hi ...i've a 95 1.5 GLX....the other mornin i went out the door to go to work as usual...sat in, turned the key...engine turns over normally but doesn't catch...did this a few times....same result...didn't have time to go messin with it, i was late allready.. came home that evenin.....sat in pumped the accelerator a few times...kept the foot down, turned the key...and she starts...bit of dirt in the fuel methinks and forgets about it....untill


saturday....just come back from being on the road for about half an hour....ran into the house to grab something...came back out...sat in, turned the key...same story again....pumped the pedal a few times....she catches, splutters and dies.. ...after a few more attempts shes finally going

any ideas....a couple of mates i said it to...thougt the fuel pump might be at fault

these are the only 2 times in 2 years there has been any hassle starting her...

thanks

Same thing sometimes happens with my 1.8 - I have come to the conclusion that the injection system gets confused, and thinks the throttle is wide open and then the engine gets flooded with fuel. The way I get round it is - I remove the fuel injection system relay in the fuse box by the battery, start the car and pump the throttle a couple of times, put teh relay back in and then she starts like a dream.

If you do find out anything more specific, please let me know ...
(it's kind of embarrasing having hoards of people watching you scratch under the bonnet struggling to start your baby ...)

don't think mine gets flooded.....think the problem is not enough fuel getting there.....could be way off the mark though..

yeah its not that cool to have to lift the bonnet in public...had enough of that with the last car..

Pumping the throttle with the ignition off won't do much. The throttle pedal is connected to a flap that controls the amount of air going into the engine. It doesn't directly control the fuel. There is potentiometer (sensor) on the flap spindle that tells the ECU the position of the flap so the it knows how much fuel to spit into the cylinders. If there was some dirt in the sensor, then as Smotter says, that could confuse the ECU and 'pumping' the throttle might move the dirt temporarily.

When did you last do the plugs/leads?


Mark

[quote="Mark.T"]When did you last do the plugs/leads?Mark[/quote]

didn't.. ...checked the plugs using the guide on this site about 2 months ago and they looked fine.....probobly still the origonal leads on it....didn't know how to check the leads except look for visual damage and they looked ok

i suppose it isn't easy to check the sensor??

hmm. I think mine are probably the originals aswell It's worth changing them anyway if you're not too strapped for cash.

[quote="GryZor"]
i suppose it isn't easy to check the sensor??[/quote]

You probably can - you just need to know what resistance it's suposed to be and make sure the value and running goes up (or down) smoothly.

Mark

lmao my leads are the opriginals... I think and my car has now done 151k lol

I replaced plug leads (fitted Bougi Cords) and plugs (fitted Bosch Platinum) last service (5000 km ago) and it still happens !

I've just been through all this with my V6, so I'm well sympathetic. It's just heartbreaking when the 'kin thing won't start. In my case it was a faulty crank angle sensor. Only cost a tenner to fix in the end but tracking it down was a pain.

First make sure all your fuses and relays are snug in their cradles. If your coil leads look knackered it's worth replacing them anyway so your not wasting money if thats not the problem.

If it happens again, check for a spark when you're turning over the engine. Pull off a plug lead and place a spare/old plug in it. Earth the threads on a good earth (not the rocker covers) and try starting it. If you're getting no spark it could be a coil, coil lead, distributor, ECU, wiring or sensor problem. Not sure if the 1.5 has a crank angle sensor at crank pulley but it probably has camshaft sensor in the distributor cap. Both of these can cause trouble but should show up if you get your fault codes read.

If you do get a good bright blue/white spark, try and check if your fuel pump is working. On OBD1 Mazdas under the diagnostic cap, you can bridge two terminals called F/P and ground. If you then turn on the ignition (but don't try to start the car) you should hear the pump running. It sounds like a faint whining from under the back seats. If it is running, try to start the car. If it starts your fuel pump relay or its wiring is probably the fault.

If your fuel pump doesn't run at all it may be a faulty fuel pump or an immobiliser failure (if you have one). The fuel pump power feed is convenient to immobilise so its often the circuit chosen.

After this if you're still in trouble you should think about getting a garage to diagnose the problem for you, there are lots of things it could be and you could spend days trying to find the the problem if you don't have the tools and the know-how.

Anyway, good luck, hopefully it was just a one off glitch.

Ed

thanks lads..

well...brought the motor to the local mazda dealer to let them run their diagnostics on it.....came back fine...nothing showed up. they did tell me they were 90% sure it was the distributor...but they couldn't be 100% unless they had the car when it was giving trouble

might try the sparkplug trick next time....only trouble is i don't have any time to mess with it when it happens cause i've to rush off to find alternative transport to work... when i do get home it starts first turn of the key..

think i've many hours of head scratching ahead of me...

When I had the problem, I took it to Mazda for diagnostics - also got a clean bill of health ! I find that when this happens (i.e. slow idle) I wip up th ebonnet, wiggle the connection to the Air Mass Meter and the problem goes away ...

???????