Hey guys I'm going to try and make a long story short. I have a 2006 Mazda 3 with 112xxx miles. My engine has been cutting out(staling) while driving down the road and picks right back up after all the lights an radio die in the car. When the engine does pick back up after that second the power steering doesnt work for a second but the kicks back in. I took it to my local shop who told me some valve in my intake manifold was sticking causing the problem. It cost me 1600 to have a brand new intake manifold, oil pipe, and some gasket put in. The problem just started back last night only worst this time. Please any help or advice is greatly appreciated. If I left any info out let me know.

 

I hope this helps anyone with their engine that cuts out for no reason when driving.
My daughters 2000 Mazda Familia (323) 1500 auto would do this from time to time, I checked for fault codes that lead me no where ( its just prior to OBD2 diagnostics), replaced the ECU still the same, drove it for a week in the hot weather with no problems, then it did it once, drove 4 more3 days no problems, then played up again.
Anyway to cut a long story short this is what I did to diagnose it, both the cam sensor & crank sensor are 3 wire so probe into the centre wire ( blue on the cam & crank sensors) attach a length of twin core wire eg speaker wire and take them into the inside of the car so you can monitor the voltage with a volt meter, while you are driving ( do not join them together ) With a good sensor you should be getting approx 4.5 volts if not replace that sensor.
My one would start at 4.4 volts cold, then after driving for a while the output would drop back to under 1 volt then the motor would cut out & restart after sitting (usually in peak hour traffic) for about 20 minutes until the sensor played up again.
I hope this post helps others who are having this "random" cutting out problem
Cheers from down under in NZ