Okay, so my car stalled on a very very cold day and in the process it flooded. This has happened before so it was not big deal, except it was really cold. I tried for days to get it going and finally got it towed back to the house. Once it was here I let it sit till it got warmer so I could pull the plugs. Got the plugs pulled (they were bad) and replaced. Took some time but I finally got it started. I took it out for a drive for about 30 min or so to get it cleaned out. During this time the check engine light was on. The sound of the engine has never been better. Mission accomplished, or so I thought. A couple hours later I went to start it and it still sounded like it was flooded. I let it sit for a few minutes and started it up using the Mazda deflood procedure. This time the engine light was off.
At this point I'm not thinking my car is reliable so today I went to start it and same thing... Got it going with the deflood procedure again. Drove it for 10-15 min, and parked it. During this time the check engine light was on again. Right away I went to start it and again, nothing. Tried the deflood procedure nothing, and now of course my battery is dead. Tried to even jump it and didn't get very far.

I'm very low on money right now, so I'm trying to narrow this down. Does it sound like the coils might be bad, bad starter or maybe a bad battery?... or the dreaded loss of compression (new motor)? I suppose I can take out a battery out of another car to see if that helps... but I'm at a loss and my piggy bank is empty.

 

Please give us all the info on your car,miles,year,service done,mods,etc. You need to get the code read to see the problem. If it has been running fine since you installed the plugs and I would recommend replacing the coils and wires. You could recheck the wires connection. low compression or early starter and weak battery...

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did you dry the plugs properly with a blow dryer and did you install them with the proper amount of torque

 

2004 MT 62,000 miles. No mods, normal service done (oil changes). It was running fine once I got it started. Wires are nice and tight.

 

Plugs were new, so no need to dry them. I believe I got the right amount of torque.

 

Oh yeah and to top it off stupid me forgot to remove the wheel key before I took it for a test drive. DOH

 

Coils. Supposedly the parts stores are carrying them now, some with lifetime warranties.

From what I have been told, the stock wires are pretty good. I have an 04 with 85,000 miles and the stock wires. Needed plugs and coils awhile back though. I get 22 mpg on the highway and it runs great on the track, so I think wires are good.

For coils you can also look at the bottom of the ones you have. There is often a white mark on the bottom of the coil. Some say this indicates a bad coil. Some say it is normal. I had pitting on the metal bracket under the coil where they had been arcing. That indicates a bad coil.

If funds are short, get 2, replace either the leading or trailing ones. I have no idea which would be best to do, but I have a feeling that a discussion will break out on the topic in about 30 seconds.

 

Going through all my papers I realized that I had a 3rd party service contract

Turns out that my starter was the source of all my issues. It wasn't strong enough to get the car going and causing it to flood. So the dealer installed a new starter and all is good now. All this time I had it sitting thinking it was going to cost me a lot when I have limited funds. Just had to pay a $100 deductable.

 

Great ..glad to hear this..