whats up with my car?

[RG.net]

red dragon, maybe so but i changed this 1 month ago, so i highly doubt it.

started the car again after dinner, starts fine, however today was so hot and i have noticed my car doesnt like hot weather and doesnt like to restart hot. maybe thats why it was so hard to start, but why did it clunk out then. mmm will be looking at a few things tomorrow.

[RG.net]

Since its temperamental it sounds electric.
Is your AFM or MAF connected properly? Leak in the intake plumbing? Wiggle the wires everywhere to see if it causes any upsets.
The buzz could be the idle air control stepper motor.
How old is your battery?

What about the CAS?

Try changing the plugs, when my engine was busted and wouldn't crank, firstly the battery was a little weak but I cleaned my spark plugs that were full of oil and it worked. If your plugs don't fire the fuel combusts in the exhaust causing backfire, might not be all of them doing it. Make sure the leads are connected firmly, did you get quality leads?

Not sure why its dying, fuel pressure problem? Ran out of electricity? Maybe there's a short somewhere. What does the voltage do when the car spits the dummy?

When you say its not starting does it actually crank over smoothly or at all?


Sounds very odd, but at least its not puking its guts everywhere.

afm is connected, cas is connected, volts stay at 14-15, battery is a little over 1 year old. the leads are better then what i had, not the best brand but still decent quality. when i say its not starting, its not cranking at all, but you can hear the starter motor trying to crank the engine as it does normally. i think i'll be getting some petrol for him first and i'll see what happens after that.

[Okibi]

.. when i say its not starting, its not cranking at all, but you can hear the starter motor trying to crank the engine as it does normally...

Can you please clarify.

Is there a click sound when you try and start but no movement of the engine at all? (ie. dead battery cell)

Is the starter motor turning the engine over, ie' "Cranking"?

If the engine is "cranking" on the starter motor, it's time to check if you've got spark and/or fuel. It might narrow things down.

Also check your new leads and plugs for any sign of a pour connection, that might have damaged your ignition coil.

[silvermiata]

Hevn i had pretty much similar problem for 2 weeks and we have checked/ changed nearly everything... ended up being the fuel pump... also check the earthing cable of the motor... find a spark plug, earth it and put the lead on see if you get good spark on all 4... go get the diagnostics checked and see if it gives out any faults.. in my case it did not give out any fault codes... good luck man..i hate the unknown problems...

[RG.net]

.. when i say its not starting, its not cranking at all, but you can hear the starter motor trying to crank the engine as it does normally...

Can you please clarify.

Is there a click sound when you try and start but no movement of the engine at all? (ie. dead battery cell)

Is the starter motor turning the engine over, ie' "Cranking"?

If the engine is "cranking" on the starter motor, it's time to check if you've got spark and/or fuel. It might narrow things down.

Also check your new leads and plugs for any sign of a pour connection, that might have damaged your ignition coil.

its making a clicking sound but it either delays or doesnt start.

i just pulled out the ecu and put it back on. now the car isnt cranking at all, but i do hear the fuel pump buzz (or something around the area of the fuel pump) so maybe it is shot, i'm a bit depressed atm so i've come inside to have a beer.

[RG.net]

btw, if something was wrong with the ecu, everything else would muck up wouldnt it? everything runs fine, and no check engine light comes on.

[Okibi]

Yup it sounds like your battery is on the way out. (I hope you removed the battery and drained any residual current before disconnecting the ecu.)

Get another club member and try starting your car with their battery in your car.

[ampz]

Clicking noise only (no crank) is definitely a battery problem. Batteries can die after a year is you do not drive the car long enough to charge the energy lost during cranking.

Example: I have a Falcon station wagon that I drive for work. I average 9000Kms a year and have not had one flat battery. In my area I have a colleague who drives less than 5 Kms to his destination. In 2 years he has replaced 3 batteries in an identical car. Reason? Short distances do not allow the battery to charge all the cells back to their full state.

Check your terminals on the battery, one may be loose, you may have a loose PPF ground. Check the solenoid trigger wire on the starter motor to make sure it isn't loose.

Check, check, check... then get back to us.

[RG.net]

Clicking noise only (no crank) is definitely a battery problem. Batteries can die after a year is you do not drive the car long enough to charge the energy lost during cranking.

Example: I have a Falcon station wagon that I drive for work. I average 9000Kms a year and have not had one flat battery. In my area I have a colleague who drives less than 5 Kms to his destination. In 2 years he has replaced 3 batteries in an identical car. Reason? Short distances do not allow the battery to charge all the cells back to their full state.

Check your terminals on the battery, one may be loose, you may have a loose PPF ground. Check the solenoid trigger wire on the starter motor to make sure it isn't loose.

Check, check, check... then get back to us.

that could be true, but my 5 is my daily driver (unfortuanately) and i average 15-20000kms. i did check the terminals on first break down, they are fine. i havent checked any grounds though only the one off the battery and one at the back of the engine. i havent checked the wire to the starter motor, where abouts is that located?

[irwin83r]

hye mate. hows it going?? any more updates?

dose the car stall when it start going funny? if not while the problem is happening try wiggling plugs and sensor connnections under the bonnet while its happening. my similar Cam angle sensor problem turned out to be a loose conection and a cable tie around the plug pulling it tightly together has fixed it..

dose it only really happen when the cars hot?

[RG.net]

got the car started, drove it to the servo and around the block a few times, its running fine, didnt do anything out of the ordinary. i put in 40 litres (iirc the nb has 48 litres? or 45) cleaned the plugs (one had oil on it, and all are pretty burnt out) checked leads, cas, coil pack, battery, pretty much every plug i could find, nothing out of the ordinary. guess i am just going to have to monitor the situation, thanks for all your help guys, i'll keep everyone updated.

[Okibi]

How did you check the battery was ok?

[RG.net]

How did you check the battery was ok?

terminals were fine, and volts were fine.

[Okibi]

How many volts was she holding? How many volts did it drop to when you started the car?

I'd recommend you getting the battery load tested, but some battery retailers crank too much resistance in to deliberately kill your battery so they can sell you another, be cautious.

[RG.net]

bah this happened again to me today, much more sudden though, i was searching miata.net and someone in the states has a similar problem to me

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=294889

looks like i will start off with replacing the main relay, it seemed to help him for a few months. then i'll take it to mazda to help find out whats up, i am thinking it cant be the fuel pump as this has only happened when the engine is hot and the weather is hot, it has to be something in the engine bay.