WTF is wrong with my car????

[bradboyd80]

So last night the car took a s*** on me; sortof. So here's the symptoms:

No stuttering, sputtering or stalling out. If you sat in the car at idle, you wouldn't even sense anything is wrong with it. Idle is right at 750rpms, vacuum is around 22hg, inspected all my intake piping, and it all seems in order. No leaks or anything.

However, when I start the car, I can get one good launch before the car pretty much says f*** you, I'm done. As I ease off the clutch to pull away, my rpms die down to idle......no matter how much throttle I give it. Then, once I coast to a stop and put it in neutral, its done. I can put the throttle to the floor and the highest my rpms go is 3200.....slowly.

Keep in mind the car never stalls out, sputters, or anything. This leads me to think the problem has to be electronic (throttle sensor maybe?); not mechanical. I assume that I have plenty of air, fuel and spark because the car idles beautifully.

Had it towed to the local dealer (which was a horrible idea, but options were limited). So I'd like to know what you guys think it could be, before Mazda calls me to empty my bank account.

 

[bradboyd80]

Anybody?

 

[Maxx Mazda]

Sounds like something isn't agreeing with the PCM...

 

[Darth Vader]

That's bizarre but, you're close to stock so, dealer may be your only option. I would disconnect the battery, clearing the ECU, then run it again to see if this helps. No DTCs on the DH?

 

[bradboyd80]

Yeah, my GF's brother said it sounds like the throttle sensor is going out. I've already cleared the ECU (touched the cables together for about 30 seconds), but it did absolutely nothing. This morning the dealership said they moved it from one spot to another with absolutely no symptoms. So obviously sitting still all night alleviated the problem to some extent. Unfortunately, the DH is also on the fritz (need a new cable), so I can't even scan it for the CEL myself.

It's got to be something dealing with the throttle because the car idles absolutely perfect. And as noted, the dealership drove it a short distance this morning with no problems. But once it starts acting up again, you can put the pedal to the floor, but the rpms barely move. I even heard it could be the fuel pump on its way out. But if that were the case wouldn't I have sputtering issues?

What's killing me is that they are going to charge me $99 for the diagnostic, and $99/hr for labor to fix whatever is wrong. FML

 

[Remspeed3]

I have no clue what the problem could be, but I would suggest you take it to the dealer and wait on it while they work on it..if you drop it off they will rape you for sure!!! You could take it to Autozone and at least have them scan it first just to see if anything shows up.

 

[bradboyd80]

Wish I had that luxury man. But the car won't go far enough for me to really get anywhere. I can get maybe 20-30ft before I lose the throttle. Plus the service manager said it really doesn't matter either way. They charge what the service manual tells them to charge (in regards to labor hours). If it really is a simple fix (like the throttle sensor), I may just ask them if I can do the work in their back parking lot myself. But if it turns out to be something more difficult, then I'll just have to make sure I bring lube. Haha

 

[matsuda]

There are 2 throttle position sensors (redundancy for obvious reasons) so you can rule that out if the MIL is not on.

The only other possibilities that I can think of are the throttle body motor (unlikely) or the spill valve for the HPFP is not working.

 

[skallen]

When I had my '02 Sentra Spec V the exact same thing happened to me..Took it to the stealership and it turned out to be the mass airflow sensor. So, I would check into that

 

[rsvinylgraphics]

^ could be on to something there, might just need to clean your MAFS.
They make a special spray cleaner for it that you can get from Autozone OR
I heard you can use dechlorinated brake cleaner on it but it is not
recommended to use that stuff on it more than a few times.

If you do try this be sure to let it dry completely and then reset your
ECU afterwards, hopefully that is all it is.

 

[bradboyd80]

Well the MIL/CEL is on, so it very well could be one of the sensors; I just need to get it read. My next problem, from what I've been told, is that there is a high possibility that the sensors are NOT replaceable. If they go bad, the entire throttle body needs to be replaced. I'm hoping this isn't true, but I guess I'll know for sure once the shop tells me what's up.

So what does the spill valve do on the hpfp?

 

[bradboyd80]

^ could be on to something there, might just need to clean your MAFS.
They make a special spray cleaner for it that you can get from Autozone OR
I heard you can use dechlorinated brake cleaner on it but it is not
recommended to use that more that stuff on it more than a few times.

If you do try this be sure to let it dry completely and then reset your
ECU afterwards, hopefully that is all it is.

Actually, when I put the CAI back on, I did just that. I already have a can of MAF cleaner, and sprayed it down a few weeks ago. Not that it completely rules it out, but it makes me less suspecting of it being the issue.

 

[meicalnissyen]

Actually, when I put the CAI back on, I did just that. I already have a can of MAF cleaner, and sprayed it down a few weeks ago. Not that it completely rules it out, but it makes me less suspecting of it being the issue.

Brad,

You can borrow my cable if you need it, at least with a DH you can read out the actual and commanded TPS
since it is already at the dealer , though, I guess you have to wait on them,
you could also leave a dep with autozone and bring the codereader over the car as an option

it sounds like a temp related failure of the throttle

Mike
362-1631

 

[bradboyd80]

Brad,

You can borrow my cable if you need it, at least with a DH you can read out the actual and commanded TPS
since it is already at the dealer , though, I guess you have to wait on them,
you could also leave a dep with autozone and bring the codereader over the car as an option

it sounds like a temp related failure of the throttle

Mike
362-1631

Well I don't even know if its temp related honestly. Because even when I was sitting in the Walmart parking lot right after it started acting up, I would turn the car off, turn it back on immediately, and it would go 20 feet before dying. That's basically how I got out of the middle of the highway and into Walmart. Turn off, turn on, drive; repeat. I should have tried getting a hold of you earlier. It would have been nice to use that dashhawk before taking it to the dealer. Tomorrow morning they should be able to run the code. My biggest concern at this point is A)is it really the TPS?, and B)if it is, do I need a whole new TB? From what I've read, the TPS and TB are one piece. So if the sensor is bad, then I have to buy a whole new assembly. And the cheapest used one I can find is $275.

 

[matsuda]

Well the MIL/CEL is on, so it very well could be one of the sensors; I just need to get it read. My next problem, from what I've been told, is that there is a high possibility that the sensors are NOT replaceable. If they go bad, the entire throttle body needs to be replaced. I'm hoping this isn't true, but I guess I'll know for sure once the shop tells me what's up.

So what does the spill valve do on the hpfp?

The ECU uses the spill valve to control the fuel pressure.
Sorry, I missed the fact that the MIL was on.

 

[bradboyd80]

Well I just talked to the dealer. They said they can not proceed with diagnosing the problem until I agree to pay them $299 for diagnostic because they ran the CEL codes and there are 13 of them. (omg) Their argument is that in order to really pinpoint the problem, they have to start tearing things apart. IMO, that's bulls***. So tomorrow I'm going to pick up a copy of the codes and come back to look them up. There is a possibility that one problem can trigger 6 different codes. So I have a feeling they are just trying to milk the problem because they know I'm in a rental with my back against the wall.

 

[AutoEuphoria]

Did they clear the historic codes before taking a test drive and seeing any new codes pop up?

 

[skatethesea]

I went and spent $100 on an OBD2 reader a while back and it has paid itself off for this reason exactly. Good luck man. I hate dealing with Stealerships.

 

[Darth Vader]

Dashhawk FTMFW, again.....

 

[skatethesea]

I know this question seems ridiculous, but what is the last thing you did to the car? There was an RX8 that was doing the exact same thing at the Mazda dealer downt the road and it ended up that the ECU cables just werent snapped on properly. So it could be as easy as that.