Car sluggish intermittantly

mel.b

I have a 99 Mazda 323 with 125,000 miles on it. It has given me no mechanical problems, just the standard wear and tear you would expect. Fan belt changed in Sept 2011 and timing belt a year or two before that (can't remember exactly when).

I had it in for a service recently and mentioned that the car is intermittantly sluggish when taking off in 1st gear and also sometimes when changing into 2nd. It's like there is very little power - foot on the accelerater but the car isn't responding. This passes after a few seconds - for example, taking off at a roundabout, by the time i am through it is is normally fine.

When i had the service they tightened the fan belt,changed the oil and oil filter. The mechanic took it for a drive but it didn't play up for him - as i said it only happens intermittantly and some times the extent of the sluggishness is worse than others. He said to bring it back in if it keeps doing it (was hoping tightening the fan belt would do the trick) and i am going to, but just wondering if anyone has any ideas what it could be?

MAJJ

Hi Mel, not anyway good at cars but my corrolla had a similair problem started intermittently like that and then became a problem every day.

It was a faulty Mass Air Flow (MAF) and there also was a warning light on the dash.

Am sure others will tell yoy there could be a myriad of explanations.

Good luck and hope it gets sorted.

Irishcrx

Couple of thing's in could be, it's really a case of getting out and checking one by one.

Spark plugs
Dirty throttle body (Get some carb cleaner and give it a clean)
MAF (Try disconnecting it and going for a drive and see if it improves)
Lambda sensor (As above)
Check for tears in the intake piping.

wesf

yeh try spark plugs, had a yaris doing exactly that before. new plugs and away it went

mel.b

Thanks. I know literally nothing about cars, so i'll be taking it back to the mechanics - hopefully it is just spark plugs...that sounds like the easiest and cheapest thing!

georgefalls

Most likely the MAF. It won't always show up as a EML (engine management light). As suggested, disconnect it, and go for a drive.
Try cleaning it, before you shell out on a new one. Google MAF cleaning.

mel.b

Ok, presuming i can find and unplug the MAF, am i expecting the car to run better or worse? If better, why do cars have one? How far will i have to drive it - is a few laps around town with lots of stop /start traffic enough/too much/not enough? As i mentioned, i know nothing about cars!

Irishcrx

To be honest if your nervous about getting into the engine I wouldn't go playing around it. Bring it to a mechanic and have them look at the problem, as you say if the problem is intermittent you mightn't be able to tell for sure if it's the MAF acting up. It would really have to be a constant problem to start self diagnosing.

georgefalls

The MAF problem will get worse, until it does bring up the EML.
Running a diagnostic will not necessarily show a fault.
Unplugging it is easy enough, or it should be. If in doubt ask a garage to unplug it for you.
You will find it harder to start from cold, with no MAF, but it should run smoother when warm.
Then plug it back in, and if the problem returns. You've got your answer..

mel.b

So I've just got the car back from the mechanics. I don't think they were able to replicate the problem driving it. However he thinks it was a coil which has now been replaced and they also found an induction cable that was leaking. So hoping it is fixed now.