Hi all.
I just got myself a ´90 mazda 323 1.6 and it worked fine till i filled i up full tank for the first time. After that it started stalling when i was driving. Not just when idling or starting to drive or anything, but completely unexpectedly. The first times i could just restart i right away but it got worse. When it stalls now i may have to wait up to 45 min for it to start and it can happen again after 5 min of driving. If i leave it for a day or something like that it starts and works fine for about about 20- 40 min and then starts stalling and does so continuously. When its running its running perfect, no strange sounds o misfire or anything, and thats what i find strange. Last owner says he put a new tank in. I tried to swich fuel filter but it didnt help. Could it be distributor/sparkplug wires or something like that? Or anyone have any other ideas?

This i my first car so im completely new to this. Learned alot from working with this car so far though

Very thankful for any help.

 

When you switched the fuel filter did you by chance check to see if you have water in your fuel. You seem to think that it is directly related to the first refueling so this may be a good place to look. Take lower line off and let fuel drain into a clear container such as 1 liter soda bottle. Water will be at the bottom. Possible that you may have even got a bad bunch of gas. Try checkiing for spark at the plug wire ends when it will not start also. I have a 91 with the same 1.6 so am very familiar with your car.

 

Ok. First of all thanks for helping out.

Checked the fuel before fuel filter and it seemed ok. Then i switched ignition coil just to be sure. Last i duplicated the problem by driving up and down the street, took about 20 min. Checked the spark plugs after it stopped and there was no spark at all. This should point to the distributor or what? Perhaps the rotor is bad and it expands/shrinks or whatever when it gets hot and it loses the contact with the sparkplug wires?

Another thought is that the rotor maybe locks up. Is it possible to confirm that the rotor i rotating at all when engine is stalled?

 

You could pull the cap and have someone crank engine to see if rotor turns but is very unlikely this is the case. Rotor would then not be lined up again when cooled off and would never start again. When spark is lost at the end of the plug wires was there still spark at the coil wire. Check where wire from coil connects to distributor cap and also from the coil itself with no wire on it. Will need some kind of jumper wire for the spark to arc to out of the coil post. Have seen a lot of rotors on older 323/Protege that burn thru to the distributor shaft. Try to pull rotor and see if you can see a black or grayish track from the center button out that may even lead to a hole that gets burned clear thru the plastic to the shaft. Better still if you have spark out of the coil and coil wire put a new cap and rotor on. Make sure you note which way the rotor is facing as some can be reinstall 3 different directions. Let me know what you find.

 

Finally its working.
After some testing im sure the problem is fixed. It turned out to be the... umm... the thing in the distributor... not sure what its called in english but i think it is called ignition module.

 

probably called the ignitor or pick-up coil. Glad you got it fixed minos and hope your 323 is in good order. Mine has 175k on it and is my daily driver. Runs like a top and hope to get 500k on it yet!!