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Hey ECG Forum members, happy new years.
I’ve returned with a new problem: I was driving to work today on the highways, foot on the pedal at 2500rpm max (got a light foot) doing 40mph. As it climbs to 45mph rpm drops to 1500 and then picks up to 2400 and then drops again, the needle looked like a pendulum going back and forth. The whole time my foot was still lightly on the pedal. While the needle was going back and forth, the car was jerking a bit hard when the needle moved. I checked my transmission fluid as this is an automatic and it was fine. What could the problem be?
In the meantime I will be taking regular roads to work doing only 40mph max. Thanks for reading and hope you can help.
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Perhaps start with that ‘tune up’ then, most performance problems are the result of simple problems and sometimes a lack of maintenance so a good place to start with a problem like yours is with things like plugs, wires, air filters, fuel filters, etc.
http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2000/m … asket.html
The valve cover gasket for your engine looks to have the spark plug tube seals built in. And yeh, that’s probably why you have oil in the those tubes. If you see discoloration around the ends of the spark plug boots, I would replace them. I hear alot of quys suggest OEM wires. I replaced the wires on my Prizm delivery beater with cheapies due to money constraints, and they haven’t let me down. I dog the crap out of the car, and still no issues after about 15k miles. I will say that if this car was my only vehicle, and wasn’t a delivery car, I would have invested in higher quality wires.
Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:
Perhaps start with that ‘tune up’ then, most performance problems are the result of simple problems and sometimes a lack of maintenance so a good place to start with a problem like yours is with things like plugs, wires, air filters, fuel filters, etc.
Yesterday I put in the new plugs. From left to right, the spark plugs in cylinders 2 and 3 had some oil near the part where the plug wire connects, cylinder 1 was completely dry and the hole in 4 had oil on the valve cover. I have an idea of what could cause it but I won’t say, I’ll let the educated community tell me. Wires seemed fine, some discoloring near the end towards the spark plug, a rust color, but not that bad. Well I’m proud to say my Mazda reached 60 no problem, had to test in 5pm highway traffic so not a lot of open road there. How odd considering the old plugs looked like they had normal wear. If you have ever noticed the back of a Haynes manual, my spark plug looked like the top-most photo, a little whiter and the filament a little blacker but still. Oh well. I’m not going to green light this post yet because I don’t feel like the problem is solved, this can’t be it. I think I just got lucky. What do you all say?
You will have to take the vehicle on a good drive this weekend and keep us posted.
The oil around the spark plugs and the ignition wires could be from issues with the gaskets. I would look up a valve cover gasket at an auto parts store and see if there is any spark plug tube seals that come with the kit.
You might be surprised at how many performance problems like yours are the result of simple causes like spark plugs, this is why they need to be changed regularly and when you do use quality parts and it will ensure a lasting repair.
Quoted From dreamer2355:
You will have to take the vehicle on a good drive this weekend and keep us posted.
The oil around the spark plugs and the ignition wires could be from issues with the gaskets. I would look up a valve cover gasket at an auto parts store and see if there is any spark plug tube seals that come with the kit.
This was my guess, just didn’t want to say anything. The valve cover gasket also has little rubber rings on top of the spark plug tube, I think that’s why the oils not reaching the plug part inside the engine.
Change the wire if there’s discoloration? Alright. Partsgeek.com? What is this holy place? I’ve been a rock auto kind of guy. Seems to have parts for my Esteem as well, sweet. I bought a fuel filter on amazon once, was the cheapest around and it was a Fram. I was happy.
So I guess I should green light this post then Eric? The lesson is: Don’t forget the maintenance long term maintenance like spark plugs and wires. Right?
Plugs may look OK but other things (like gap) may have been the problem. Over time the gap increases, which takes more energy for the spark to jump. Some cars seem to be really sensitive to things like this (BMW 3 series comes to mind), yet others seem to run fine with plugs that have 100k on them.
The problem has returned, Not it happens around 60 mph. I replaced the Spark plugs and wires. What could it be?
I just want to make sure we’re current. You replaced plugs, wires, and did you do anything about the oil leaking into the spark plug tubes? Have you pulled the plug boots to see if they are dirty again? If you have a severe leak into those holes, they could be shorting your plugs under a heavier load. How long was the problem gone until it returned?
I am also interested to see how long it was before the problem returned.
I would pull an ignition wire and plug to see how they look. That way you can see if its a reoccurrence of the same issue.
I think the problem returned – Jan 23 tuned up, last thursday I noticed it returned – about a week and a half? No I never did anything about the oil. I actually checked to see if there was oil in the new spark plugs as the car ran with the old wires for 2 days and it was dry everywhere. No leak anymore.
BTW there are oil seals in the valve cover that will probably solve the oil leak issues, it may take some time for it to come back but it’s worth investing in in my opinion.
As for the problem coming back I suppose we can rule out the new parts, perhaps you have an issue with a coil pack or something, you might want to check for voltage leaks around them.
It’s been some time and I can’t remember if this car sat for a while or not but it’s possible you have moisture in your gas causing an intermittent issue, I suppose the best way to verify a fuel issue is to check the fuel pressure while the condition occurs, for me I often tape my fuel psi gauge to the windshield and take it for a drive.
I wouldn’t recommend removing the injectors as the grommets tend to get brittle and getting new ones would be a whole new hassle. The injector clips also have a tendency to snap as demonstrated in one of my videos.
Does this condition only happen at speed or also while at idle? There are a couple things it could be but start with the basics like a potential misfire. Check the plugs and wires for signs of spark loss (arc’ing). A vacuum leak could cause that but you’d probably also have serious lack of power and would feel like lag (latency between acceleration and when you actually start to accelerate). If the car misses shift points or changes gear erratically that could simply be low ATF. Our cars fool quite a lot of mechanics when they get low on ATF they exhibit the same exact symptoms of a failing transmission so keep an eye out for that. Pulling codes would be a smart thing to do even if there is no check engine light on (free at any AutoZone).
You can drive without overdrive as long as you don’t plan on going faster than 55 mph. It does put more stress on the transmission as the engine braking is harder (acts more like a standard transmission). With the symptoms you are getting I wouldn’t recommend turning off overdrive right now. You’ll want to baby it until you can get this issue diagnosed.
Just FYI everyone, the Mazda 626 uses the same transmission as the Ford CD4E except it’s renamed to Mazda’s designation of LA4A-EL. Same exact transmission. The 626 and MX-6 use a lot of Ford parts because… it was built by Ford in Michigan. 😉
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