Mazdaspeed 3 Stutter

Speedy3

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Contributor
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2007 Cosmic Blue MS3
Mazdaspeed 3 Stutter / Buck / Power Loss

I bought a Mazdaspeed 3 back in November. It now has about 4000 miles. Recently, I get a stuttering in 3rd gear and above from any RPM up to about 5500 RPM. Some days, it is worse than others. When I first bought it and up til about 2500k miles, the car pulled hard without lag or stutter. Anyone else notice this problem?

the temperature here in Washington State has been hovering around 28-45 degrees. I initially thought it was a leaking hose clamp on the intercooler piping, so I tightend them up a bit and wiggled the connectors in the engine compartment a bit. I took it out for a drive and it seemed to be gone, but then the next day, it was back. I took it back to the dealer at 3000 miles for a test drive, an oil change and inspection. Of course it drove normally with a little bit stutter. The technician noticed the stutter and recommended we drive a new Mazdaspeed 3 for comparison. The new car seemed to have the same stutter. He concluded that there was nothing wrong but I had become sensitized to the car from driving it for so many miles. For the next few weeks I noticed the stutter would come and go but now it is much more pronounced. It gets so bad now that the car shakes when I shift into third gear and up. Today was pretty cold and it felt the worst.

Last night around midnight it was 28.2 degrees and I went for a nother test drive. I let it warm up then drove down the street and punched it. Big time stutter and shake starting in 2nd gear; probably the worst I've felt it. This was really P#@@#ng me off, so I came to a stop. temperature is at normal temp, no CEL (never had one btw). I then slowed down to second gear and punched it again. A little less stutter this time but I was still not satisfied. I turned around and came to a complete stop in the middle of the road. I launched at 3000 RPMS from a dead stop and shifted at at 5500 RPMS all the way through fourth gear. This time the stutter was very minimal but I still wasn't satisfied, so I turned around again and launched from a stop in the same way. This time there was no stutter whatsoever. so I slowed down to third gear, then punched it again with no stutter. what the heck is going on?

btw, in case it matters, we only have 92 octane gas here in the Seattle area(aside from buying racing fuel).
 
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I am happy to say I dont have that problem. If I were you I would try to take the car to a different dealership if possible to get a second opinion. If one is not avaliable ask to speak to the Mazda Rep. when he visits the dealership next. Ask him to go for a ride (he will). Then see what he has to say. I would leave out the part with the Octane boost also. Good Luck. I will have to try to duplicate your complaint to see if I have something like that. The temp here is about the same as yours right now. So maybe something will happen. Keep us posted to you findings.
 
I drove today with temperatures around 35 F. Still stuttering and more pronounced in second gear now and through 3rd, 4th. If the RPMs are above 5k, the stuttering is gone. I had a half tank of 92 octane (Chevron) with some residual "104 Maximum Octane Boost" (probably about 1/4 quart). It should be noted that I called the company Gold Eagle a week ago and asked them if their product would harm the Turbo, O2, Cat, etc. on a MS3 and they said that it will not harm my car or any components. Anyways, i filled the tank today with 92 from Chevron again and on the way home, the stuttering seemed to be gone. I wonder if it is the higher octane index fuel mixture combined with the 1600 psi direct injection and the high compression from the turbo and IC? Next week, i'm gonna try lower octane fuel (89) to see if it goes away. I'll keep you informed. If it comes back, i'll call the local mazda dealers for a rep test drive.
 
Speedy3 said:
Next week, i'm gonna try lower octane fuel (89) to see if it goes away. I'll keep you informed. If it comes back, i'll call the local mazda dealers for a rep test drive.

Why would you try lower octane gas? Even if the MS3 is Direct injection it is still better to stick to 93 since it burns cleaner and more efficiently. Just my .02 after reading this. Did you break in the motor or dog it since the day you got it?
 
avarela86 said:
Why would you try lower octane gas? Even if the MS3 is Direct injection it is still better to stick to 93 since it burns cleaner and more efficiently. Just my .02 after reading this. Did you break in the motor or dog it since the day you got it?

The reason why I want to try lower octane gas is a theory I have. Although I'm an Electrical Engineer, I did take Thermodynamics. Since higher octane gas helps prevent pre-ignition, I think that in this engine, it may be that high octane gas may hamper ignition to the point that it occurs later in the power stroke than optimal, thus causing the stutter. Or maybe it is just not mapped properly. I don't know, but at this point I have nothing else to go on.

I broke it in to 600 miles. I do admidt, i broke loose 3 times during that period though and went full throttle from 2nd through 4th gear. I had to take my friends for a ride and show them the power.
 
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That is very weird. Hesitation is one thing, but the shaking is not good. We all know how Mazda sucks at programming. Maybe they will tell you one day that they are aware of the problem, but do not have a fix for it as of yet. Thanks Mazda.

If it were my car, I 'd be taking back to a dealer. Shaking is not normal when changing gears on a new car. Hope that you get it resolved.
 
Speedy3 said:
The reason why I want to try lower octane gas is a theory I have. Although I'm an Electrical Engineer, I did take Thermodynamics. Since higher octane gas helps prevent pre-ignition, I think that in this engine, it may be that high octane gas may hamper ignition to the point that it occurs later in the power stroke than optimal, thus causing the stutter. Or maybe it is just not mapped properly. I don't know, but at this point I have nothing else to go on.

I broke it in to 600 miles. I do admidt, i broke loose 3 times during that period though and went full throttle from 2nd through 4th gear. I had to take my friends for a ride and show them the power.

No MS6 owner who ran racing fuel has ever had anything but positive things to say about the experience. Maybe the octane booster was stale or something? I think you should keep running the 92 for awhile to see if the stutter is gone and only try 89 if it comes back. On 89 your car's engine will run like a lawnmower.
 
got_titan said:
my car did this once last night...one small stutter and that was it....WEIRD!


The MS6 did this too. One small stutter or moment of hesitation is pretty normal for that car. Haven't noticed it on the MS3, though.
 
quiet desperado said:
Maybe the octane booster was stale or something? I think you should keep running the 92 for awhile to see if the stutter is gone and only try 89 if it comes back. On 89 your car's engine will run like a lawnmower.

Good point. I'll run through a couple of tanks and check the difference.

DAWIV said:
Shaking is not normal when changing gears on a new car. Hope that you get it resolved..

Just to clear things up, the problem doesn't occur during shifting, but during acceleration. I'll keep posting my findings on this. The dealer said a new flash will probably come out in late January, but wouldn't tell me if it was related to my problem.
 
An upate. Today I had stutter from the start. I drove about 5 miles accelerating off and on with the stutter very prominent, stopped at a store for about 15 minutes, then came back out and started up again. The stutter was gone. Does anyone know how the PCM initializes every time you start up? Does it grab current sensor data and then set a signal processing transform based on these constraints and run against the map model? I wish I could see the code!

So, the current workaround is to run the car to normal operating temperature, then shut it off and restart. Temperature today was 35 degrees F.

I'll keep experimenting.

One other question. Couls a pinhole in the TMIC cause significant pressure loss to confuse the PCM? A truck swerved off the road in front of me and stirred up a bunch of gravel that impacted my car on the freeway. Yes, I have a nice set of rock dings on the front of my car already.
 
ok this happened to my 3000gt i got it checked and the spark plugs and wire were bad. i know its a new car but have it checked bc mine got to the piont where one of the cylinders died and 300 dolllars later i was fine but it sucked driving a car home that gave me motion sickness.
 
wishingfora ms3 said:
ok this happened to my 3000gt i got it checked and the spark plugs and wire were bad. i know its a new car but have it checked bc mine got to the piont where one of the cylinders died and 300 dolllars later i was fine but it sucked driving a car home that gave me motion sickness.

Fouled plugs was one of my thoughts, but the Mazda dealer said it wasn't covered under the warranty until the scheduled maintenance on plugs and wires. I guess I'll have to check them myself. The only problem is that 4 plugs cost $132 at the dealer and there aren't any aftermarket plugs available yet or at least the cross references aren't up to date yet.

Thanks, though, i'll check that lead out.
 
even if you have to pay for it yourself at the deaership it would be worth it to have them replaced bc that can lead to some nasty stuff. like i said my 6th cylinder went dead until i changed the plugs and wires. left me with some good motion sickness too. good luck and i hope its nothing major.
 
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