engine stutters ...and DIES
 

my 8 just sputtered and died. uphill on a tight blind curve no less. two cars missd me and i was able to back down the curve and eventually get the car re-started. 5 minutes prior, i had attempted a pass, but midway thru, the engine sputtered and i lost power. car is an 04 with 65k miles. probably the fuel and air filters (and plugs and plug wires) were never replaced by the previous owner.

any ideas? can i get those 4 items above at any national auto parts chain?

THANKS in advance!!!!!

check plugs and ignition coils.

and plug wires.

any CEL?

snow- what is CEL?

I use my 8 as a daily driver- is a generic brand ok for plugs or should i go with NKG ? i'm just looking for something readily available (and relatively inexpensive) that works. are the plugs/coils/wires available anywhere (national chain) ?

CEL=Check Engine Light

It flashes when there is a misfire and stays on for other things.

How has the engine been otherwise?

dont skimp on plugs for this car dude.. get NGK.

can get them for $20 a pop at sparkplugs.com ... $80 for all 4.

yep that would be the fuel pump..

that is what happened.

but it is coil time also.. just to be safe.

beers :beer:

I had a very similar problem yesterday. Going up a hill, not steep. Felt like it wouldn't go. Very weak acceleration. Got to a stop light, the engine sputtered, reved and died a couple times before stalliing. Then wouldn't start. About 3 minutes later it restarted and went although felt sluggish. Now in my garage it will start with alot of labor and idle very poorly, threatening a stall. Also vibrates and makes noise when idle drops below 1000 rpm.

I had noticed a couple times this week that acceleration felt weak but thought I had shifted into 6 instead of 4. The engine picked up again on reshift so I didn't pay much attention at the time. In hindsight I doubt I was in 6.

So Monday morning I get to either attempt to drive it to the Mazda dealership or tow it.

Have a 2005. 18,400 mileage.

I never did see an answer about the CEL being on or not so I don't know if this is related but today the car lost power on me as I was cruising at 45 in 3rd and a flashing CEL came on and stayed on. I drove about 3 blocks to a light and it stalled and died and would not restart after waiting 15 minutes for a tow I tried it again, it started, no CEL, and I drove straight to the dealer. Four more blocks the same thing happened and died. Tow truck came picked it up for the last mile to the dealer (although after sitting for 10 minutes it did start and drove on the flatbed tow truck). Now I just have to wait until Monday to find out the deal. I'm already online looking at coil, plugs, and wire prices. Hopefully that is it.

^^ Its coils time.

I was cruising yesterday @ 70 mph for 2 hours, round trip = 4 hours. Runs like a champ :)

This is a repost of what I put in another thread, but it just for follow-up,
As suggested by others here, my car needed 2 new coils. They pulled a code P0301 "Front rotor misfire" and through "pinpoint" test found 2 coils not firing on rotor 1 leading and trailing.
I will be ordering the other 2 coils and plugs and wires for a DIY day as those coils appear to be time bombs. The car sure seems to be running well, I don't know if that was the coils or the MSP16, or both, but it I actually had to try to not break it loose in the rain on the way home.