Engine misfired

[MrProdigy]

Hi everyone. I drive a 2006 mazda 3 and today while I was on the road, I felt the engine shaking and I was unable to accelerate properly. The 'check engine light' turned on shortly after. I subsequently took my car to a mechanic and he mentioned that the engine misfired, and that it might require a change of spark plugs. He did however disable the check engine light. I purchased this car last month and the next scheduled maintenance is in March / 118,000 km (I'm currently at 111,500 km). Do I need to get this repaired right away? The car has been driving fine after that incident, but I noticed a sudden decrease in fuel. This is my first vehicle so I really need some advice. Also, should I take it to a mazda dealership for servicing or any other mechanic would be fine? Thanks

[peterm15]

Yes get the problem fixed right away.

If I recall a misfire in a cylinder will cause other problems, with the cat in particular.

Spark plugs are cheap and easy to do. No need to see the dealer. Any mechanic can do it.

It only took me about 10 min total to do.

[midz97]

If he hooked it up he should be able to tell you which cylinder the misfire was on. Maybe a plug, maybe a coil pack. Either way misfire wouldn't cause any damage.

[stock3]

If he hooked it up he should be able to tell you which cylinder the misfire was on. Maybe a plug, maybe a coil pack.

Exactly! If the mechanic did not tell you exactly which cylinder misfired, just cleared the codes and proclaimed new spark plugs are needed, RUN away from that guy. He's either got no clue what he's doing or wants to extract as much money from this as possible.

Usually it's only one cylinder that misfires, not all of them. This could be caused by a faulty or fouled spark plug or the ignition coil. Any decent mechanic should be able to easily diagnose this problem.



Either way misfire wouldn't cause any damage.

Heavy misfire can and in most cases will damage the engine or catalytic converters. Every time the engine misfires, raw fuel is being dumped into the exhaust. This can damage cats and also can damage the engine because if the fuel ignites in the exhaust it could be sucked back into the combustion chamber. That's why any modern engine can detect misfire and set off CEL. Even occasional misfire should be dealt with quickly because it will put extra load on the catalytic converter and the ignition system.

[Lockdown]

OP get it looked at, it can cause damage and unpredictable engine performance.


Either way misfire wouldn't cause any damage.

Please midz97, when giving advice, make sure you know what you are talking about, with your advice OP may leave the issue unchecked for another 6500km, based on the initial post.


Misfires can cause poor gas mileage, it can ruin your cats and 02 sensors and to me the most serious is engine performance. When you are making a left turn and the car sputters and you can't make the turn in the manner or time you were intending, you can get T-Boned.
Lets not forget the possible damage to that cylinder and the components as well as the rest of the rotating assembly.

I'm not saying any or all of these are happening or did happen from the single case but I would get it checked out and I don't think the computer would throw a CEL from a single instance. I haven't looked into it before but I'm sure the computer needs to see even a few events to meet the conditions to turn the light on and publish a code.

[MrProdigy]

wow thanks for the information guys. I've learned a lot from this. I'll be getting this issue resolved as soon as possible.

[midz97]

OP get it looked at, it can cause damage and unpredictable engine performance.



Please midz97, when giving advice, make sure you know what you are talking about, with your advice OP may leave the issue unchecked for another 6500km, based on the initial post.


Misfires can cause poor gas mileage, it can ruin your cats and 02 sensors and to me the most serious is engine performance. When you are making a left turn and the car sputters and you can't make the turn in the manner or time you were intending, you can get T-Boned.
Lets not forget the possible damage to that cylinder and the components as well as the rest of the rotating assembly.

I'm not saying any or all of these are happening or did happen from the single case but I would get it checked out and I don't think the computer would throw a CEL from a single instance. I haven't looked into it before but I'm sure the computer needs to see even a few events to meet the conditions to turn the light on and publish a code.

Maybe I wasn't clear in my post. I'm not saying don't try to resolve the problem! All I was saying is don't lose any sleep over it. The op said it was checked and the misfire problem cleared up, I suggested possible causes and assured him that his car was not going to blow up.
jumping down someone's throat who is just offering some help based on past experience is weak.

Chill out, it's just the Internet buddy.

[Lockdown]

Simply put its better not to say anything than the wrong thing. If you had put all of that or even half of it in your post your message would have been clear. To say a misfire won't cause damage is incorrect. You have now back peddled to correct your mistake. Don't get hurt because someone corrected you. You'll get over it.