Dead Spot

[Gazord]

Well I am finally out of the break in stage and the last couple of days been driving my MSP through its full range to learn what it is capable of.

I have noticed every once in awhile between 4500 to 55000 rpm's there is a dead spot like it loses about 20 hp and falls on it's face. It finds it again at 55000 and pulls the rest of the way to redline.

Again it doesn't happen all the time and only SEEMS to happen in second gear, or atleast that is where it is most noticable. 90% of the time the car runs and goes great and I love it. It is just these rare occasions it kinda sucks. I hope I didn't get a lemon...

I have never had a turbo before so I was wondering if this was normal sometimes? It seems like it is the turbo, but I guess it could be a fuel reduction or something breaking down in the electrical.

Maybe it is a bad plug breaking down and it is dropping a cylinder, but normally it drops and picks up through out the power band if that is the case.

I have noticed the car has a large fluctuation in voltage. You put on the radio, fog lights and heater fan and watch the head lights dim, when the turbo kicks in watch them brighten up. I think a better battery then the junk that is in there would help. Maybe a capacitor in line there would help smooth out voltage changes as well.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone else was experiencing a dead spot. I really dread taking it back to the dealership since it is 2 hrs away. This is my worst fear with buying this car, geting it serviced!

 

[spooling]

I thought I was leaving this board but until I do I wanted to try and help.

I only see some kind of drop off when I'm barely on the gas but with WOT everything is fine until around max power when the turbo puffs out.

As for the lights, same thing here. At night when your windows are already rolled up try pulling up on the power windows and the lights will dim. At first when the a/c clutch use to kick in the lights would flicker for a second but haven't noticed it lately. To me not a big deal unless my battery goes dead I'll bring it in.

 

[Newf]

Just about every honda and now mazda that I've owned has done this. The dimming light thing that is. Nothing to worry about. My MP3 is actually not as bad as the 2000 Civic I traded for it.

 

[bellspeed]

I've noticed the same thing! It's very slight, and you really need to pay attention. But every once in a while I feel a dead spot myself between 4500- 5000 rpm.
Most of the time it's when I floor the car suddenly, but if I ease into the throttle gradually until It's wide open I do not feel the dead spot. (This is when the car feels the strongest)
Maybe Mazda is dumping alot of fuel on the top end to try to prevent any chance of detonation? Would the car running rich possibly ceate this type of situation?
I am glad someone else is feeling this as well.
I also have the infamous Clunk very often. I
don't mind the issues as long as the preformance of the car stays the same. I expected some noises and problems from a car that has such aggressive suspension. Obviously I bought for the preformance and the handling.

 

[Newf]

the trick with the clunk is that you might not think your handling is effected....until you get the bushings replaced. Then you'll notice how different she feels, like new again.

 

[big_ben]

You guys are really new to the Protege. No big deal though, none of us with the MP3's knew what that was for the longest time. If you look at your intake manifold, there is a thing on the passenger side that looks like a throttle cable. That controls the variable intake runners. At precisely between 4500 and 5000 rpm they open up and the air inside the intake manifold gets very turbulent. This causes a dip in the HP curve for a second.

Damn it's cool when I actually know the right answer to something.

 

[Gazord]

I hate to ask a stupid question Big_Ben, but I just have to do it.

If this turbulance is in fact what is effecting the power band this much, is there anything that can be done to reduce it?

The loss is pretty bad, to relate the power loss for me it is basically the difference between having the turbo and not having it between that rpm range.

On a side note does anyone know if the air filter for the MSP is the same as that for the regular Protege? I would like to look into getting a K&N.

 

[big_ben]

There is pretty much nothing you can do about it. Unless you are an aerospace engineer and have studied flow dynamics and have lots of money to test and produce your own intake manifold. Some people have tried taking the butterflies out but they have had no good results from it.

 

[Gazord]

Well if this is truly the problem, it is unacceptable to lose that much power in the meat of the powerband. I can't believe they would allow a car to roll into production with that kind of poor performace. Maybe something else is wrong in my case.

Looking at the dyno results in Jan. Sport Compact car they are showing about a 25 hp gain between the 4500 to 5500 range with a couple of minor blips at 4500 & 5500. Where is my 25? When I am having the problem I am getting an increase of about 10 hp over that 1000 rpm range if I am lucky.

 

[122 Vega]

I have noticed this dip too, like a hiccup. Usually it is in second gear, but just when I am starting to lift throttle to shift to third. I think it is just at the point that the BOV is recycling. It won't do it at WOT.

Britt