Help Wanted - Engine Problems

[Zoomsday]

I recently swapped out my 1.6L ZM (overheated and warped) for a 2.0L FSZE on my '02 Protege..
Ive driven the car more than a month now with no probs and just yesterday the engine died on me while driving home from work. I rolled onto the side of the road, gave it a tumble and it started with ease, first tubmle and no stutters or anything. Then lo and behold on my way to work this morning, same thing happens, it just went dead while driving. Again it started back fine on the first tumble.

Im not seeing or feeling any symptoms to note, everything "looks" ok under the hood and when its driving its pulling just fine. No noises, no smells, temp is normal, no stuttering or hesitation.

Anyone got a clue what the problem could be or had any similar experiences??

[bazooka joe]

no codes? (shrug)cel's?

[Zoomsday]

Havent scanned yet, I'll get it to the mechanic tomorrow but no CELs.

[boostdprotegelx]

bad connection.. check your battery terminals...

[Zoomsday]

We did a scan with the mechanic, he read out the code which showed a bad signal from the Cam Position Sensor. I double checked the troubleshooting on the Workshop Manual which confimred the problem to be symptomatic of a bad Cam Position Sensor... Im wondering if the old one from the 1.6L can directly replace this bad one on the 2.0L.

[boostdprotegelx]

We did a scan with the mechanic, he read out the code which showed a bad signal from the Cam Position Sensor. I double checked the troubleshooting on the Workshop Manual which confimred the problem to be symptomatic of a bad Cam Position Sensor... Im wondering if the old one from the 1.6L can directly replace this bad one on the 2.0L.
highly doubtful.

[ghostbusters]

^^^they look exactly the same, dont know if they are calibrated differently, and since neither of them have a part number on it, they could very likely be the same...

[neox.286]

considering the 1.6L and the 2.0L have completely different trigger wheels and cam gears, it's doubtful that it will work correctly....but check with mazda to see if the part number is the same

do you have any other issues when this happens (electrically)? like do your gauges suddenly all fall to zero, or does the radio shut off, etc...etc... or is it only, and specifically only the engine dies? seems more like some kind of faulty connection somewhere considering how intermittent it is as opposed to being the sensor itself...considering the sensor is basically just a magnet (in layman's terms) it's not likely that it would be that intermittent, check your wiring harness up to the sensor...if you feel any spots in it that is suddenly not flexible or as flexible then the wires may have overheated there and melted together, which could create an intermittent short

[Zoomsday]

Radio continues playing when it dies. Im driving/cruising around 70-80 kph, I mash, feel no power, power steering dead. The engine otherwise runs so smoothly that it happens without me knowing until I step on the pedal and feel no power or until I feel the tightness in the power steering. First tim it happened I actually thought the power steering drive belt had snapped, but as I was still rolling I realized the engine was dead.
I agree with the possibility of it being a connection problem. Pulled out the sensor harness and sprayed with contact cleaner. Actually, Im going on 3 days now with no recurrence of the problem. That can't be just luck right??

[Zoomsday]

Oh, also cleaned the moderately dirty MAF sensor the very next morning after the problem first occurred (Thursday last week).

[ghostbusters]

interesting..., will check mazda montgomery

[neox.286]

if anything it's an electrical issue then...if the sensor was bad it wouldn't even start, or it would happen all the time and not once in a blue moon...check the wiring harness and check your fuses to make sure that all of the fuses are making full contact and not loose

[Zoomsday]

Makes sense, I'll give it a run-through and keep you guys updated.
Thanks much for the insights.

[bazooka joe]

bad connection at the battery, main fuse block, bad ground??????

[neox.286]

if that was the case his radio would cut out as well, which is why I asked him that...it could be a bad ground, but if it were it would likely be a ground related to the ignition switch which would also cut out the radio as most all of the grounds on the FS related to the ignition components (spark/timing/key) are on the same circuit, and the radio runs off of ACC which shares the same ground as the ignition components...fuses are semi-likely, which is why I said he should check to make sure none are loose, but even still that would usually be much more frequent of an issue if that were the case (but shouldn't be ruled out still) and again most of the fuses that would cause this would also cause ACC to loose power temporarily...this sounds like a wiring harness issue more than anything, but could also be a sensor issue or ecu problem...lol, it'd be a hell of a lot easier to diagnose if it happened more often hahaha

[bazooka joe]

if that was the case his radio would cut out as well, which is why I asked him that...it could be a bad ground, but if it were it would likely be a ground related to the ignition switch which would also cut out the radio...fuses are also likely, which is why I said he should check to make sure none are loose, but even still that would usually be much more frequent of an issue if that were the case (but shouldn't be ruled out still)
it does sound like electrical though...

[Zoomsday]

I'll go throught the fuses when I get home. I just thought it strange that it happened on two trips in succession then hasnt happened 3 days since.

[neox.286]

lol, ninja edited my last post bazooka

yes I agree that it is likely electrical, but it could not be the battery and it's HIGHLY unlikely to be grounds if the radio did not cut out...which leaves the sensor, harness, ecu, and possibly the fusebox (though the fusebox would also normally cut out ACC too save for one or two fuses)

do check the engine fuse in the driver's side footwell too...that is really the only fuse that I can think of off the top of my head that would cause the engine to cut out without causing anything else to cut out

thing that makes me think it's the harness though is the code for the cam angle sensor...which would cause these exact symptoms if the signal were interrupted

[Zoomsday]

Yeah,
I think that troubleshooting in the workshop manual specified "Poor or No signal" from the sensor which could mean that the wiring harness is faulty.