2016 CX-5 1st HUGE issue, stuck on highway - Need Help

[bmninada]

At 70,000 miles and for few weeks observed a bit of sluggishness when accelerating. Normal culprits like engine oil, air filter, MAF sensor - cleaned/change/reviewed/sprayed.
Local dealership told anyways due for S/plug replacement at 75k so I decided to do it myself. Pretty easy and changed all 4 with their premium (not value) line.
Started car. After going 500 to 800 ft suddenly car started to shudder a bit. Then when I am attempting to accelerate - jerked violently. Very soon engine light came on, the traction not working came on, tire pressure light came on and weird messages appeared like smart city/forward collision errors - disabled. Very soon car barely could be accelerated or driven. In any smallest uphill it literally started to struggle.

Fearing something worse, I stopped in a safe location. Thankfully in car had the wrenches, etc. and after it cooled down re-opened and checked. Everything looks correct. No fuel/oil in the plugs, etc.

I attempted to start - and again for first 500 - 800 ft all okay and then the same stuff as above happened. At this point in time not taking risks I had already turned and was coming back home.

I stopped, waited for 20 min, and then drove - same behavior. Initially just the engine line came on but very soon the shuddering and all the warning lights/messages came on.

I am unable to figure this out. The only discernible change is replacing the spark plugs. I took them out twice and put them back in. My local trusted mechanic I called - he said it could be ignition coil or programming got haywire for some reason. Without attaching OBD sensor he can't assist. He asked me to bring the car in. I am really worried and he suggested I tow it rather than drive it in.

 

[bmninada]

do you have any misfire CEL error logged?

I already posted it

 

[shooter357]

Put the old plugs back and see what happens!

 

[ADS-B]

Put the old plugs back and see what happens!

Nope, we already know what happened.

 

[AL Cx5]

Found it. Car went into something called “limp mode”. In almost all Japanese cars all sensors and specific to brakes, traction get disabled.

Domestic and European cars have limp mod too. We use to tune around LM on street rods years ago. Even my 06 Ram will go into LM. On these cars, LM is normally associated with the ABS, speed sensors, transmission sensors or engine tunes that exceed the stock rev limiter settings.

SO glad you found it. It would be interesting to find why it went into LM.

I cracked a plug porcelain the first time I removed a plug on the Mazda. I didn't have a 14mm spark plug socket a poof, cracked a porcelain. I ponied up the $$ and bought a 14mm spark plug socket for these tiny, fragile plugs. I was putting new plugs in the engine before doing some WOT pulls for the ECU tuner. I pulled a plug after the WOT to "read" it. We learned years ago to double check the O2 readings with a visual plug reading.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

 

[GTXT23]

Good news that you have the problem sorted .

It's interesting to me that you get various ABS system related codes (Traction control, TPMS, SCBS) with a spark plug malfunction / misfire . Anyone have an idea how those relate? Because I can't put that together in my head thinking of the systems.


500 - 800 feet

Reading to fast - thanx for the correction - now it makes more sense !

 

[GFrosty]

Amazon reviews are not that good and I believe in Mazda documentation its written somewhere NOT to use throttle body cleaners specifically. My friend’s CX-3 suffered near failure when post treatment his O2 sensors died within few weeks.

TB cleaning solvents, if used properly, end up with a TB's metal surfaces squeaky-clean and dry. Hard to imagine that would be enough to damage downstream sensors.

The caked-on crud embedded onto the metal surfaces of a TB, though, is really on there. That crud doesn't some off by merely wishing it away. (And once removed, throttle response and sensitivity, in my car's case, improved dramatically.)

As for the GDI intake valve cleaner products (such as STP Pro Series, Berryman, or CRC), that definitely does get squirted in small amounts through the air intake at the TB while the car's running. If any such chemical weren't sensor safe, then I would suspect some downstream sensor could "die" from the treatment. But, in that case I would think that it would be common knowledge such sensor-safe chemicals caused that problem.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

Found it. Car went into something called “limp mode”. In almost all Japanese cars all sensors and specific to brakes, traction get disabled.

Hmmm, seems that someone already mentioned limp mode above, who was that anyways?

Oh yeah, it was me.