weird starting and idling after HEAVY rain.

[spudgun07]

so this weekend has been especially rainy. not just like "oh, it's raining..." but more like closed roads, flash floods, evacuated towns, etc..

anyway, my car was parked outside last night, but i think def. shouldn't have been flooded or anything because the parking lot at my apt. complex is on a fairly steep hill, so all the rain should've run all the way down.

but now today, when i go to start it, it starts.. but takes longer to turn over. and when idling, it drops to around 500 rpms at times, almost like it's going to kill.

any ideas? water in the ignition system? air filter? think it'll just kind of work itself out?? or should i be more concerned?

 

[jamesk]

do you have a cold air intake?

 

[spudgun07]

No sir. Thank goodness... I live right on the Mississippi River, and it's not uncommon for several streets in my town to flood, so I don't imagine I'll ever be getting one. Not as long as I live here, anyway. It'll be SRI for me...

But either way, I didn't drive through any flooding or anything.

 

[Weborific]

I once had this problem. Turned out that 1 of my spark plug ignition wires was bad. It was rubbing against a battery contact and was corroding the wire. Loss of electrical power. I felt it about to stall, so I gave more gas...then it stalled. Driving it super slow didn't cause a stall. In any case, water and humidity is a problem for cracked or energy-leaking ignition wires. Best to replace them.

 

[spudgun07]

I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

 

[Diehonda]

Check your filter to see if it is wet. If it is it could have gotten your MAF wet. Clean it and reset the ECU.

I used to have the same problem when it rained or when I washed the car. The moisture was sticking to the gunk on the MAF wires. I cleaned them and have not had the problem again.

 

[spudgun07]

Cool, I'll give that a shot if this doesn't work... I found this while searching around, and it sounds pretty familiar.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94788&highlight=MAF+clean

Thanks, man.

 

[P-Funk!]

Nope - i suspect a tune up is in order. How long since the last one?

 

[spudgun07]

I've never had one since I've owned the car. I got it at 30K and it's now at 51K.

How often are you supposed to get tune-ups?

 

[spudgun07]

Changed plugs... no real difference.

Got a recall notice in the mail. Anyone else get it?? I called the dealership, I think it was something to do with the intake manifold... he said it could be the cause of my problems. that would be an amazing coincidence... but I've really got my fingers crossed. I'm taking it in to get checked tomorrow AM... but I'm not sure when the work will be done.

I'm driving about 3 hours away for Labor Day, so hopefully everything stays... working.

I've got a CEL and AutoZone came back with a pretty generic Misfire report... but, again... the dealership mechanic said that the part that is potentially effed up could be the cause of the misfire.

Think good thoughts for me.

 

[P-Funk!]

Nah - that isn't it.
Just replace the plug wires too. Stock is plenty good enough.

 

[Diehonda]

Multiple cylinder misfire or misfire in one cylinder?

I say ignition coils or spark plug wires.

Make sure they are all connected and if it is just one cylinder than switch the ignition coils and reset the ecu and see if the misfire moves to another cylinder. If this happens than that ignition coil is toast.

 

[spudgun07]

well, I'm driving a 3 right now... on loan from the dealership. They're keeping my car while the recall work is done. He's very confident that the problems I'm having are due to the recall campaign.

I think the EGR clogging that some people have taked about might have something to do with the reason that they issued the recall. Either way... they are overnighting the parts, and doing the work straight away so that I can drive my car out of town this weekend. The maintenance supervisor at the local dealership is a super nice guy, and the sales manager and I have built a bit of a rapport, so he let me take a car off the lot, rather than pay the rental fee. I think he is trying to sell it to me, but oh well...

But yeah... sounds like my issue is going to be resolved. They looked at wires, they check out... the coils are fine... and I doubt he would want to be doing a $1200 repair for free if he didn't have to. So I'm feeling pretty good about it for now. we'll see, I guess.

 

[spudgun07]

No go. Time to check my wires more closely, check the gap again (my friend said they should be fine, cause I was working on some stereo stuff while he was doing my plugs for me...), and maybe look at the egr.

I'm so annoyed.