sudz
07-29-2013, 10:41 AM
OK, so the car seems to be behaving.
Sunday morning, woke up early to go play some golf. I was driving so I vacuumed the car. On my way to pick my buddy, the CEL comes on. First time ever. I pull over on the highway, pop the hood, Check and make sure everything nothing is on fire, levels, belts, etc.
I drive to his place, his father lives across the road (creepy?) and has a code reader - But we couldn't find it. I think, Maybe I didn't tighten the gas cap well enough. I tighten it, then Pull the neg off the battery, hit the brakes a few times and reconnect (car is off) CEL gone, as expected.
It hasn't turned back on.
HOWEVER
I've pulled the battery many times when doing stereo/alarm/lighting work... And while idle has been rough as it re-learns, It has only ever stalled once. Maybe twice.
it stalled 19 times in 10 minutes of test driving. The engine would pretty much instantly die the moment I pushed in the clutch.
Angry, because I just bought New tires, Swapped Springs, Alignment, Dent Removal, Carwash/wax and vacum in the last week and a half, we parked it and he drove.
Got back from golf, started up and drove perfect. Even got me to work this morning with NO issues.
I have a Theory, and am just wondering if it makes sense. Its all just theory because I didn't get the code before I reset it. (regret that now!)
Theory:
Under assumption that the gas cap was loose.
Battery pull clears CEL. ECU takes a while to figure out how to "run" the engine again.
Since it was just stalling (sometimes while coasting at 40kph, etc) I never actually turned the key to OFF. I just started, or bump-started the engine as It was stalling during "long" gear changes or coasting with the clutch in.
Because I wasn't turning the key to "off" it didn't get its 3 "learning cycles" (3 seems to be the magic number?) When I drove it home from golf, it would have been on its 3rd cycle, and the only thing I noticed was that Idle was around 1,000 instead of 600-700 RPM
/Theory
While it was stalling, the only thing I could think of was that it may have been the MAF. I have a Mazdaspeed CAI, but have always used an unoiled filter.
Any ideas/validation?
This is the first time my car has ever really let me down.
Sunday morning, woke up early to go play some golf. I was driving so I vacuumed the car. On my way to pick my buddy, the CEL comes on. First time ever. I pull over on the highway, pop the hood, Check and make sure everything nothing is on fire, levels, belts, etc.
I drive to his place, his father lives across the road (creepy?) and has a code reader - But we couldn't find it. I think, Maybe I didn't tighten the gas cap well enough. I tighten it, then Pull the neg off the battery, hit the brakes a few times and reconnect (car is off) CEL gone, as expected.
It hasn't turned back on.
HOWEVER
I've pulled the battery many times when doing stereo/alarm/lighting work... And while idle has been rough as it re-learns, It has only ever stalled once. Maybe twice.
it stalled 19 times in 10 minutes of test driving. The engine would pretty much instantly die the moment I pushed in the clutch.
Angry, because I just bought New tires, Swapped Springs, Alignment, Dent Removal, Carwash/wax and vacum in the last week and a half, we parked it and he drove.
Got back from golf, started up and drove perfect. Even got me to work this morning with NO issues.
I have a Theory, and am just wondering if it makes sense. Its all just theory because I didn't get the code before I reset it. (regret that now!)
Theory:
Under assumption that the gas cap was loose.
Battery pull clears CEL. ECU takes a while to figure out how to "run" the engine again.
Since it was just stalling (sometimes while coasting at 40kph, etc) I never actually turned the key to OFF. I just started, or bump-started the engine as It was stalling during "long" gear changes or coasting with the clutch in.
Because I wasn't turning the key to "off" it didn't get its 3 "learning cycles" (3 seems to be the magic number?) When I drove it home from golf, it would have been on its 3rd cycle, and the only thing I noticed was that Idle was around 1,000 instead of 600-700 RPM
/Theory
While it was stalling, the only thing I could think of was that it may have been the MAF. I have a Mazdaspeed CAI, but have always used an unoiled filter.
Any ideas/validation?
This is the first time my car has ever really let me down.