Hello everyone, not completely sure here but I'm sensing the worst for my engine. I recently installed a BHR ignition kit in my 8 because of all of the good reviews, and not knowing how long the previous ignition was in the car for, I swapped hoping to maybe fix a slight hot start issue. Unfortunately, It made hot AND cold starts worse. After a few trips cold starts got slightly better, but hot starts are still dreadful. I did reset the computer with the brake pumping method. So I wasn't sure if that was maybe the culprit. I've double checked over everything and I believe that everything is in the right place and not disconnected. The only thing I have yet to try is a carbon cleaning, and checking the codes for the CEL. Other than that, the car idles, pulls great, nothing feels wrong unless your starting it up. Just figured I'd share just in-case someone knew of a solution, other than a new engine. Thanks.

 

Time for a compression test!

 

Wats the situation with the starter? Plugs?

 

Plugs were brand new with the ignition, and the starter is upgraded. Just to help the image along the millage is at 112k, original engine. Buy the biggest thing that doesn't make sense and what I should have mentioned earlier was when the OEM coils we're in, cold starts we're a breeze, and hot starts we're maybe 3 4 seconds at the most. Im starting to guess I did something wrong...

 

3-4 second hot starts are no good. Assuming you installed the BHR kit correctly and the plugs are new, I would start looking at other things. Original starter? Fresh battery? Any check engine lights? Original cat? Adequate fuel pressure at startup? Once you get it started does it feel normal in terms of power? It could be many things.

If you want to rule out compression, go spend $100.00 at the dealer and get a compression test done.

 

Your dealerships must be a whole lot friendlier than mine... I live in Tulsa Ok and Nelson Mazda wants 241.50 for a compression test... i just spoke with them this morning about this... :-/

 

That's the crazy high end. I paid a dealer in Houston (yeah, I'm in PA) $99 for a compression test on an 8 they had earlier today.

 

That must be nice.... I about fell out of the chair when he said 250...

 

It is a simple test with a certain amount of time and labor charges attached to the job, they can't just charge whatever they feel like. $150.00 tops, any more and tell them you will complain to Mazda.

 

Problem is that dealerships are just a franchise that are independently owned and operated.

 

Yea i tried arguing with them - they wanted $100 just to read CEL codes and see what was going on. i walked out... Scanned with scantool and it was a P0443.. now i get to track that down. Hoping its just a gas cap lol

 

You can get a pretty decent reading of your engine health by using a standard compression tester. Take out the schrader valve and get an OBD-II tool that can read RPMs. You know the rest.
If you have these tools at home, give it a go first so you can rule it out before spending a $100.