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Hey guys,
I have a 1993 Mazda Mx6 Ls Edition, for those of you who may or may not know that comes with a 2.5L DOHC V6 with a 130099 miles on it. My/Our problem is excedlingly interesting. The car started to die off when first cranked and then when cranked again would purr like a kitten. Then one day at school she would not start at all, I had the key in, clutch all the way down and all i get was the usual lights on the dash and a loud clicking noise. Not mutiple clicks like if the battery is dead, but a single loud click. Now I’ve done some research and it turns out that mx6’s come with pretty crappy distributors and sometimes the internal coil goes bad or something like that.
Im not sure if that is what is actually happening to my car and help in diagnosis, or an explanation of what is happening would be absolutely amazing.
Here are link to the inforamtion about my problem, let me know what you guys think.
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I wouldn’t worry about the ignition side until you have a turning engine. sounds like a starter, or dirty connections not allowing the amperage to flow to the starter
The initial symptom (crank -> start -> die -> recrank -> runs fine) sounds like a failing fuel pump. As the valves in those go bad the fuel pressure in the lines dies and the pump has to re-prime the system on start up.
The new no start problem is more interesting… This clicking; is it coming from the front or back of the car? Just trying to see if the fuel pump could be at fault? Also what kind of click is it? is it a metallic click? or a plastic one? Check out Eric’s Video for diagnosing no starts, I wouldn’t go throwing ignition parts at it until you are certain that’s what it is because coils/starters are quite pricey
there is a tool to test out the strength of the spark to determine if the coil needs replacing or not
[quote=”Borowicz” post=96415]The initial symptom (crank -> start -> die -> recrank -> runs fine) sounds like a failing fuel pump. As the valves in those go bad the fuel pressure in the lines dies and the pump has to re-prime the system on start up.
The new no start problem is more interesting… This clicking; is it coming from the front or back of the car? Just trying to see if the fuel pump could be at fault? Also what kind of click is it? is it a metallic click? or a plastic one? Check out Eric’s Video for diagnosing no starts, I wouldn’t go throwing ignition parts at it until you are certain that’s what it is because coils/starters are quite pricey[/quote]
I do believe its more of a metallic sound. From the front of the car.
Which is most likely the starter right ?
It’s hard to tell without hearing it in person, but yeah you’re right that does sound like a starter problem. Is it an intermittent problem or does the car not start at all any more?
sounds like a starter to me. You can here the solenoid pulling the gear out but the rotation doesn’t occur. Some starter will finally start after many attempt. Usually cold weather makes it worse. The engine doesn’t even crank right?
If you have a voltmeter put it across the battery and see what the voltage drops to while trying to start the car. If it goes below around 9v or so, you could have a bad battery. If you can find a shop that can measure the current draw of the starter and do a battery load test that would rule out both the battery and starter. It takes an inductive amp meter to measure the actual current draw of the starter. It sounds to me like a bad battery, starter or alternator not charging. Some auto parts stores have a battery load tester and will test the battery for free. Eric has a trouble shooting section for no crank no start.
You might have 2 problems. I’d start with looking at the starter as many have suggested. Not a bad idea to check the battery and it’s connections as well. More info here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-no-start-problems
With the start and die you might want to check out this article.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-performance-issues
Good luck and keep us posted.
Thanks for all the help guys, I hate throwing parts at things which is why im here. I will update most likely when school ends in about two weeks, so subscribe and we can dig into this then.
Just a thought, next time it just clicks take hammer and rap it once on the starter as close to the solenoid as you can. If the car then starts you can be pretty confident that you have a bad starter or solenoid. This has worked for me many times.
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