P5 Won't Start & Rough Idle

[Hank3]

Just a quick update: Car has been running perfectly fine for the past seven days. No hints of starting trouble, stalling, or rough idle. Did develop a squeal in the belts. Will replace them this weekend with some OEM ones and maybe do some other troubleshooting while I'm under the hood (clean IACV and EGR). Check for fuel delivery. Have a set of Beck Arnley coils, spark plug wire set, and new crank sensor in my Amazon wish list as the next step.

 

[CTt3P5]

Man, what a PITA this has been for you. I hope it has been sorted out now and doesn't give you any other issues but if it should I'm leaning towards coils as well. Had a similar issue a few years ago where the car just stalled on me while driving in town. Thankfully no one was around and it started right up for me but ran a bit rough. I bought coils at Autozone and swapped them in and didn't have the issue again. Before you buy them from Amazon I'd compare prices with Autozone. Their coils have the lifetime warranty so if they go bad, you simply get a new one.

 

[Hank3]

Man, what a PITA this has been for you. I hope it has been sorted out now and doesn't give you any other issues but if it should I'm leaning towards coils as well. Had a similar issue a few years ago where the car just stalled on me while driving in town. Thankfully no one was around and it started right up for me but ran a bit rough. I bought coils at Autozone and swapped them in and didn't have the issue again. Before you buy them from Amazon I'd compare prices with Autozone. Their coils have the lifetime warranty so if they go bad, you simply get a new one.

Yeah...I've toyed with either dumping a bunch of money into it to basically eliminate certain things all at once; continue my course by troubleshooting systematically and hoping it fixes it or the car will consistently faily; or sell the car altogether and get into a newer/more reliable vehicle (Mazda3). The stalling thing isn't anything to mess with. Endangers everyone around under the right circumstances. And with a baby in tow now, I'm a bit more skittish to say the least.

I checked Autozone and their Duralast Coils are $26 a piece. Amazon's Beck Arnley is $36 a piece. Do you recall if you got the Duralast ones from Autozone? Did you get new a new wire set as well or used your old ones?

 

[CTt3P5]

Well you have started the systematic troubleshooting so I'd stay that course and if it were me, the coils would be the next thing before I spent money on anything else. If they don't fix the problem, then you have to ask yourself do I continue on or just buy everything at once and call it a day or dump the car and the issue. I don't blame you as I'd be wary of driving the car right now as well and moreso with a child in the backseat.

Yes, I bought the AZ coils and that price sounds about right and I just re-used my old wire set.

 

[Hank3]

Here's a slight curveball:

I went to a local battery place at lunch today to see if they would test the battery. Turns out the battery wasn't holding charge. When they did the 15-sec test, the juice was dropping pretty steadily. An hour an a half later I got new battery replaced at Walmart for free since it was two months shy of its three year replacement guarantee.

So now I'm wondering if any of this could've been related to the battery? It has never not cranked for me when it would go through the random no-start situations, but causing the car to stall?

 

[The_big_dill]

Here's a slight curveball:

I went to a local battery place at lunch today to see if they would test the battery. Turns out the battery wasn't holding charge. When they did the 15-sec test, the juice was dropping pretty steadily. An hour an a half later I got new battery replaced at Walmart for free since it was two months shy of its three year replacement guarantee.

So now I'm wondering if any of this could've been related to the battery? It has never not cranked for me when it would go through the random no-start situations, but causing the car to stall?

The starter motor will draw more power than anything else in your system by far, if there is enough juice to power the starter motor for more than a couple seconds, you have have enough juice to run anything else for longer.

 

[pcb]

,... Had a similar issue a few years ago where the car just stalled on me while driving in town. Thankfully no one was around and it started right up for me but ran a bit rough,..

Did you throw any codes when that happened ??

 

[Hank3]

Well you have started the systematic troubleshooting so I'd stay that course and if it were me, the coils would be the next thing before I spent money on anything else. If they don't fix the problem, then you have to ask yourself do I continue on or just buy everything at once and call it a day or dump the car and the issue. I don't blame you as I'd be wary of driving the car right now as well and moreso with a child in the backseat.

Yes, I bought the AZ coils and that price sounds about right and I just re-used my old wire set.

Picked up two brand new Duralast coils from AZ this afternoon. They were $26 a piece but I had a $10 off coupon. So a good deal overall considering they have a Lifetime Warranty. Will be installing and troubleshooting this Sunday afternoon.

 

[Hank3]

Update: Winded up not troubleshooting any this weekend because the car is running well. I did some more research over the past few days and it looks like a battery that's on its way out (not quite dead but has bad cell(s)), can cause stalling and starting issues. I read accounts from other car owners who had the same symptoms (i.e. car not starting but would turn over and car stalling) that was attributed to a bad battery.

To somewhat recap: During one of the days it was in the shop, while the shop owner left it running, the car just died. He then had to recharge the battery and said was fine the rest of the day until I went to pick it up and it wouldn't start but would turn over. He then troubleshooted the following day and it ran fine for him. So last week I got a new battery replaced under warranty since it was two months shy of the three-year replacement agreement. I've noticed since the battery replacement that the car is starting stronger than it had been previously for the past few months. Not a huge difference, but definitely noticeable. I'm still not 100% convinced that it was the battery, but it sure looks that way. I'll probably wind up returning the Duralast coils to Autozone at some point. This whole ordeal cost about $200 (new fuel pump, filter, used coils, and other misc.) and a bunch of time stressing out when a trip to Walmart to get a free replacement battery potentially did the trick. Kinda frustrating, but at least the problem hasn't come back and I got some newer items for the car

Will return to update as needed, but I hope I won't have to

 

[The_big_dill]

Once again If your battery was bad you wouldn't be able to crank... Your crack sounded healthy. Its definitely not your battery.

 

[pcb]

Once again If your battery was bad you wouldn't be able to crank... Your crack sounded healthy. Its definitely not your battery.

^^^ What he said... You've still got other gremlins... I think you should leave your new coils on...

 

[pcb]

One thing to possibly consider is a bad ground or intermittent bad connection between the engine the body and your ECU.

If it were me, I'd just run a wire connecting all three.... Simple, cheap and easy.... It may not help but it can't hurt.

(check out the "Big Three" upgrade for reference)

 

[CTt3P5]

Did you throw any codes when that happened ??

Not that I recall but it was several years ago so I may have.

Picked up two brand new Duralast coils from AZ this afternoon. They were $26 a piece but I had a $10 off coupon. So a good deal overall considering they have a Lifetime Warranty. Will be installing and troubleshooting this Sunday afternoon.

As suggested I'd hang on to them for a little while longer, just in case. Here's to hoping it continues to run well! (drinks)

 

[pcb]

Did you throw any codes when that happened ??

Not that I recall but it was several years ago so I may have.

I was wondering if it was possible to have coils give out without throwing a code (especially the misfire codes),... I'm wondering whether a bad ground connection can kill the car without throwing a code ??

 

[Hank3]

***LONG UPDATE*** Scroll down to read Cliff's Notes version:

Update: Car had been running fine since last update. I knew it was false hope and that the problem still remained, but I needed a break from it and didn't want to think about the car. Wanted to enjoy my free time with our new baby and wife. Fast forward to this past weekend: the car wouldn't start after sitting out in the hot Florida sun for a few hours. I waited about 10 mins and then it started. I drove home; parked the car and shut it off; tried starting it again and nothing...cranks and everything but doesn't start. I put in the Duralast coils from Autozone and it started up. Didn't drive it for a day. Went to work yesterday...I noticed after initial startup that the tach surged up more than it normally does. Didn't fret too much about it. Later in the the morning that car stalls while going up an incline on a six lane road. Let's just say it got me pretty scared. Had a couple guys push me to the side of the road. This time, it wouldn't tart back up for me. Had AAA tow it to the Mazda dealer. When it got there, the service intake person wasn't able to start it up either, but he said they may or may not get to it since they were pretty backed up.

Got a call this morning from Mazda saying that they were able to get to the car late in the day yesterday. It started up fine for the service tech. But they brought it in to run tests on it. While it was running, it stalled on them too! YES! Hallelujah!!! Then they couldn't start it either. They were able to trace the issue to the fuel pump relay. To refresh, I was able to test the fuel pump relay in early April and it was most definitely working. However, I was not able to replicate the high temp environment that the relay usually sees. They said when it gets hot, the relay cuts off and doesn't work properly. They're ordering one today and it'll get here tomorrow. After part, labor, and diagnosis...the bill will be $181. Here's to hoping they've found the issue. If not, this baby is going on the selling block.

Cliff's Notes Update: Car woudn't start and stalled again. Car was towed to Mazda dealer and they traced problem to fuel pump relay cutting off when it gets too hot. New one being ordered and installed by tomorrow. Hopefully this solves the problem.

Mazda Fuel Pump Relay Part# B5B418821

Found this resource as well:

Signs & Symptoms of a Bad Fuel Pump Relay

 

[dragosurf88]

Is there any further updates? I have a 2002 Protege5. I search for potential problems from time to time, just to learn more about the car and its quirks/symptoms. I am wondering if the problem ever got fixed. Thank you!

 

[Hank3]

Is there any further updates? I have a 2002 Protege5. I search for potential problems from time to time, just to learn more about the car and its quirks/symptoms. I am wondering if the problem ever got fixed. Thank you!

My last update with the fuel pump relay being the culprit was the fix. Been going on close to three months and the car has been running fine. No more symptoms of not starting or stalling.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Gotta remember this one.......