I've inherited my Dad's M reg 1500CC 323f. It's done 58,000 and has been well looked after. It's now started cutting out, usually when I come to a junction.

Usually, the revs drop and it's as if a sensor or something somewhere detects that the car is about to stall and increases the revs. But now it's almost as if the sensor is on the blink and the car stalls.

I really havn't a clue what it could be or what to replace and don't trust local garages to diagnose the problem without charging me through the nose.

Can anyone help or give me some pointers as to what could be wrong - please.

Cheers

cud it be the ICV (idle control valve) ? It mite have dust or sumthing blocking a sensor in the icv? i havent got an F so i dunno where abouts its located. its a possiblity tho.

i had a problem with my old 121 that was exactly the same. on that it started when the revs were dropping (as i put my foot on the clutch) from quite high revs, eg coming off the motorway. it then got progressively worse to the point where it stalled every time i put my foot on the clutch except for thwn going up through the gears. this was caused by too much air being sucked into the engine due to the air-intake sensor being knackered. cost about £30-40 to replace. lift the bonnet up and get some1 else to rev the engine and then let the revs drop, normally, if too much air is going into the engine because the sensor is gone, you will hear a sucking sound right through until the engine stalls. another cause of this could be a cracked air pipe.
personally, id take it to a mechanic and ask them to diagnose it, mazda dealers charge about £45 for diagnostics, local mechanic may not even charge you for it, mine doesnt.

See Servicing, technical and insurance (BA) Bouncing RPM.

a friend had this problem, his oxygen sensor stopped working properly, so the engine used to run too lean, meaning it stalled at low revs, especially when the revs dropped from high to low eg. braking and putting your foot on the clutch