Hit a pothole and now....

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ProbeChris

Member
:
2003 MSP
I hit a pothole the other day and the car's idle kind of stumbled and almost died. As I pull away from the next stop sign it pretty much falls on its face and then died a few blocks later as I turned the corner. Managed to get the car back home and it will idle just fine all day, it will rev without hesitation. However a trip around the block and it goes back to hesitating and stalling. Also noticed there is a slight drop In the idle as soon as the car is started, after that it idles just fine. Anyone ever experienced anything like this?

I've checked for vacuum leaks but can't seem to find any and the car builds boost just fine.

Leaves me to believe it has to be something fuel or computer related. Checked around the engine bay to see if a connector possibly came loose but don't see anything suspicious.

Tried borrowing a diagnostic scanner from O Reilly's but apparently they don't do that anymore so I'm left to source one elsewhere.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
 
Definitely need to check the ECU, may be a loose main fuse or battery cable/ground. Or even an ignition problem, coils/wires/plugs.
 
geomatics_tech-intercooler plumbing was the first thing I checked as a similar issue happened about a year ago. Elbow attached to the tb popped off under boost. Everything seems to be intact this time and still builds boost normally so I believe this can be ruled out.

hornsfan-Right after purchasing the car a couple years ago it stalled and left me stranded at the bank. I did nothing but remove the coils, plugs, and checked the compression. I put if back together and it hadn't given me any trouble since. I suspected a possible failing coil but never confirmed. How would I go about testing a failing coil? I did check the couple of grounds I could locate and they seemed fine. How many of them are there in the engine bay? By checking the ecu are you referring pulling the trouble codes? Or physically checking out the ecu?

Sorry for the slow response guys. I was preparing a trip to texas to pick up a Jeep Srt8 most of last week. As soon as I can diagnose and fix this issue with the mazda, she will be up for sale... :(
 
Check for CEL codes. Only way I know to check the coilpacks is to replace them, especially if the issue is intermittent.
 
Finally limped the car down to O Reillys. Only code that came up was an o2 sensor, highly doubt it to be the culprit here.

The issue seems to become much worse after the car has reached normal operating temp. At that time it acts like a bucking bronco or someone just learning how to a 5spd is the best way I can describe it. It is intermittent as in I don't know when it is going to start acting up, but it WILL happen each and every time the car is driven. It will idle just fine all day long, the issue only becomes noticeable while under a load...
 
Disconnect your upstream O2 sensor and see how it does.
 
This happened to a buddy of mine with his msp, and I remember him saying it was a fuse that popped lose. Not sure exactly which one, but It was a fuse. He found out after he paid the towing company unfortunately
 
Jerseymods-thank you, I will definitely look into it and hope is was the cause

Preferio-unplugging the o2 sensor had no affect on the cars symptoms. I'm assuming this was to trick the ecu into making the car run on its stock map and make it run rich?

Noticed when I dropped the hood closed while the car was idling it made it stumble and almost stall, strengthening the case for a loose fuse. WIll keep you guys posted.
 
Sure enough the "Main" relay came loose and was sitting in position but not firmly in place.

Thank you guys so much for all of your efforts. Now I've got to decide if I want to sell or keep the car...
 
Haha, I'm sure it would have been much sooner had I not just picked up my Jeep. But I'm glad to have the Mazda out of the garage and able to drive it again!
 
ProbeChris said:
Sure enough the "Main" relay came loose and was sitting in position but not firmly in place.

Thank you guys so much for all of your efforts. Now I've got to decide if I want to sell or keep the car...
Click to expand...

I wish I'd remembered this thread because I saw someone with the IDENTICAL complaint and it turned out to be the exact same thing. That's strange.
 
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