Flashback to June 2004, right after I took delivery of my 6 speed. After a month of driving it rather softly, I noticed a problem in 3rd, 4th and 5th gears. Right at 6,000 rpms, the engine would strain as if heading into a stiff head wind. After two trips to the dealer, they apparently solved the problem by reflashing the computer. Never experienced the problem again until 18,500 miles (two weeks ago). Brought the car to the dealer and told them the sensation was the same. They replaced plugs and said that should solve the problem. It didn't. Brought it in next day. What they discovered was quite disturbing. Apparantly, a mouse decided to make a nest in my air intake system. The tech discovered my air filter was shredded and found sunflower seeds, wood shavings, newspaper and cloth scraps, and other not so nice things in the air intake. They cleaned it out best they could and also did an injector cleaning. Still, the car starts as normal, idles fine, but falls flat on its face at 6000 rpms.

Does anyone have any ideas? Oh yeah, I caught the mouse.

 

bad cat.
secondarys not opening/ carbon build up.
motor failing.

beers

 

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know as much about cars as most others on this site. But how could a mouse live in there? Wouldnt it get sucked up or somethin?


So whatd the dealer say, are mice covered under the warranty?

 

Let's just hope your engine internals are not busted

 

What, for not catching the mouse?

You realise this is going to end up with a Horse in the intake, right?

 

The part about "cleaned out as best they could" does not instill a lot of confidence.

 

Could be a CAT issue, have that checked to rule that out. I had a mouse issue also but found it before any damage was done. The Zapper in the photo has worked well at preventing that from happening again.

 

As long as the MAF screen is still in place I wouldn't think anything big or hard enough to cause mechanical damage was sucked in, but that's just a guess. maybe some mouse dandruff binding up the VFAD ? But I think that symptom is more centered around 7250 rpm. The 6000 rpm lag is more often associated with a burnt coils problem or clogged cat, from reading the forums.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I did forget to mention in my initial posting that the dealer checked compression and the psi readings were within spec. I thought this was a positive sign. They basically don't know what the issue is that is causing lag at 6k rpms and substantial power loss. No it's not very confidence inspiring.

 

From reading, it really sounds to me like you have blocked ports.

 

Thanks to all who have offered suggestions. For an update, my dealer checked the CAT and has determined it is fine. They have been on the phone with the Mazda tech hotline and the next step is to warranty the coilpack. I should have the car back tomorrow to see if that fixes it. Will report back.

 

Yeah definitely sounds like block ports or stuck ports.