I flooded my engine for the 1st time in over 4 years of ownership. It was my fault. I have a 2004 MT.

I searched all over the forum, including the "DIY deflooding in 5 minutes," and read the Mazda bulletin for "Crank No Start."

For a beginner like me, it is impossible to figure out the locations of the (A) secondary air injection pump connector and the (B) eccentric shaft position sensor. Can anyone post actual photos of the two and/or give detailed descriptions of how to locate them?

Thanks.

 

Why do u have to know the secondary air injection pump connector is ? for flooding ?

For starters, follow MAzda's deflood guide.

For not so starters . push start your car should work (or pull start)

for ur reference the 2nd air injection pump connector is located somewhere in the top of the whats that call I forgot, its on the left hand side when you open the hood.

The shaft position sensor is somewhere in the front of the engine.

I have no pictures. I dont think anybody has them.

 

Well, the bulletin says to disconnect the secondary air injection pump connector to protect the cat. I didn't know where it was but I cranked the car according to the directions anyway, first with the pedal all the way down (no dice), then without foot on the pedal (still no dice).

Tomorrow, I was going to pull the spark plugs and clean them while the chambers aired out.

But you're telling me not to bother?

My spark plugs are only a few months old (I had them replaced recently) and my battery and starter seem strong (although I did not get my original starter replaced with the stronger starter). Still the starter doesn't seem able to turn the engine over.

The car has been sitting there for 2 days now. Are you saying that if I push or pull the car, the spark plugs should be fine?

 

The left pic shows the location of the secondary air injection pump connector. Its on the passenger side just behind the front wheel.
The right pic shows the location of the eccentric shaft position sensor. Notice the crank pulley on the upper-left corner of the pic. This should give you an idea as to where the sensor is.
But like nycgps said... follow Mazda's deflooding guide first.
Good luck!

 

I thought i did follow Mazda's deflooding guide. I read page 7-20 in the owner's manual, which is pretty much the same steps as Procedure A in the bulletin. The only difference is that the bulletin asks you to disconnect the secondary air injection pump.

I did the deflood and my car did not start. Tomorrow in the late morning, when it gets warmer, I will try the deflood procedure again. If it doesn't work, then I will either take out the spark plugs and air out the combustion chambers (Procedure B in the bulletin) or push/pull start the car like nycgps said.

Oh, those 2 pics are the same ones in the bulletin. But with your description, I should be able to find the locations now.

 

Just tow it slowly get it up to 10-15 mph...let out the clutch slowly ( key on ) and pull it until it starts.....

 

After I get the car started, would it be ok to later take out the spark plugs and clean them? Or is it a must to buy new spark plugs? The current spark plugs are pretty new with less than 9000 miles on them.

 

Ok, we just had two people push the car while I sat in it. We can't seem to get enough speed to get it started or the car slowed down too quickly. Either that or I'm not experienced enough with the clutch procedure.

AAA will not allow me to try to start my car while the tow truck driver pulls it. So now I'm going to take the spark plugs out, let the cumbustion chambers air out, and clean the spark plugs with Brakeleen.

Is Brakeleen appropriate for cleaning fouled spark plugs?

Will this last method definitely work and get my fricking car started? (Sorry, I actually love my car.)

 

I only flooded my engine once and it took me a couple hours to get it running. Mainly because I had to charge my battery after several tries. I was following the owner's manual on how to start a flooded engine.
Then once it got running, I had white smoke pouring out my exhaust for a couple minutes. I learned my lesson about letting the car run for 10 minutes before shutting it off!
Not sure if others who experienced a flooded engine took as long to get it running, but it did for me.

 

Again, is Brakeleen appropriate to clean fouled spark plugs? If my spark plugs are only 9000 miles old, is it absolutely necessary for me to get new spark plugs?

 

Remove plugs...pull the fuel pump fuse, and the ESS plug..
crank engine until there is no more "fuel fog" coming out of the holes...brake cleen will work on the plugs OK....replace plugs....replace fuse /connector

Foot to floor...crank it and see if it fires..if it does..modulate pedal to keep it running...

If not...tow the damn thing with a buddies car and be done with it Just be careful

 

One more question, you guys. When I put the spark plugs back in, I understand that I first twist them in with my hands as tight as I can. After that, I use a torque wrench, right? What is the torque spec for tightening spark plugs? I can't find the specs anywhere, not even on the bulletin.

 

114-156 in/lbsft

 

Just an update after 2 more days. It's New Year's Day and problem is not solved yet.

Yesterday I disconnected the eccentric shaft position sensor (which was not only hard to disconnect but ALSO hard to find) and cranked the engine for 10 seconds 3 different times. Today, I bought new OEM spark plugs, installed them, connected the ESP sensor, and cranked some more. But the engine did not start, possibly because of no compression as the bulletin indicates.

Tomorrow, I will use a syringe to inject oil into the leading spark plug holes. I'm going to skip the procedure where you inject oil into the vacuum plug on the intake manifold. I'm going directly to the spark plug holes. Wish me luck.

PS: I do have an issue/question regarding screwing the spark plugs back in but I will write about that in a new thread in this forum.

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

Once you put those plugs in try starting it and if it doesn't start have a friend pull start your car. You have tie down hooks in your trunk, they work well when used with a tow strap. Put it in a gear and have them pull you around. It will probably start by the time you get to the end of the street(make sure the ignition is on) No reason to even try to deflood a manual transmission car if you have a tow car.

 

And once you get it started it's gonna smoke like crazy, that's normal just keep it running at a high idle. After the smoke dies down take it on a long drive and beat the **** out of it. The plugs should clean themselves off pretty good.

 

I did it! My car is running!! I am so relieved and excited that I learned something.

I got all the way to Procedure C (which is the last one) on the Crank No Start bulletin. Procedure C is injecting oil into the combustion chambers. The first time, the engine started for about 2 seconds but the moment I pressed the gas pedal, the engine died, and I couldn't get it restarted after that.

At that point, it seemed like game over or get the car pull started by another car. But my friends don't have cars that can tow. At that point, I had a fortuitious last minute talk with a rotary expert who told me to take the spark plugs out, make sure to clean them dry, purge the combustion chambers (Procedure B in the bulletin) but this time to do it extra long and make sure NOTHING MORE can be spewed out (even if it takes minutes), put back spark plugs, and begin the cranking step with the pedal down (instead of first cranking without pedal down). He said people do things differently but his personal preference is to begin by cranking for a long time with the pedal down (which cuts the fuel) and that sometimes he and others will crank for 2 to 5 minutes. So I cranked about 5 separate times (each time 10 seconds) over the span of a minute with the pedal down. The next crank I did not have my foot on the pedal (so fuel is injected) and the car fired immediately! I should mention that I was originally thinking about adding more oil the second time around but the rotary expert told absolutely do not add more oil.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

When I have the time, I'm going to start a thread that is an ADDENDUM to the DIY Deflooding In Under 5 Minutes thread and the DIY Spark Plug Removal thread.