itself, then I have to be very gentle on the gas untill I get to that 2K mark.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
EricT

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » April 12th, 2005, 6:33 pm

Ok.. this doesnt sound electrical.. I agree with nuetral.. gonna be something in the air intake system.. maybe your MAF sensor went bad? Or possibly the Throttle Position sensor (Seeing how you say it seems to run fine above 2k RPM) There should be diagnostic tests shown in the online shop manual that you can do to test these components.. thats where I would start next anyway in lieu of actually finding no air leaks.

Tunes67

violent_J_54021 · Post by **violent_J_54021** » April 12th, 2005, 9:33 pm

OK, so where do I find the shop on-line manual? I was thinking myself that it could be my airflow sensor, but I have no idea how to test it...
Thanks,
EricT

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » April 12th, 2005, 11:33 pm

You can find the online shop manual on the home page http://www.mx-3.com its in the list of links on the left side of the page.

Tunes67

CarMan1 · Post by **CarMan1** » April 14th, 2005, 4:52 pm

that sounds like a MAF problem... thats exactly what happens if u disconnect u MAF entirely, u cant hit the gas or itll die.... had that happen to me, got a new one and works fine... u said u swapped in a miata engine? did u chance ECU and MAF sensor also? if it still uses a maf

bushidosword · Post by **bushidosword** » April 14th, 2005, 6:25 pm

clogged cat converter. dont wasit any more time or money till you check this out!!! two weeks ago i drove to work, parked, an hour later i went out to the police station to prove i disconnected my blue cold cathode light, and i noticed the exact same symptoms, i thought little of it, and went back to work. 8 hours later i started it up fine and drove like 200 feet, and it stalled, and would not start!!!! i thought it was the dissty, or my home made intake but it was niether!!!! this cost me a ton of freakin money in towing and such.

If your cat converter is clogged, then at higher rpm there is more air pressure , so u may not think much is wrong! ANy way in my case the dissty was weak so the two combined stopped the car from starting, which would account for u getting yours started... If u want to find out just take off your cat and see if it acts the same way!

(or if u want to weld later tap a small hole in ur y pipe)

keep us posted!!!

hope this helps