Took my MX-3 V6 1994 to a mechanic for basic service and....

Spitfire777 · Post by **Spitfire777** » July 17th, 2005, 6:03 pm

Had mechanic put new HT leads, spark plugs, oil change and new oilfilter. Air filter already done 2 weeks ago.

I pick up the car and drive off only to find it is coughing and spluttering at all rpms like it was running on 4 cylynders. I return . he tells me how sorry he is that he forgot to firmly secure one HT lead. I drive off and it seems fine at 2000 rpm and above. I stop at light and notice its a bit lumpy at tick over. I do 500 miles and now it coughs at 2000 rpms mainly in 3rd gear when taking it from 1800 rpm to 2500 rpm.

I also asked for t the front rocker gasket to be changed because when I took the HT lead out of one of the sockets it was oily. He changed this gasket too.

I really don't know what to make of it. The HT leads are japanese generic. Could it be the Spark plug gap? HT leads? etc....

The car was running fine even with the oil I nticed on the HT lead when pulling off SP.

Could it be timing?

Really don't know what to make of it but I want it to be like it was before the "servuce". I would really appreciate some advice because Im non mechanical......but learning fast. I love this car and have 110,000 mile =177027.84 kilometers on it. Ive owned it almost 10 years and taken really good care of it.....my son 8yrs doesnt want me to change cars!!!

PLEASE can any one advise me cause I dont want this "professional" mechanic to ruin my car.

Thanks all for any help...

spitfire777

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » July 17th, 2005, 7:37 pm

Sounds to me like the quality of the spark plug wires (HT leads) they installed is questionable. You can get a good set of plug wires and replace them yourself.. very simple job to do. Just replace one wire at a time. I recommend NGK 8mm wires. You could also call your Mazda dealer and find out which plug wire is specifically recommended for your car. Best of luck.

Tunes67

lakersfan1 · Post by **lakersfan1** » July 17th, 2005, 8:01 pm

What the hell's a 'rocker gasket'? If that's a valve cover gasket, maybe it wasn't done right. If you try pinching the hose to the intake elbow off, you can eliminate vacuum leak through the valve cover gasket as a culprit.

Uriel_Soulflare · Post by **Uriel_Soulflare** » July 17th, 2005, 10:44 pm

I once messed around with my spark plug wires and, i dont know if this is normal or not, but just changing one wire's position with another caused similar results. The car felt really unstable and lacked any strenght then it shut down. So maybe is one wire miss aligned? or in the wrong slot. Maybe you could find an MX3 Manual or try to set new cables yourself?

hppwdn · Post by **hppwdn** » July 18th, 2005, 1:49 am

The disty cap is labeled with what wire goes to what cylinder. The cylinders from left to right are 2,4,6 on the front and 1,3,5 on the back.

You can double check they are in the right place with that info if you'd like. I think it would be running a lot worse if there were plug wires swapped.

Grants · Post by **Grants** » July 18th, 2005, 1:55 am

What the hell's a 'rocker gasket'? If that's a valve cover gasket,

Yes it is

mitmaks · Post by **mitmaks** » July 18th, 2005, 2:23 am

post doesnt make sense to me, with part names Ive never heard before. But i would take it to other mechanic that you trust and go over it

UKMX-3 · Post by **UKMX-3** » July 18th, 2005, 8:49 am

Im assuming our man is from the UK or somewhere that uses british terminology for parts.

I call stuff HT leads,

and

Rocker Cover Gaskets

Its not to confuse you North Americans, its just that we like to be difficult!

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » July 18th, 2005, 9:29 am

birds, cookies, crumpets, queens, fags who could keep up with how you guys talk????

PS, none of those words mean the same things to the English as it does to us N. Americans...

UKMX-3 · Post by **UKMX-3** » July 18th, 2005, 9:49 am

Decoding Britishness.

Anyone who calls a Girl a Bird is an Idiot.

Cookies? A cookie is a cookie the worl over, unless im missing a hidden meaning.

Crumpet...well a crumpet is a crumpet, think of a pancake on steriods! (Except you toast it)

Queens, well we have one (unfortunatley) but yes we know what queens are, over dramatic homosexuals and other such vagueries of sexuality that exist these days.

Fags, you smoke them! (well i dont but lots of people do, hmm that could still seem like im talking about something else)

My personal favourite.

Fanny, means something else entirely over here!!!!!! very confusing, when your exchnage student teacher threatens to spank your fanny and ur a boy!!!!!!!!

Anyway back to V6's Vrooom vroom.

Id check my HT Leads and plugs if i were you mate.

I have uprated Splitfires in my car, i recommend them....very good performance!

lakersfan1 · Post by **lakersfan1** » July 18th, 2005, 3:44 pm

UKMX-3 wrote:
Fags, you smoke them!

PS. Don't admit that in public if you ever come to the states unless you want to get mugged in an alley.