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Check engine light (long)

This is about Mazda rather than the Miata. I own two Mazdas, a Mazda6 and a Mazda3. Hindsite tells me I should have varied brand names a bit. But this is how things turned out. The popular mazdaXforums websites are more geared towards fandom than actual technical issues. So this is the best place I could think to ask a few questions. I hope you don't mind the semiOT post.

My Mazda6 is the 6-cyl 5-speed automatic version. It's had three CEL lights in the past year (the last one was four or five months ago). The dealership took the car the first two times and gave me a rental. They reset the CEL and did a lot of ignition work the first time (new plugs, somethind else - I can dig up the WO if it's of value). The second time, they reset the CEL and gave a story about firmware. The third time, they didn't take the car at all and said the CEL would go away. It did. The first two CELs were misfires. The third probably was too, although the code was never read.

My Mazda3 is the 2.3L 5-speed manual version. It had a CEL go off last night. I've put about 20 miles on it since. I haven't called the dealer yet.

Between two Mazda cars, I've had 4 CEL lights. Alright, now the questions.

Independently of Mazda's bullshit, what's going on?

Is it some quality issue with Mazda? Maybe the engines just aren't put together well. The 6-cylinder is the American designed and built variety (ie Ford). I'm not sure about the

4-cylinder. Or is the computer too sensitive? Perhaps misfires aren't as uncommon as people think. Could it be that it just reports everything?

Are my driving habits to blame? I did hit the rev limiter on the Mazda6. The tiptronics absolutely sucks on it. Sometimes it would delay my shift and continue in a lower gear until the RPM went above redline for a second. I experimented and stopped using tiptronics over about a month. I've never hit the rev limiter on the Mazda3. I rarely shift aggressively. I did so three days ago merging with interstate traffic. Crazy holiday shopping patterns led to the low speed lane doing 5 mph and the next lane over doing 40, so the car had to scoot.

Will I do damage driving the car now that it has a CEL warning? It's a bad time to bring it into the dealership. I'm too dependent on the car right now and can't spare the time from work.

Can I actually detect a misfire? What symptoms do they show? (Besides a CEL obviously :-)

The Mazda6's strings of misfires stopped - or at least the misfires have disappeared for the last four months. Could the misfire be related to engine break-in? It has 15,000 miles on it. (The Mazda3 has 5000 miles)

I'm skeptical of the dealership's claims right now. I work in IT and I hear bullshit stories all the time to soothe the client while not really addressing the issue. Unfortunately, I don't know nearly as much about cars as I do about computers. I've lurked here forever and have seen some excellent advice and help offered. If you want to send some help my way, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

Reply to
CELbegone
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I'd try a different Mazda dealer. Some are very good, some are awful--just like any other brand. If a dealer told me to ignore a CEL, I'd get it in writing, in case there's damage later, for which I'd doubtless be blamed otherwise.

I don't have an OBDII car, so I can't tell you from experience if they throw a lot of bogus codes, maybe they do. A misfire is a cylinder's charge not burning when the sparkplug is supposed to fire; it feels like a slight stutter in power delivery, perhaps not palpable with an automatic. It won't hurt the engine, but may shorten the life of the catalytic converter by sending unburned gas down the pipe. A couple of instances is probably trivial.

Bouncing off the rev limiter won't hurt anything--that's why it's there. As for the transmission, just put it in Drive and forget the "manual" feature--I've driven a 6, and the "manual" thingie is indeed useless, as you say. I've driven a manual 3, too. Both are really very nice cars. Don't get too bummed, you'll sort them out.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

May not be the problem but it happened to me. The CEL was lit turned out to be I did not have the gas cap tight. There is some kind of sensor in the tank, don't know how it works, detects pressure or vacuume of some sort designed to prevent gas fumes from escaping????

Someone told me this and I thought, yea right????I checked and the cap was loose, no light since.

Reply to
BernMan

I've had an intermittent CEL problem with my '92 Mazda Protege for about 2 years. I've had it in the shop 3 times but it behaves everytime I take it in. No coding shows up in the diagnostics so they say they can't fix it. The light usually comes on as soon as the engine temp reaches max then comes and goes corresponding with a slight surge or lag as it comes on and off. Once it's good and warm the problem seems to go but the idle is sometimes rough and surges. On occasion the car stalls at lights and sometimes just won't start unless you put your foot to floor. I found I had a gas tank leak and thought it might be a similar problem to the loose gas cap but I replaced the tank but not the problem.

Phil

Reply to
Phil

I have a 2000 Miata. The engine began occasionally not starting. When I get it to the mechanic it starts. Then the check engine light comes on. I have replaced plugs, wires, battery, etc. It still happens ocasionally. It is also throwing gas through and has damaged the converter.

Anyone have any ideas??

Reply to
hab21

It could be the classic Miata problem. The ignition wires go bad. The coilpack gets damaged because of the arcing inside the wires. The bad coil pack causes mis-firing on two of the cylinders. The raw gas causes damage to the 02 sensor. The damaged 02 sensor leads to a damaged converter. The whole thing leads to a damage wallet..... ;-)

Reply to
Larry Gadbois

Another common cause of coil failure is loose or corroded ground terminals. The typical early symptom is a tach needle that intermittantly reads significantly too low. It never hurts to clean the ground terminals every few years.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

The 99-00 miatas, from what I've heard, had problems with intermittent ignition coils. It also seems to me that your mechanic should have been able to query the OBD-II port on the engine computer to see what kind of error report is stored.

Reply to
seasalt726

Reply to
Brett England

I just started getting the CEL on my Mazda 6s. I took it to the dealership (just had my 7,500 mile service done a week earlier) and they said they had

12 other cars in the shop for the same problem. They said that the Mazda 3's had a faulty gas cap that was causing the CEL and they have begun replaceing them. They said the Mazda 6's had a software issue with emissions. Sounds like they are still trying to get a handle on that one. He assured me that the light was harmless and would have NO negetive effects on my engine. I'm leaving my 6 with them and the end of the week and they will check it out.
Reply to
deathcube23

I just started getting the CEL on my Mazda 6s. I took it to the dealership (just had my 7,500 mile service done a week earlier) and they said they had

12 other cars in the shop for the same problem. They said that the Mazda 3's had a faulty gas cap that was causing the CEL and they have begun replaceing them. They said the Mazda 6's had a software issue with emissions. Sounds like they are still trying to get a handle on that one. He assured me that the light was harmless and would have NO negetive effects on my engine. I'm leaving my 6 with them and the end of the week and they will check it out.
Reply to
deathcube23

Now why do I think Ford found a gas cap just as good for half a cent less? Half a cent adds up to real money when you do it for 100,000 Mazda 3s!

Not many Americans fluent in Indian languages at Ford?

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

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