MSP helpp!!

[drkness2003]

ok, so i just picked up a 2003 mazdaspeed protege... i drove 4 hours to pick up the car and drove it home with no probs... i got the car home and the next day i was driving to work and it started to hezitate and eventually stall out... i got it into a gas station and tryed starting it and nothing i would crank but not turn over... a check engine light was on but could not see what it was cause i did not have my cell computer... i diconnected my battery and reconnected it and the check engine light was off and car started right up... i brought the car home and checked the cells... i got a
p0660 and a code for running to lean i forget the code... i checked all the vacuume lines and all the plugs and nothing is disconnected... now the car seems to be hezitating very very small while ilding and when i i go threw all gears it seems to died out around 3500-4000 rpms seems like its maybe getting a fuel cut or something... it happends both when i give it alot of gas and when im not getting on it just reg driving... i also had a few times a weird situation i would park my car and have a small amount of coolent on the ground from a hole in my coolent resv. so i decided to check it out, sometimes when i turn my car off i see bubbles coming up in the coolent resv. and feel bubbles in the upper coolent hose... im thinking maybe a thremostat issue or air in the coolent lines? i have also herd checking my vics and vtcs but dont know much about these and location... any ideas and help is very greatfull thanks in advance!!(screwy)(screwy)(screwy)

 

[Metallic36]

Have you tried changing the spark plugs/coil packs? If you suspect the thermostat, I'd definitely just change it for the heck of doing it. You don't want to overheat and end up warping the head. What is your gauge saying?

 

[drkness2003]

Bump

Well the strange thing is that the gauge never reads to hot it never over heats it's just sometimes bubbles into the resv. And in the upper hose it's very odd... The only other thing I can think of is the car had a intake cone right before the maf maybe it's reading way to much air cause of how close the cone is?... I have not changed the sparks or coil pack yet, I did pull the sparks and they seemed fine... Where is the coil pack located? And if I want to change the wires do I have to also change thos 2 units ontop of the sparks? Very new to these motors only build Honda and fords all the help is needed thanks so much!!

 

[drkness2003]

more info update!!!

hey so i decided to pick up a boost gauge to see if there was any leak or anything... so i hooked it up and saw that when at idle its at -6 or -7... shouldnt it be like -18 -20? and when i get on it it boost almost to 10psi? this car is a mistery to me hahah ALLLLLL and ANY help would be very very appreciated(five-0)(puke)(puke)

 

[bradboyd80]

Well the strange thing is that the gauge never reads to hot it never over heats it's just sometimes bubbles into the resv. And in the upper hose it's very odd... The only other thing I can think of is the car had a intake cone right before the maf maybe it's reading way to much air cause of how close the cone is?... I have not changed the sparks or coil pack yet, I did pull the sparks and they seemed fine... Where is the coil pack located? And if I want to change the wires do I have to also change thos 2 units ontop of the sparks? Very new to these motors only build Honda and fords all the help is needed thanks so much!!

Those 2 units on top of the spark plugs with the 2 wires hooked up to them are your coils. Next time you do an oil change, I would suggest changing the spark plugs (I use the coppers and they work best for me) just for the heck of it. They could be old, who knows. Also, try taking it to your local Mazda dealer and see if your car has had the reflash. The MSP runs super rich naturally. The reflash doesn't totally fix it, but at least leans it out a little bit.

Also, -6 or -7 vacuum definitely points to a vacuum leak. And if you're pushing 10psi boost, then its likely that your wga is shot which could definitely cause fuel cut. Make sure you stay out of boost until you replace it or you'll end up part of the zoom zoom boom club.

 

[drkness2003]

Bumpo

Hey thanks for the ideas! I'm going to change the coils sparks and wires today but it seems that I deff have a leak somewhere so I'm going to get so carb cleaner and see if there are any open leaks... Just another symtome I have is all the vacuum lines are rock soild idk if that's normal for these cars... I also took the car to my friends house where he has a obd computer like a 2000 doller one where he can go into the ecu and read like everything... He said that the only thing that was looking weird was a stft sensor??? WTF is that haha he said it was reading a .90? Idk what that means he said like a normal reading is no where close to that but we have no idea wht that is? Any ideas? He also couldn't get fully into the computer to be able to read like each cylinder? He said I possiably have a chip on the ecu? Anyone know how I can determine if I have one or not? Thanks for the help everyone!!

 

[drkness2003]

Neww update

Ok so new issue.... I'm driving at 78mph in fifth barley on the gas and my boost if flucuating from +1 to -3 speraticly... WTF is going on any ideas? Thanks

 

[bradboyd80]

Is your gauge hooked up properly? You shouldn't even be near that reading if you're barely on the gas. Around 80mph, I normally average 10hg of vacuum....nowhere near boost. Have you checked your wga yet to see if its still good?
I can't help much with the STFT (short term fuel trim) sensor. I personally haven't heard of people using chips on our ECU's but I could be wrong.

 

[drkness2003]

bump

hey... so i checked all my vacuum lines my plugs and everything seems to be in good shape... only thing that i can think of is that the idle screw on the tb is soundling like its leaking? is that a normal thing? its very slight... i would check my wastegate but i have no idea how to do that all the info and help would be appreciated! well its reading like 0 to -3 while driving in 5th at 80... at idle the car isent even passed -10 i have no idea im totaly clueless!!!(piss)

 

[Ricktalife]

hey... so i checked all my vacuum lines my plugs and everything seems to be in good shape... only thing that i can think of is that the idle screw on the tb is soundling like its leaking? is that a normal thing? its very slight... i would check my wastegate but i have no idea how to do that all the info and help would be appreciated! well its reading like 0 to -3 while driving in 5th at 80... at idle the car isent even passed -10 i have no idea im totaly clueless!!!(piss)

what at idle what does your guage read? should be somewhere around 20-24 i think.

 

[bradboyd80]

hey... so i checked all my vacuum lines my plugs and everything seems to be in good shape... only thing that i can think of is that the idle screw on the tb is soundling like its leaking? is that a normal thing? its very slight... i would check my wastegate but i have no idea how to do that all the info and help would be appreciated! well its reading like 0 to -3 while driving in 5th at 80... at idle the car isent even passed -10 i have no idea im totaly clueless!!!(piss)

To test the wga, blow into the vacuum line going to it. If any air passes through its either shot, or on its way out; both of which are bad. But 10hg at idle isn't close to what it should be either. What does your gauge do when you shift? When you shift, it should at least shoot to 20hg vacuum or so. Where do you have the boost gauge t'd in?

 

[exNeon]

i would suggest just replacing vac lines. the wga is a good idea too, i had that problem with my former msp.
if the stock vac lines are still in there i would bet they have some cracks and are leaking a bit, maybe just enough to cause this issue, but not enough to cause anything more serious. start with the easy to replace lines, too. just in case you get lucky

 

[ueat1023]

Did you get any warranty at all. With the purchase?

 

[drkness2003]

bumpooo

No i did not get a warrenty with the sale, that s*** would be on there door step if i did haha, i think i figured out that problum tho... wastegate... when i was checking the vacuum lines i figured i would check the wastegate.. a wastegate should be totaly closed when at idle and when i pinched out the line that lead to the wastegate my vacuum stayed at -20... so that shows me that the wastegate is being stuck open and thats where i am loosing my vacuum.. any other ideas will be very appriciated thanks for all the help guys/girls (chair)(chair)

 

[Wagonbacker9]

No i did not get a warrenty with the sale, that s*** would be on there door step if i did haha, i think i figured out that problum tho... wastegate... when i was checking the vacuum lines i figured i would check the wastegate.. a wastegate should be totaly closed when at idle and when i pinched out the line that lead to the wastegate my vacuum stayed at -20... so that shows me that the wastegate is being stuck open and thats where i am loosing my vacuum.. any other ideas will be very appriciated thanks for all the help guys/girls (chair)(chair)

your test doesn't make sense.... if you pinched off a part and nothing changed, that means it isn't leaking vacuum. like brad said, to test the WGA, blow into the vacuum line to it... if no air gets through, the WGA is fine. the wastegate itself has no effect on vacuum.

 

[orng1]

Replace the wastegate, it is a very comon problem with the car anyways and i would not trust a stock one. The boost fluctuating as you drive is normal as the load on the engine changes with variations in the road. Slight elevation changes will do that. You should see the boost going up the grapevine in the middle of the night.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

Replace the wastegate, it is a very comon problem with the car anyways and i would not trust a stock one. The boost fluctuating as you drive is normal as the load on the engine changes with variations in the road. Slight elevation changes will do that. You should see the boost going up the grapevine in the middle of the night.

while I agree they're unreliable... I have 91K on mine...

 

[orng1]

There are always few exceptions to everything and good for you. Knowing how problematic it is I would still replace a good factory WGA. But it does sound like that is the problem that the OP is having. Removing the WGA from it he can get the 20 vac he is looking for.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

There are always few exceptions to everything and good for you. Knowing how problematic it is I would still replace a good factory WGA. But it does sound like that is the problem that the OP is having. Removing the WGA from it he can get the 20 vac he is looking for.

hmm.. I musta read something too fast then. my bad. I had seriously considered replacing mine, until I got my boost gauge... now that I can keep an eye on it I'll just put it off until its required.

 

[drkness2003]

bumpoo

thanks for all the advice... i had a miss type i ment to say that when i plug the wastegate line the vacuum goes from -6 to -20... and -20 is normal... yeah im going to order the wastegate tmrw hopefully that fix's the prob cause all i have had is probs with this car so far!! ... ok so there is another prob that im facing lol... this one is very very very weird and cannot understand it... so when i first bought the car it had this funny smell... so i took it home and opend the hood and i swear to god it smells like someone lit like 100 joints or a lbs of weed, or ran over like 100 skunks... and i CANNOT figure out what the **** it is lol i thought i was going crazy so i had my brother smell, my sister inlaw, my neighbor and everyone says the same exact thing... is there something that can burn and smell like that? oil? power steering fluid? brake fluid? i am clueless... this car is the biggest mistory i have ever incounterd lol thanks for all the input guy/girls (deadhorse(deadhorse