I'm having a mysterious car problem that started yesterday. At high RPMs the engine just cuts out for a second or two. When it happened yesterday I pulled off the road, checked my oil and discovered that it was almost out. Naturally I assumed that was the problem, walked to a gas station and bought oil, then slowly drove the car to my mechanic. Who didn't find anything wrong with the engine, but did find a damaged CV boot, glad they fixed that.
I had to walk home from the mechanic too, so basically I spent the whole day walking in bad shoes yesterday. Did y'all know that Cole Mill Road is very unfriendly to pedestrians? It's a busy road with a 45 mph speed limit, no sidewalk, not even a shoulder most of the way. There's one stretch where you have to walk in the road itself, around a blind curve, because the ground next to the road slopes up too steeply to walk on. Every time a car came I hopped up onto the slope and stood there until they passed. Not fun. On the bright side, the walk up Cole Mill seemed faster than the previous walk to my car on the highway, even though it was much longer, because I knew the road so every few minutes I'd pass another landmark and feel closer to home.
Anyway, today I headed out for my meeting at HKB and at the exact same place on the highway, it happened again. It's not a problem if I stay under 2000 RPM, but if I go over that the engine gets rough & unsteady (if that makes sense) and then starts cutting out. The RPMs drop down to zero for a second or two, then it comes back. I thought it was only at high speed and have been avoiding highways. But then it happened while I was driving slowly but revving the engine, to get up a hill from a full stop. I have heard alternate theories that it's either the transmission or something electrical. I'm dropping the car off at the mechanic tomorrow morning, here's hoping they figure it out and fix it in time for the road trip I have to take this weekend.
egads-- i hope it's nothing serious. i guess it's not showing a check engine light?
The check engine light comes on when the engine cuts out, but the light turns off when the engine re-engages.
What kinda car is it?
mazda 626, i believe. mid to late 90's era.
very close! it's a 1991 Mazda 626. It's at the mechanic now.
i used to have a VW beetle that would conk out at the same place every time i took a particular route home. i was almost convinced there was a sort of bermuda triangle thing happening on that highway.
that said, i have no idea what the problem is, but i'm happy to drive you places so that you never have to walk down cole mill road again. ;-)
aw, thanks! I think you were probably at work while I was walking home but if it happens again, I will definitely call :)
I can tell you that I have had a plethora of car troubles with my Mazda. Due to the poor machining of engines made these days, a hole appeared in the case of my engine on my 2002 Mazda B2300 Pick up. The third gear synch was way off and caused my gear to grind, the horn circuitry was bad and would pop the fuse if some one hit the horn, and last but certainly not least the door sensor in the passenger side door would not engage properly and would keep the dome light on and say that there is a door ajar. It drove me nuts! Not too mention that the door sensor thing has been a problem in Ford Rangers since 1997 and they have not fixed it yet.
I hear you on car problems, and feel free to rant on my site as well. Anyhow.. good luck with your car.
Here is what I found:
1993-94 V6s Ignitor Module
- Failure mode: engine cut-out, restarting fails specifically due to no ignition spark being produced, restarting may be possible after a short period during whilst the power transistor in the power transistor undergoes thermal reset, no ECU code will be set, 1993-94 only affected.
-- Ford-UK parts -- Coil 3974598 at ~£33.15 & Ignitor 3974599, the TSB is known to all Ford & Mazda Main Dealers.
-- Mazda-US parts -- Complete refurbished distributor, 277$US from Trussville Mazda, USA, parts@trussvillemazda.com.
It is not necessary to replace an entire distributor, only the parts which are an easy DIY filt.
i have 1998 mazda 626 LX auto 4 cylinders.car while is warm running on idle at 750 rpm will mis and rpm will drop dn for a split second but it never dies .i have replace plugs check timing no check engines light on . car stumbels only when engine is warm, any sug?
i had the same problem with my 94 eclipse ...
the problem was that one of the wires had become disconnected under the hood. not sure what the wire is named but ... just check that all visible wires are securely connected under the hood. Hope this helps.