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mx3 fault diagnosis
Posted: March 28th, 2008, 7:05 am
by indapink
Hi just recently my mx3 has been stalling when the the engine is at normal temp when driving also the rev's sometime stick at 2500 rev's. The rev's are at 1500 rpm when started from cold and when idling the rev's fluctuate and it usually stall's. And just recently the cam has started making noise until it's warm then it stop's. A local garage said it's only firing on 4 cylinder's. I have spent well over 2 thousand pounds on it in the 4 yr's I have it. It's alway's been reliable until recently and I do Love my mazzie. Any idea's would be much appreciated.

oh yeh it is overdue a service
Re: mx3 fault diagnosis
Posted: March 28th, 2008, 7:43 am
by Smith18
HMM where to start... wow everything at once.
Start by checking all of your vacuum lines (while its running take and move all of the lines and see if they make the idle fluctuate, also check your rubber ribbed tube coming from your throttle body when its running this is a known cause of weird idle).
Why would he say it is only running on 4 cylinder's? is it bucking/ jerking really bad when driving or idling? or just the idle is all messed up and stalling because of it?.
The cam you talk of is our HLA's (Hydraulic Lash Adjusters, in other words a Lifter) i can almost bet that if you pop the hood of 20 Mx-3, Mx-6, Probes you'll notice that all of them will have this noise. Its not a bad thing its just noisy. Don't worry about it.
After all this come back to us we will tell you how to set everything. Also did you touch anything before this?
Re: mx3 fault diagnosis
Posted: March 30th, 2008, 11:25 am
by indapink
I have let car run and just by lifting the air induction filter up increases the idle while bending it down slightly the idle drops? Also the electric fan doesn't seem to be working?
Re: mx3 fault diagnosis
Posted: March 30th, 2008, 3:48 pm
by umcamara
indapink wrote:I have let car run and just by lifting the air induction filter up increases the idle while bending it down slightly the idle drops? Also the electric fan doesn't seem to be working?
I would say you definitely have a crack in your rubber air intake hose. This is a leading cause of idle issues. Replace that hose and your idle problem should be rectified.
I had the exact same issue when I got my car. If you try to repair the hose, it's pretty difficult. I tried siliconing mine, then taping it with a whole buch of electrical tape, then letting it dry for a couple days. As soon as I started the engine up and drove, the engine vacuum twisted the hose into nothing.
Re: mx3 fault diagnosis
Posted: March 31st, 2008, 12:37 pm
by indapink
It just get's better

The expansion tank is above full, could this also have something to do with the original problem?