engine hesitation and lethargic performance sometimes

sparkplug

Member
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07 MS3 Black Mica, MS CAI, SU Motor Mount, ETS TMIC 3.25"
I am new to this forum but hope that someone has some answers to my issues.

I have a one week old MS3 with a MS CAI installed by the dealer. It has 1300KM.

The MS3 ran like a monster on the first day. The second day it was hesitating sometimes but would run ok most of the time. One minute it's a monster the next it's an engine with little boost. On the third day filled it with gas and after going away from the station it started to hesitate badly and got a CEL. brought it to the dealer and it was a cylinder 3 misfire but he said it's fine now. So I took it back and it still hesitates sometimes and the performance is on and off. It seems to be like a slot machine where every turn of the key is a new combination either monster or mouse for that turn.

Lastnight I was going down the highway in 5th and I decided to floor it to pass a car and it was the mouse that turned up when I started it that trip but all of sudden after 5 seconds and at 5000RPM it woke up and kicked me back and was alive again for that ride.

It's the weirdest thing. The dealer wants to see a CEL in order to do something but I am wondering if any of you have similar issues or might know what might be going on.

On a side note I am wanting an XEDE when the PNP is available.
 
Wow today I experienced a similar situation, except my car isnt hesitating and still behaving like a beast, friends tell me the car is running richer to compinsate for the CAI, I installed mine myself, I cant see myself paying the dealer to install an intake.. I got 1725miles on the dash, im going to mazda in the morning to find out!!
 
sparkplug said:
I am new to this forum but hope that someone has some answers to my issues.

I have a one week old MS3 with a MS CAI installed by the dealer. It has 1300KM.

The MS3 ran like a monster on the first day. The second day it was hesitating sometimes but would run ok most of the time. One minute it's a monster the next it's an engine with little boost. On the third day filled it with gas and after going away from the station it started to hesitate badly and got a CEL. brought it to the dealer and it was a cylinder 3 misfire but he said it's fine now. So I took it back and it still hesitates sometimes and the performance is on and off. It seems to be like a slot machine where every turn of the key is a new combination either monster or mouse for that turn.

Lastnight I was going down the highway in 5th and I decided to floor it to pass a car and it was the mouse that turned up when I started it that trip but all of sudden after 5 seconds and at 5000RPM it woke up and kicked me back and was alive again for that ride.

It's the weirdest thing. The dealer wants to see a CEL in order to do something but I am wondering if any of you have similar issues or might know what might be going on.

Did the dealer do anything to your car after that diagnosis?

I have heard of similar problem that ended up being a bad coil (for one cylinder).
 
yep that is normal... it scared the s*** out of me at first too, (except mine hesitated in 3rd) but not to worry. the hesitation ur feeling is ur ecu remapping itself now that it has all this new cold air coming in. I can't believe that your dealer didn't explain that to you. Give it another week or so of normal driving and the situation should fix itself
 
Well my car is now running on 3 cylinders and needed to be towed to the dealer. It has CEL on and then some since it even blinks. It was running perfect then all of sudden the mouse showed up and then the engine was running on 3 cylinders. Needless to say it was a rough ride until I stopped.

Not impressed.
 
Opps sorry matsuda I did not answer your question.

The dealer did nothing the last time accept for reset the CEL. I called them repeadly to let them know the engine is still hesitating and there is an issue but he said I cannot do much until I get a check engine light go off again.

Well they have one now and then some. This is very dissapointing on a car you wait a month to drive and then it has to be towed after 2 weeks of ownership.

Is there a quality issue with this specific car ?
 
Well matsuda you were right the issue was related to a bad coil. They changed the coil and the car is working again.

I had another which was related to some clanking in the rear end of the car. Well they fixed that as well since it was a faulty linkage. They replaced it and it seems ok as well.

So hopefully the issues are over with for a while with this car and I can get back to enjoying the thing.

Enjoy!
 
Well I spoke a little to soon. I drove a little tonight and it started to hesistate again and guess what another CEL and it was acting up something fierce. It almost felt like it was about to start running on 3 cylinders again despite them changing the coil for cylinder 3.

So back to shop again tomorrow morning.

I am starting to really dislike this car. 2 weeks of owning it 3 engine lights and one suspention link later please make it stop :(

Could it be my CAI causing this to my car or at least this is what the director of sales at the dealer ship thinks even though it was installed by his service team.
 
sparkplug said:
Well I spoke a little to soon. I drove a little tonight and it started to hesistate again and guess what another CEL and it was acting up something fierce. It almost felt like it was about to start running on 3 cylinders again despite them changing the coil for cylinder 3.

So back to shop again tomorrow morning.

I am starting to really dislike this car. 2 weeks of owning it 3 engine lights and one suspention link later please make it stop :(

Could it be my CAI causing this to my car or at least this is what the director of sales at the dealer ship thinks even though it was installed by his service team.
Ask them to check the spark plug coils. There have been a couple of reports of early failures of them.
 
Well I got my car back lastnight.

It seems they took apart the main wiring harness and found 3 wires that were broken. They fixed the broken wires and put it back together.

I drove it lastnight and it seems to run better but the next couple of days will be the tell sign.

I think my car was built on a friday and it was the last car at the end of the shift before a long weekend.
 
sparkplug said:
I am new to this forum but hope that someone has some answers to my issues.

I have a one week old MS3 with a MS CAI installed by the dealer. It has 1300KM.

The MS3 ran like a monster on the first day. The second day it was hesitating sometimes but would run ok most of the time. One minute it's a monster the next it's an engine with little boost. On the third day filled it with gas and after going away from the station it started to hesitate badly and got a CEL. brought it to the dealer and it was a cylinder 3 misfire but he said it's fine now. So I took it back and it still hesitates sometimes and the performance is on and off. It seems to be like a slot machine where every turn of the key is a new combination either monster or mouse for that turn.

Lastnight I was going down the highway in 5th and I decided to floor it to pass a car and it was the mouse that turned up when I started it that trip but all of sudden after 5 seconds and at 5000RPM it woke up and kicked me back and was alive again for that ride.

It's the weirdest thing. The dealer wants to see a CEL in order to do something but I am wondering if any of you have similar issues or might know what might be going on.

On a side note I am wanting an XEDE when the PNP is available.

Ive talked to a lot of people with this same problem, including myself. Eventually I needed a new swirl valve, its been running better, but it still has the off and on feeling that you speak of, just not as big of a difference. Instead of Monster or mouse, its Monster or cat or something ;)
 
dread said:
What the hell is a swirl valve, do you mean purge valve?
The swirl valve is a flap in the intake manifold the blocks one of the two intake passages into each cylinder. At low RPMs intake air then only goes into one valve and swirls in the cylinder promoting better combustion at extreme lean mixture.
 
There was a ECU flash that goes along with the swirl valve

There was a ECU flash that goes along with the swirl valve, I do not have the issue with the hesitation or at least I didn't notice it. What i did notice was clouds of black smoke when I was hard on the car in 2nd or 3rd. I searched this form and found an article with a TSB. The TSB included a swirl valve replacement and an ecm/ecu flash for "drivability."

If you didn't get this flash already, check with your dealer. Depending on the build date of the car the flash may be on there already.
 
Well after now a week of getting the dealer to fix the wiring harness the car is finally no longer hesitating and throwing CEL's left right and center.

It finally works. Today I met up with an STI owner and when traveling at 70km/h and then both gunning it I was able to move ahead just so slowly as we went higher in speed. When we both got off the highway he drop up at the light beside me and gave the old thumbs up and was shocked as how much this little beast pulls.

the only thing left right now if to get the dealer to fix the suspension rattle in the front on the driver side.
 
Purge Valve Problems

I have a 2005 Mazda3 that I bought brand new. Friday will be the 4th time (since last September) that I've taken it in for a purge valve problem. The CEL goes on, and then will usually go off again by the time I get it there. They keep telling me they're changing the purge valve but doesn't it seem strange that it keeps happening? Is anyone else having this problem? I'm getting very frustrated and tired of having to go back so often...HELP!! and THANKS!!
 

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