looking for a rebuild in delaware /philly area
 

Hello all 136000 miles and she's done. Power steering died on Tuesday then she started to constant misfire on Thursday and ended up in limp mode. Brought it to mazda and they said car is totalled not worth fixing... blu book value is 3500 repairs are more than that. Said need cat and since this is the original engine time for a new one of the.... oh yah the electronic steering system as well..

Been a bad week. I gutted the cat today tried to start with no luck had misfire cel blinking while she was cranking..

Looking for options We buy junk cars will give me 500 for it.

I hate to put it down like that.

That is a very very strange mix of information. I went back and read your other trouble threads, and if this is the same dealer that rejected a compression test, I wouldn't put too much stock in it.

"Totalled" isn't used unless there was structural damage. Even if repairs will cost more than the car is worth

A replacement engine can be had for less than the dealer says, and if they didn't do a compression test they really need to.

I totally believe your cat is dead, with waiting as long as you did to replace your ignition.

Power steering isn't connected with the engine and cat problems, and may be no more than dirty connectors.

You may get some offers here. I'd be tempted to make an offer on your car if I knew more about it as I'm looking for another 8 and handling repairs on a blown motor 8 isn't something that scares me.

It's the same dealership. (about the compression test) Basically it was $99 for them to tell me sorry your outta luck.

I drove it home (in limp mode) thinking if I gut the cat I would be able to get out of Limp mode. Of course gutting the cat became a problem when one of the bolt's sheered off and the other 2 twisted up. Long day in my garage with no luck.

I have some photos of the gutted cat and a video of what it sounds like (trying to start after the cat was put back) Can't seem to upload the video but it looks like the photo of the cat before and after did show up.

I've been actually thinking that my issues seem more electrical than mechanical but after looking at the before cat photo i'm not sure.

Thanks for the input.

The clogged cat was almost certainly due to the neglected ignition. I'm frankly shocked it last this long. Misfires can start as early as ~15-20,000 on coils, plugs, and wires, and misfires can kill a cat within a couple hundred miles.

Did they actually do a compression test?

And is it actually in "limp mode"? Compression failure won't put it into limp mode. There are a few limp modes at that.

This is the paperwork I recieved from them. No compresssion test.
What i am calling limp mode is it lost all power had trouble going up hill.. occasionally I could go past 4000 rpm but didn't want to push it.

This happened all of a sudden on Thursday. Before that I hadn't misfired in about 3 weeks and it had been driving fine.

Um...

Ok. Those tech notes make exactly ZERO sense.

There is NOTHING, repeat in bigger bolder louder letters...NOTHING that the power steering module can do to cause starting trouble. Namely, are you aware that we don't have a power steering module? The controller is the ECU, and if the ECU is dead, you wouldn't have limped it home at all.


I guess how much effort we put in to try to help you is going to be related to whether you want to keep the car or not? You may indeed have engine failure, but you may not, and until we start running through symptoms and various tests, that isn't something that can be confirmed.

Do you want to take that effort? Or do you just want to ditch the car?

The problem I have is that I don't have room for another car and I need to get to work somehow.

Other problem is I don't have tools needed to test.. code reader .. multi meter.. etc.

The wife tells me its time to ditch it. And it makes sense for me to do that if the engine is gone as I don't have the tools or time to rebuild (wish I did).

I read the "Misfire start here" thread and was considering the coil tester for $20 at AAP.

If you would like I could send some pics of this car if your intrested in a project.