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Engine dying on freeway

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Old May 27, 2006 | 09:08 AM
  #1  
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Engine dying on freeway

I have looked through this website, and didn't find anything like this, so forgive me if I missed a sticky thread on this.

Anyway,
Last night during evening commute, on one of Chicago's busiest tollways, @ 80 mph, the car just died.

We have the automatic version, wish now we bought a manual, but with all the stop/go of city driving....alas.

Here is the situation
After about an hour of driving with AC on cruising @ 60-85 mph, the car just started slowing down. Then it died. I got it restarted. Started crusing again, and after about 3 minutes, the same thing happened. This continued all the way home.

Once off the freeway, it continued doing the same thing. At the slower speeds, it started lurching. I would give it gas, it would go, then no power, then go, then no power, then it would die.

I read all the posts about flooding problems, so I would take my foot off the gas for a while, then give it gas and it would go. I was worried that it was the low RPMs that might be causing it, so I switched it to manual mode and downshifted a couple times, that succeeded in killing the engine.

Anyway, what sucks is my dealer isn't open on Saturday, it is memorial weekend, and I can't do anything with the car until Tuesday. Once I got home, we let the car sit for a few hours, then we went out an drove it, and guess what. No problems at all.

We bought the car used from the dealer. I researched it pretty thouroughly, and the dealer said that this car had all the updates on the flash, etc.

Could this be the CAT? I have heard others having problems when the AC is on? We have been checking the oil, too.

Any thoughts?
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Old May 27, 2006 | 09:16 AM
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Mine dies once in a while when I stop at a light with the AC on. It seems to idle rough too. I also seem to lose throttle response when it does this. I am taking my car in on tuesday to see if they can do anything about it. I dont really trust the dealerships sometimes. Last time I took it in to see about some clicking noise they said that something was loose...so they tightened and sent me on my way...well it didnt stop. So I took it back in. Well seems that when they were replaceing my spark plugs they put them in backwards....trailing in lead and visa versa
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Old May 27, 2006 | 09:16 AM
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bad gas, bad fuel filter/pump. cat too hot or restricted, vfad could be stuck. could be a bunch of things.
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Old May 27, 2006 | 10:36 AM
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From: A Pacific Island.
Post Keep us posted....

Please post what the dealer does to fix this, I'm trying to keep tabs on cars with this problem, there are some cases on the Europe forum.

Sound like a weak or intermittent fuel pump.....

Thanks, S
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Old May 27, 2006 | 12:58 PM
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From: portland oregon
bad gas or bad cat is my guess at teh moment
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Old May 27, 2006 | 01:11 PM
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Sounds like the fuel filter is plugged .
At least a fuel starvation type issue.
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Old May 27, 2006 | 01:50 PM
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While my engine never cut out, I did experience some idle problems to the point I thought it would cut out if I didn't blip the accelerator a bit. Turns out my cat needed to be replaced and I haven't experienced any rough idle since. My 2 cents.
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Old May 27, 2006 | 10:22 PM
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From: Buddhist Monastery, High Himalaya Mtns. of Tibet
Did this start all of a sudden or have there been other problems and it has just got worse.
I have had 3 cats replaced and this wasn't quite what I have experianced. I would say a problem in the fuel system also. Or maybe the engine is going bad and has lossed compression on both rotors. Is it still under warrenty? What dealer do you use? Some in the area are better than others.
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Old May 28, 2006 | 08:05 AM
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I doubt it is bad gas..people love to say bad gas........it could be the fuel pump is failing on you... once the car dies it gives the fuel pump a break and then it can run some more. Dealer had to replace my fuel pump on my car.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ght=jaguar_mba
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Old May 30, 2006 | 09:20 AM
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Originally Posted by alnielsen
Did this start all of a sudden or have there been other problems and it has just got worse.
I have had 3 cats replaced and this wasn't quite what I have experianced. I would say a problem in the fuel system also. Or maybe the engine is going bad and has lossed compression on both rotors. Is it still under warrenty? What dealer do you use? Some in the area are better than others.
We use AndersonNissanMazda in Loves Park (Rockford area). They have been fairly nice so far. I service my Pathfinder there, and when we bought the car, they were upfront on the dos/don'ts of the car. Its still under warranty. What dealer in Chicago would you suggest? After I got home, I let the car sit for a couple hours, then it drove just fine and continued to run well all weekend without issue, but we will see what the dealer says. This is the first problem we have had with the car.
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Old May 30, 2006 | 12:33 PM
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From: Buddhist Monastery, High Himalaya Mtns. of Tibet
Originally Posted by michael&audrey
We use AndersonNissanMazda in Loves Park (Rockford area). They have been fairly nice so far. I service my Pathfinder there, and when we bought the car, they were upfront on the dos/don'ts of the car. Its still under warranty. What dealer in Chicago would you suggest? After I got home, I let the car sit for a couple hours, then it drove just fine and continued to run well all weekend without issue, but we will see what the dealer says. This is the first problem we have had with the car.
I haven't heard any complaints about Biggers in Elgin or Schaumburg Mazda. There is also one in Crystal Lake, but I don't know anything about that one. Those are the ones I know about in the NW Burbs.
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Old Jun 7, 2006 | 06:38 PM
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Well, according to the service dept. at the dealer, the only thing wrong with the car was a bad solenoid valve.
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Old Jun 7, 2006 | 07:23 PM
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From: Bellevue WA
Originally Posted by michael&audrey
Well, according to the service dept. at the dealer, the only thing wrong with the car was a bad solenoid valve.
And which "bad Solenoid Valve" was it?
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Old Jun 12, 2006 | 09:38 PM
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From: Cali
that will do it.
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Old Jun 13, 2006 | 06:34 AM
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i had this problem with my car dying in traffic and red lights had it towed twice in one week and the MAZDA dealer here says they havent found the problem yet. Had new spark plugs and a tune up and got it back, it died out the next day so its back at the dealer. Anyone know what the cause is?

it vibrates before it dies out, no lights come on and nothing running hot
go figure!

Last edited by ZOOMinMS; Jun 13, 2006 at 06:37 AM.
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Old Jun 13, 2006 | 04:27 PM
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From: portland oregon
where are you located.

why doesnt anyone put their location in their info?
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