Went for my first drive this year yesterday and after approx 10 miles while at approx 30-40mph the engine started juddering as if it were cutting out. I tried accelerating out of it and it was juddery. I was presented with an amber engine light. After a while it seems to go away but with the light still on.
Today i left it idling and after 5-10 mins the engine just died. Started the engine again and once more after 5 mins it died. This time the amber engine light has disappeared.
Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
You don’t say which model the car is, but from the fact that you are talking about an engine light I assume it’s a Mk3, or possibly a late model Mk2.5? If that is the case then you should be able to get fault codes from the engine via the ODBII port. If you don’t have a reader then someone close to you may be willing to help out, or you could ask (probably pay) your local garage to read the codes for you.
My engine warning light came on & stayed on about 4 weeks ago - although the car (2012 Mk 3.5) drove normally. Local garage charged £42 for a diagnostic check - & traced the fault to the EGR valve; re-set everything & fingers crossed so far it’s been O.K., the light hasn’t come on since. Same thing happened on the day I got the car - brand new - but on that occasion the light came back on 2 hours later so the EGR valve had to be replaced under warranty.
Any decent garage should be able to read your fault code (which will have been stored when the lamp came on) to trace the component that’s causing the issue. Halfords sell fault code readers but they’re very expensive - a lot cheaper from Amazon although of course need to check compatibility with your car.
Or just but a WiFi / Bluetooth wireless OBDII reader and an app for your phone. I have several. Yes you sometimes have to go and look up the fault code on the web as they are manufacturer specific but it’s a lot cheaper than buying a dedicated hardware unit.
The hardware units are available for around £10 to £15 therefore a similar price to a bluetooth dongles and sometimes certain smartphones do not talk to the dongles for some weired reason other times they work first time with the smartphone or tablet.
The readers are not car specific at all at this price point and even the more expensive ones will display the standard codes on all ODBII compliant cars. The more expensive ones will read make specific information but we are talking over £100 in these cases.
Therefore to the original poster, if you want to probe the problem with your car buy a reader of some type, if you are not interested in going that far use a trusted local garage or Mazda dealer and they will read the fault code and advise you of the next step in the process.
Do a search on eBay for “ELM327 WiFi” and you will see plenty of options for less than £20. For background, the ELM327 is the integrated chip that does the ODBII translation, so at heart all of these devices are using the same hardware.
For software, I use “Dash Command” on my phone (I also have a BMW-specific one for my other car). Sorry, can’t remember how much that cost me.
It’s really simple. The ODBII reader plugs into the socket on the car and you power everything up. You connect your phone to the WiFi signal from the reader and launch the software. Then you set it up and run the diagnostics. Simples.
So far my NC hasn’t thrown any codes so I don’t know how well Dash Command will be able to interpret the codes, usually engine codes are translated easily enough. If there is a manufacturer specific code then you can usually look that up on the web. I have to do that all the time on my BMW as not all the codes are understood by the software I use (although it is getting better).
I consider my OBDII software and reader one of my better investments. I can check what the car is telling me, especially before I take it in for a service. My 2006 BMW e61 Touring has something like forty separate ECU modules that can be interrogated!! (And that’s on a car that doesn’t even have all the options.)
Absolutely do NOT leave it connected to the car. Two reasons:
That socket is always live and drawing power from the car so you will run the battery flat
There is no security on the WiFi so anyone passing by could logon and hack the ECU on your car
Okay (2) is low probability but with the right tools access via the ODBII port can be used to disable the alarm, override the immobilizer, and start the car. Not something you want to just leave activated!
A new one shouldn’t set you back too much and replacing it is a DIY job if you are comfortable with tinkering under the bonnet. I remember replacing the CAS seal on my Mk1 1.8 engine because it was leaking oil - I think all in the job of pulling the unit and re-fitting it took less than an hour.
I checked a friends MX5 last night and got P0011 code, says the timing was too advanced, but reading on here, it can clear it’s self after a few cycles. Apparently the most common code on a mk2.5 vvti is P0011 and basically needs a good oil change before spending money on replacing parts. Not sure if this is your problem or not, but worth a look.
If the engine light goes out after a little while it points to the above.
Well, I’ll order a new sensor and fit it. Hope this does remedy it as on the code reader it says wiring and EMC could also be causing the sensor to play up.
New sensor fitted today so hopefully its all been remedied. Must admit, the placebo effect of fitting a new part made the car feel great driving it today. I swear fitting the new sensor has made it feel a bit different lol