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mx-3 problems

Posted: April 20th, 2006, 4:26 am
by lavaman
ok i just bought a 1992 mazda mx-3 1.6L SOHC... so far i have put on a weapon R intake, and monza catback exhaust... however i have a few problems and was wondering if anybody could help...

1. when i go to start the car, the starter sounds really rough

2. the idle below 1000 RPM is really rough and it tends to fluctuate especially in reverse. Sometimes stalls while in reverse.

3. when i brake, the right front wheel vibrates a bit but when i brake hard it stops.

4. check engine light comes on after about 15 min of driving but when i turn the car off and then on again it goes off.

If anybody could help me with these problems i would much appreciate it.

Posted: April 20th, 2006, 9:04 am
by ModMX3 - (Carmaster2005)
Its kinda hard to figure out those problems, With the information listed. If you where to provide more information behind each of those problems, somone would be abel to give an accruate perception of what the problem is. Like the problem only happens at certain speeds or when i turn a certain direction ECT. everyone would be more then happy to help with a little more info. :wink:

Posted: April 20th, 2006, 12:19 pm
by hobbypete
You can probably get some insight on problems 2 & 4 by pulling the codes. The braking problem is either pads or rotor - inspection and measurement will tell you. Starter motor is hard to tell - does it still start easily?

Posted: April 20th, 2006, 12:40 pm
by mazdamx3sohc
the tube you used that came with your weapon r intake is smaller then needed, try the original tube or just some breathersit will be fine. your wheel bearing is going. and your gunna need an alternator out of the v6 model you will find rough starting (from alternator and/or breather tube.) and when you turn on your ac it will feel like when you drive it will brake in mid driving. it chirps and all. you will see and you will thank me.

Posted: April 21st, 2006, 5:59 pm
by lavaman
well the TSB on this site said that the brake problem could be caused by the main sleeve on the right rotor. The vibrations happen at all speeds and tends to stop when i brake hard, it is not affected by the direction of turn or anything.

the starter doesnt have anything wrong with it, it just sounds really weird but the car starts right up.

I pulled the codes on the engine and i had a bad O2 sensor and i changed that but the car still tends to stall in reverse. I dont know if its a leak in the intake or what.

Also, i think my motor mounts are bad because at low RPM the car shakes alot and something rattles really bad. If anybody could give me information on that it would be helpful

Posted: April 21st, 2006, 7:19 pm
by mazdamx3sohc
i have no idea.

Posted: April 22nd, 2006, 12:57 am
by Boris
You could try doing a tune up; stuff like changing your spark plugs, fuel filter, i guess your air filter would be good, fuel injectors, and i dunno there's prolly stuff I'm forgetting too. If that stuff is all good, it might be a good idea to do a compression test. You might need a new head gasket, or possibly have some valve problems like I did. My mx3 had a really rough idle due to two cracked valves.

Hope this helped. Good luck.

Posted: April 22nd, 2006, 8:19 am
by eyezpinned
i had a similar situation...with the rattling at low RPM's. check and see if the rattling happens more when the car is in gear. my car would dip to about 550 at idle and shake a lot, but if i threw it in neutral or park the RPM's would level off at around 1000 and the shaking would stop. for a quick fix i made a couple of adjustments to the intake screw and the throttle control, and it helped a lot. I would definitely take a look at the idle-control valve, and check for a vacuum leak

Posted: April 22nd, 2006, 9:12 am
by mazdamx3sohc
sounds cool

wheel vibrations

Posted: April 26th, 2006, 6:40 pm
by sauga
I had that same vibration and it drove me nuts...It was the caliper was seized on the adjustment posts..I bought new calipers and they came with the posts and that fixed the problem.