Cold Start

[arvind_sub]

Hello everyone,
I am just thrilled at seeing a place where i am confident to find answers. I have a 1993 MX3 mazda GS with a V6 engine. Bought it from a used car dealer last year in september. The car ran very well without any problem for a month or so although the car had a very high idling around 1500 when i stop at traffic lights in the city in first gear. After a month or so i started facing a problem. The car wont start when the temperature becomes unusually cold at night. Initially i thought it was flooded and so with some help from the AAA towing, i was able to start the car. Anyway starting this new year, this has become a regular problem. So i took it to the Mazda dealer who looked at it and found that the oxygen sensor and the mass air flow sensor were not working as they were supposed to. So i replaced the sensors. This did not solve the problem as the next day i had the same problem. This time i was told that 5 out of the 6 fuel injectors in the car are leaking gas which caused it to flood. So now i am searching for fuel injectors which are not available easily. I wanted to know from you all if you had faced any such problem with your cars and what you think should be the solution. I am not a person who knows anything much about Mx3's. So please answer my cries for help.
Thanks,
Arvind.

[quicksliver]

The 1992-93 MX-3 GS are knowen to have a hard time starting in sub-zero weather. The consumer guide reoport over at http://auto.consumerguide.com/auto/used/reviews/full/index.cfm/id/2197 will back up my statment.

"Hard starting: Cars with the K8 engine are hard to start in sub-zero weather. (1992-93)"


I have a 1992 MX-3 GS and probably 8 times out of 10, it won't start on the first crank. However, it will ALWAYS start on the 2nd or 3rd crank. You're not touching the gas pedal when you try to start you're car right? Cause with fuel injection cars you're not supposed to!

I find it very odd that 5 out of 6 of you're injectors would be leaking...perhaps have another mechanic look at it?

[lakersfan1]

I'm sure you could pick up a set of fuel rails w/ injectors from someone scrapping thier V6 car on the For/Sale forum...or even someone doing an engine upgrade, and wants to ditch thier old K8. However, I've never heard of an injector going bad on one of these cars.......and 5 of them are supposed to be bad? I call BS. Have another mechanic look at it.

[triggercut]

If you're really convinced it's a fuel problem, try some injector cleaner through it. However, I would bet this is related to our notoriously crappy distributors.

[arvind_sub]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. Getting the fuel injectors have been rather difficult. Anyway did find 4 out of 5 in partsamerica.com which gave up on the 5th. Found the fifth one from Machelski who has agreed to sell me one. I took my car to the Mazda dealership who have told me that the fuel injectors when filled with fuel start leaking after 10 minutes or so. I guess in the summer because of the temperature, the fuel evaporates causing me not to notice any problem. I think the dealer may be right because when the car finally starts in the winter, there is a lot of white smoke which comes out of the exhaust as though this was the excess fuel which had caused it to get flooded.
Finding a person who can work on my car has also been difficult as most of them tell me that if the car is a mazda, i better take it to the dealer as things are different from a nissan or any other car.
Expecting my car to function with the new components by the end of this week. Will keep u all posted on the outcome.
Also read the consumer report. Am just thinking if Mazda should take a responsibilty and find the actual solution.
Thanks,
Arvind.

[mitmaks]

if ud want i could sell u my k8, ill be getting diff engine.

[ZOOMzoomZOOM]

I would tend to say the problem wouldn't lie in the injectors. The fuel pressures are high enough to generate heat internally and eventually fire. Your prob. may infact lie toward leaky valve guides, that was an issue with mine a few years back. Likely Oil is leaking past and causing great restriction internally. Check compression. Otherwise if it is injectors just give it a quick short burst of Ether. BUT BE WARNED do not overshoot make sure it is a fine mist and do not press on the accelerator, just straight cranking and have a friend fire either just before the throttle body.

Later.

[94mx3gs]

I had the same problem with my 94 and I put like 3,000 into it to fix the problem to no avail. I did find out what it was after many a painstaking hours. In the end I found out it was the distributor, it would not produce a spark on cold and damp mornings. To prove this I took the distributor out put it in the oven for 15 minutes on low (under 200F) heat and bam the car started up no problem. Try this if it works than you know what your problem is.

[IanL]

Originally posted by ZOOMzoomZOOM:
...Otherwise if it is injectors just give it a quick short burst of Ether. BUT BE WARNED do not overshoot make sure it is a fine mist and do not press on the accelerator, just straight cranking and have a friend fire either just before the throttle body.

Just to be clear, are you saying you disconnect the VAF to fire the ether in?