Hard starting after several days idle, Mazda Sedan 363.

susmariosep

I asked a Mazda expert in AllExperts website about my trouble.

http://www.allexperts.com/user.cgi?m=6&catID=821&qID=4598732

Subject: hard starting after several days idle
Question: I don't think it's a choke trouble. Well, anyway I can't see anything wrong with the choke system.

This is a carburetor system car, it is called a Mazda sedan 363 in my place, year of issue 1996. It has had this trouble from since I got it second-hand from two other earlier owners who had it for a few months each; otherwise everything works okay.

When I use it everyday, starting in the morning is no trouble at all.

When I don't use it for one day, so it's been idle over 24 or more hours since last tour of duty, this is what occurs, and it gets worse as the number of idle days are more.

I step on the gas pedal as I turn on the start switch, the engine will fire up, as normal; but when I let go of the gas pedal, the engine will die off or -- and this is after I had tinkered with the choke system to adjust it to optimal operation (in my own DIY ways and skills and experience and knowledge -- forgive me for the presumption) it will not die off, but act as though gasping for breath every fraction of a second, like 1/5 of a second; so I have to step on the gas pedal and keep it down for the engine to reeve furiously, until I hope that the engine will already idle normally once I let go of the gas pedal.

What's the trouble? Is it that the output idle jet holes in the throat wall are blocked, obstructed somehow? But then after the initial bad episode when I have to keep the gas pedal down to protract the reeving of the engine, idling becomes smooth.

Otherwise, as I said, everything is all right, with cruising and idling in the traffic, and engine does not die off -- never; gas consumption is normal, plug tips are clean.

By the way, is there a maximum enrichment of the idle gas adjustment screw so that further counter-clockwise turning will not add more gas coming out; hence there is no fear of flooding the engine with fuel. No, I have not tried this approach yet. What do you think? I had adjusted the idle screw to rough idle and backward so that idle is smooth vis-a-vis acceptable idling engine speed, and that is the way it has stayed since I worked on the carburetor to make it function okay (but I could not fix that trouble I mentioned above).

Thanks for any help.

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Answer: never ran into one of those mazda's, not sure where it's from or why it's carburated being a 96. i would guess its a bad carburator

hope this helped you, please let me know if it dident.. what you found was the problem, cause it can help me also and others

I rated the expert with the minimum in all categories, and added the comment that he is not a car expert, definitely not a Mazda expert, certainly not any expert with knowledge and experience of carburetors and engine starting troubles.

How do you guys think you can help me?

By the way, does anyone have a copy of a Mazda shop manual used by Mazda technicians for Mazda sedan 363, the wannabe Mercedes model? I saw these guys with one when I used to bring the car to one official Mazda dealer and service center on Quezon Avenue near corner Araneta as you come from UP -- it's no longer Mazda center for some years now.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the harsh language if it appears so for that self-proclaimed Mazda expert in AllExperts; I guess his expertise is too far advanced for my kinds of cars: three, successively 95 Nissan Sentra, 96 Mazda 363 Sedan, 97 Mazda 363 Familia.


Susma

wkb_entra

check mo ung egr valve nya kung gumagana pa. kung hindi, malamang yang ang cause ng problema.

susmariosep

wkb_entra wrote: »

check mo ung egr valve nya kung gumagana pa. kung hindi, malamang yang ang cause ng problema.

Kapatid, maraming salamat!

Sorry po, hindi kong alam ano iyong egr valve. Puede ba, po, paki spel mo sa ingles in buong salita -- talagang dummy ako, po.

Teka, yung bang egr eh exhaust gas release, hindi siguro.

Brod, please naman, write egr in whole English words.



Susmariosep

wkb_entra

egr = exhaust gas recirculation. most car manufaturers recommend replacing egr valve for every 50t miles or 80t km. as preventive maintenance. check mo rin kung vacuum operated o electornic operated ung para sa oto mo.

hth

susmariosep

Finally, I dared to approach the problem by working on the idling jet control screw at the lower back of the carburetor (looking as you stand in front of the car engine).

When the car is not moving but the engine is operating, as in a standstill traffic, the engine is supplied with fuel by a duct in the carburetor; the fuel flow of this duct can be increased or decreased by the adjustment screw on the outside of the carburetor at the lower back side.

This screw can be covered by a cap which you have to destroy or remove carefully; it is put there to prevent guys like myself from tinkering with it thereby adding to the pollution in the atmosphere with a too rich fuel mixture in the combustion chambers.

What I was conditioned to adjust this screw is to first bring the hot operating engine but the car not moving (obviously of course) to an acceptable smooth idle, then turn the idling adjustment screw clockwise to further restrict the fuel flow during idling, until the engine starts to stumble, then turn counter-clockwise, and also work on the engine speed, until you reach the best coordination of the idling engine speed and the idling fuel flow.


So, how did I fix that hard starting after some days of non-use of my Mazda 323 sedan? Very simple:

I just made the idling fuel flow richer by two full turns counterclockwise of the idling adjusting screw, and then adjust the engine speed to accommodate to the richer idling fuel flow.

So far from two tests of starting the car after three days of inactivity, it worked! The engine started and no longer died off when I lifted the gas pedal.


I will report again here after further trials.


Susmariosep

susmariosep

I have tested the car all these weeks since I last posted in this thread: no, no more hard starting with the car, after several days of inaction.

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Aside from adjusting the idle jet screw toward richer, also adjust the choke to richer.

Then, so that the fuel mixture will not be too rich owing to the idling jet aperture being adjusted to a larger opening, adjust the idling engine speed until the engine is stumbling already, at this point adjust to the opposite making the engine speed faster until it is idling smoothly.

Do this adjustment when the engine is already warmed up to it normal operating temperature, as shown in the temperature gauge with the pointer in the middle.


Hope this help guys who have the same problem as I experienced.


Susmariosep