Fre5hMike

Ok, So i take the car to the mechanic and the car was running fine. He did tell me he saw a spark on the ignition coils. but they don't carry the part in the shop so i should take it to mazda and get it checked out. as i drove the car home i see that my 8 was suffering from power loss so i guessed he was right about the coils. So me being me. I went home turned the car off. and cleaned it. It was a nice sunny day so i said hey why not. After she was cleaned, clayed, polished and waxed! i decided let me see how much power loss i really got. so i started to drive around a couple of blocks and seeing if i see anything wrong. Well seems it was a bad idea. Within the first 20 minutes i stop at a stop sign and there goes my engine. It just shut off on me... then i try and crank it... it didn't turn on. i almost cried btw. because i had just got it running after 6 months. Well the real problem here is.

First few cranks: normal cranking but no turn over.

Last crank: It was a constant clicking noise. i wanna know what the more experienced people know about this. because i wanna take it to mazda and don't want them to feed me lies and go for my wallet.

niteshade247

Well this is the data you need to give us

1 what year?
2 how meany miles ?
3 any mods? (If so what?)
4 last time (milage) coils were changed
5 you said you just got it back running after 6 months what was wrong then?

Fre5hMike

1) 2005
2) how meany miles ? 107k (A lot i know) Still on original engine
3) any mods? None
4) last time (milage) coils were changed: my wife changed them While i was deployed. I don't know.
5) you said you just got it back running after 6 months what was wrong then? My wife said she stopped running it for 6 months because it got cold. So she parked it up.

niteshade247

Not knowing the milage on the coils it's hard to say if they are bad. I take it your wife had the dealer put the new ones in if not perhaps they are not OEM. With the change in cranking its possible it flooded. 107k miles isn't that much for first engine that just means you've taken good care of it I'm at 140k and still strong. At any time did you check engine light come on or flash?

RotoryVirgin

Did you test the battery? It sounds like the alternator may have failed, killing the battery, or the battery itself isn't holding a charge

Fre5hMike

i changed the battery a week ago by myself. So i ruled that out. and when i changed it the 8 ran fine. just realized a real bad power loss. And then it just died on my on a stop sign so i was confused and mad when i had to push my car home. lol

Mike_6002

I am having the same issue. But mine is 2004. And it's the second engine. I let it sit for 3 months because of the snow and now I can't get it to fire up.

Fre5hMike

i am gonna post a video on how it sounds. because it sounds weird to me.

Fre5hMike

This was right after it stopped on the stop sign. i tried to see if i could get it back up.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

There are a number of possibilities here:

1) Compression on the engine is shot. It is a very real possibility with that many miles on the original engine. You need to get a compression test to find out. A short test would be if you can only start it when cold, or if starting when it's hot is noticeably harder. If either of these is true, go get a compression test.

2) Ignition system has failed. You said your wife changed the coils while you were gone, but you don't appear to have much confidence in that, so I have none. See if you can get exact details of the coils she ordered or had ordered. If they are from ebay, there is a very good chance that the coils are counterfeit and causing these problems. See the ignition section of the new owner's thread for your coil options and prices. Plus, if only coils were changed, the wires and plugs could still be shot as well. A good coil won't spark a dead plug or a plug on the end of a corroded plug wire. In fact, a good coil can die REALLY fast when it can't discharge it's charge buildup down the plug wire to the plug. So it is possible that even if the coils were valid, that not changing the plugs and wires too killed one or more again.

3) The ignition problems before and/or currently have killed your catalytic converter. A failing ignition system can destroy a cat within literally a few miles. Especially if there are accompanying floods or it's an old cat. It can and will damage sensors and the engine as it clogs up and blocks off exhaust flow. It will cripple mileage and power and can eventually stall the engine as the engine can't push any more exhaust out. I lost my first engine to a cat failure.

4) The e-shaft sensor is fouled. The sensor is just an electromagnet, so if some metal gets stuck to it the profile will start reading off to the point that the spark and fuel injection timing get off, causing power loss, misfires, stalling the engine, and/or preventing it from starting at all. It can be just wiped off with a rag, then the profile needs to be reset. Search 20 brake pedal stomp for the procedure.

5) whatever the core problem is, it is entirely possible that the engine is currently just flooded with fuel, because fuel was being injected for starting, which didn't ignite, and now it is just collecting in the engine. You have to deliberately deflood the engine to get it to start again, although you should also fix the reason for the flood, or it might just re-flood when you try to start again.


Then, it is possible that you have a combination of problems. Like a failing starter could cause the starting problems, but it wouldn't cause the power loss, but an O2 sensor failure or MAF failing could cause the power loss, but not the starting trouble.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

That starter speed sounds REALLY low. Like tragically low.

Fre5hMike

Im going to go outside and crank it now and show you what it sounds like now. because it sounds like a clicking noise. maybe this could narrow it down a little more

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Record from the engine bay, hood open, not from in the car.

Fre5hMike

Will do the engine bay right now when wife gets out the shower and she can turn key while i record. but i took one in cab because I've never witnessed this before

Fre5hMike

Nothing Really was moving and the sound was coming from right side so i moved there to see if i could see whats going on. Really could not see. but the sound was real strong from right side.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Ok, that starter isn't even spinning, but it sounds identical to what happens when the battery isn't supplying enough power to the starter.

Do you have jumper cables to hook up the battery to another running car and try again?

Fre5hMike

Yes i do. Will be doing right now

Fre5hMike

This time the car get sufficient power and the car turned over the 2nd time i cranked it. any idea what the problem is? i took a video of it. as it is uploading right now.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Dead/weak battery.

Either ...

your brand new battery was just heavily discharged from prior cranking

or there is a grounding problem that isn't letting the battery re-charge while driving

or there is an alternator problem that isn't recharging it at all.


Likely just dead from cranking for now, and there is a separate problem relating to the stall and power loss. Make sure to charge up the battery plenty before turning the car off, or shut off the car, disconnect the battery, and hook up the battery to a battery tender.

Fre5hMike

This was before i let it fully charge. and i let it charge for a while then imma go outside and take a video of it cranking till turn over.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Ok, that cranking speed is still tragically low, which it shouldn't be if it has plenty of power, which it should have if you had another running car connected up. I'd guess that it's time for a new starter.

Fre5hMike

This is after car was charged for a while

Note:
Car is not connected to another one at the moment.

Don't know if you can hear for something or anything just wanna know why it didn't turn over. i was surprised also when it didn't turn over.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

It is turning over. I can see the belt spinning.

It probably didn't fire because it's flooded from the prior failed start attempts. Start deflooding it.

Keep the battery connected to the other running car, hold the gas pedal smashed to the floor, keep it mashed to the floor and crank it for 5-10 seconds, waiting for 5-10 seconds, repeat for a set of 10 times. Wait a minute or so, then repeat another set of 10 cranking, pedal to the floor the whole time.

Then take your foot off the gas pedal and try starting normally. If it coughs but doesn't start, repeat everything above again.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Your battery is done. I would check the output of the Alternator. Most auto parts stores can do that for you. Or if you have a Multimeter use it. You can run around all day or do a couple quick tests.
One is a "Load Test" on the battery. It does require a load tester to accomplish this task. Which is available at any auto parts store. I would suggest taking the new battery back to where you purchased it from. Have them charge it and load test it.
And also test the Alternator output. Which can be done at any auto parts store. Or with the aforementioned Multimeter.
These two tools will help diagnose a lot of problems quickly. Good investment and not too expensive.

Fre5hMike

Yeah i usually do that, like i let the car sit for like 10 minutes and come back to it and it will start perfectly fine with no problem. any idea on why. i just went downstairs and started it. and its on i have it sitting in driveway right now. if you wanna see anything