Wtf happened to my car?!

[ELEmental59437]

probably engine more than tranny. sounds like a vcts screw came loose and was sucked into the engine. I'd have it looked at asap to make sure you didn't damage the cylinder head or spark plug...

Same thing happened to Moeed and the first post describes the symptoms perfectly.. theres a TSB out for that exact problem.

 

[crashed]

Yep. It's the VCTS screws and there are more than one of them so it can happen many times. Dealer said it's a common problem with the 2.0L engine but not common enough for a recall.

I found out from another dealer after I tried to take apart my IM that even though I was 990 miles past warranty I could have takem my case to my local Mazda Custom Care representative and I might have been able to have it replaced for free. Unfortunately the first dealer I went to was s*** and didn't tell me that.

 

[toucci]

good reason to retain your cats, so if the screw does come loose it'll be retained instead of blown out the exhaust. Otherwise the dealer might try to bs you.

 

[Aricjm15]

good reason to retain your cats, so if the screw does come loose it'll be retained instead of blown out the exhaust. Otherwise the dealer might try to bs you.

its a screw, and if its been through the engine there probably wont be much of it left to use over again

 

[FullKlip]

yea the sound was in tune with the engine, and it was after a period of pretty much hard acceleration. The sound was loud and went away after reving the engine a few times, but then returned and went away. Someone said a screw might have got sucked into the combustion chamber...that kinda sounds like what happened and my cel is on and blinks when i drive the car (which i am not currently doing much of). And when i do drive it it definetly feels like there is only 3 cylinders working because the car shakes moderatly when i give it gas, its almost like a sputtering. If thats the case then the 2.0l engine that mazda uses is garbage because nothing like that should happen on a 4cyl car with only 50k on the odometer. Even if i was driving it hard it wasnt at redline and it never had a problem taking it before.

 

[Lord_Zath]

It's not the engine. It's the intake manifold and their VCTS system...

 

[peepsalot]

if it feels like you are running on 3 cyl's you should check your plugs. a screw probably bent one of them. if the sound is gone now. If it is in fact the screw that caused your problem then you might want to take off the manifold and find which one, replace it and loctite everything.

 

[Maxx Mazda]

Take your VTCS out and you wont have this problem!

 

[crashed]

Will removing the VTCS effect the emission output? Not quite sure what the purpose of these valves are for except to create frustration for some who have them.(deadhorse

 

[JCell]

^^ too much work taking the mani off

 

[JCell]

Will removing the VTCS effect the emission output? Not quite sure what the purpose of these valves are for except to create frustration for some who have them.(deadhorse

helps on cold starts by ********** air in the intake manifold