Hello, I am new member, reading carefully all posts regarding stalling issue on Mazda MPV. On two occassions, my car stalled on the freeway, am still surprised that we are still alive, all things considered. After the first time, I took to a garage, as the Mazda Dealership is far away and they had an attitude on the telephone, so I am avoiding the dealership, anyway, paid $114 for a diagnostic but the fuel pump checked out within normal parameters. So I had to drive again to LA (130 miles each way, plus city driving), and on my return, it stalled again. Yes, the car was 'hot' as had been driving since 6:00 am, and it stalled at 6:00 pm. as I was almost home. As I was at speed, I put the engine into neutral, then it restarted quickly. But I didn't want to put it into Drive (like I did the first time it happened and the car had a freak out, engine wise) as was still traveling 30MPH, so I applied brake until nearly at stop, truck behind me honking like a maniac, then put into drive and all was fine after that. Just my nerves agitated.

As I have a small child, this problem is bothering me greatly, as is safety issue. But I cannot trade it in for anything as I have one more year of payments, so no can afford it. My local garage said that if it is a fuel pump problema, it will cost $1100 to replace.

But, not having seen the car, would you suggest I get the complete tune up? Catalytic converter check up? Idle air intake valve checkup? I must say that last year, the car would go into heaving and bucking as I drove it, but no light on the panel. Finally, on the freeway, the bucking and heaving was so intense, it died but just before it died, the engine light came on. But I was able to start it and drive slowly to the dealership, as luck would have it, was not too far from the dealership. They kept it for three days, saying it was 'sick but not terminal.' My warranty covered everything-- they said it needed a complete tune up, although it had only 48K miles on it. So I wonder if this problem is genetic, so to speak, with my particular van. Now it has about 64K miles on it.

I live in an extremely arid, DUSTY area. I don't even wash it anymore, as it will immediately be covered with dust. I also have lost quite a few french fries down in the crevices in the interior, so if they somehow managed to work their way into the engine or ducts or who knows where....
Thank you for whatever good advice you can provide. Babyhuey, are you listening? I hope so...

 

margaretq, I am very much listening.
That is a very scary event to have happen on the freeway with the van stalling out.
Let me ask you a question and you may not remember as it was tramatic but were you giving the van throttle or gas when this event occured or was the foot off the gas pedal? I have had a number of 02 and later MPV's in that had a similar concern of stalling out while driving and most all have had a sticking Idle Air Control Valve as the source of the problem. This valve will only cause a stalling problemwhen driving if the concern happened during a deceleration or a time when the gas pedal was not being used.

 

Thank you for your quick response. Yes, the first time, I was in stop and go traffic, and then I had the opportunity to enter the car pool lane, where traffic was moving very fast, so I took foot from brake pedal to gas pedal and pushed, but no power.
The second time, I was cresting a big hill, so was going at speed, but there was a red light just over the top of the hill, so I braked until I was going about 35 mph, then the light turned green, so I took foot from brake to push the gas pedal and then it stalled.

So can I get the Idle Air Control valve fixed at any garage, as am far from a Mazda dealer? Do you know if this is a costly repair?
Thank you so much for your information.
Margaret Q.

 

Sounds as if the stall condition is occuring more as you are beginning to accelerate and not so much as soon as gas pedal was released. Typically if the IAC valve is the one at fault then the stall would have occured very shortly after releasing the gas pedal. I guess it is also possible that the stall did occur this way but was perhaps not noticed untill you tried to accelerate again and there was no engine response. Pretty much a guess at this point and most shops would probably be doing the same as the stall only seems to be happening very intermittently with no CEL. Is the vanrunning and idling normally other than this intermittentstall??
If you wanted to try replacing the valve to see if this is going to solve the problem then would be the best place to start. You certainly should not need to replace the spark plugs again if they were just replaced at 48K miles and a rogue petrified french fry will not be causing any problems outside of attracting little critters that want a snack.
A local independent shop could do the work just fine and should not charge over 1/2 hour labor. It actually only takes about 2 minutes to replace the valve. You couldeasily replace your self if you have a 8mm or 5/16 socket and ratchet. A regular wrench can also be used but is justa little more difficult due to access to one of the two attaching bolts. There are two different IAC valves listed for a 2003 depending upon when your van was built. If you could send me a PM with last 8 digits of your VIN # it would clear up which one would fit your engine. The earlier one retails for $74.37 and later one for $47.48. Same parts available online and delivered to your door for $60.30 and $37.98. You should also replace the gasket as well as it is paper and often tears when valve is removed. Gasket is a little over $10.

Here are a couple of pics of the IAC valve so you can see where it is located on your engine and how easily accessible it is for replacement. Now you know why it only takes 2 minutes to replace.


[IMG]local://upfiles/1377/4C21E369426A424C9162005F3D5B46AC.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1377/8975361791C84187B049665B671E3A79.jpg[/IMG]

 

Dear Babyhuey:

Thank you for all the information -- I cannot believe it has been so long since your post, but I have more information about the stalling problem, as it happened 3 TIMES today, every time it happens I am decelerating - foot is NOT on the gas pedal - my foot is either off the gas, or on the brake, but am always decelerating. It stalls, I put into neutral, and it always immediately restarts (so far...).

However, one other thing I have noticed is when I am going downhill, the RPM needle will drop to 0, then jerk back up to the 3 or 4K RPMs. I don't know why, or if this always did this -- I thought it drops to 0 if the engine is shifting.

Anyway, I will now write the last 8 digits of my VIN # and would be grateful for your expert advice. Otherwise, it is really scary to have this problem - I was offered to buy an 07 Honda Oddyssey EX with cloth interior for 24, 200, but I am reluctant to give up the Mazda MPV because it has been a fun car to drive, kept going when I drove on deep sandy roads, in other words, I feel like it can do almost anything except fly and of course not stall... So if I can repair it under 200 bucks, I will be a happy camper.

So, the final 8 digits of VIN# are: 30 37 13 03

Thank you Obi Wan.

 

have you been letting the dealership do all the warranty works on your mpv before?
because my experienced I do all the maintenance and if I can do the repair Ill do it myself and the dealer here never liked it. what they did they replaced my pre catalytic converter but they broke one of the stud and they told me that it will cost me $4000 to rmeoved the broken stud. then they also crushed my oil filter they are trying to starved my engine with oil. and third they filled my coolant reservoir up to the the neck now my engine is over heating andI went to the bussiness bureau but they did not help me because I have no proof that they did it. This is the dealership here in New Jersey the Irwin and the mechanic ozzy and the service manager jim mckenzy.
what they are trying is they want to make money out of work that is not under warranty.

 

bobbyt:

No, I avoid the dealership because it is quite far away. I only took it to the dealership once, and that was when it broke down and I was still under warranty. I am wondering if the problem is somehow heat related, but it does start right back up again.

I would like to know how to tell if the idle air intake valve is sticking -- can one tell just by looking at that part if it is defective?

Thank you for your reply.

Margaret Q.

 

I have a 2000 MPV and it too suffered the stalling, as if not enough gas. The fuel pump checked out okay so it has to be the IAC control valve. A new one arrives this week so I can confirm the results shortly. As mentioned, it is an easy fix, not taking more than 30 minutes, especially a 2003 model. My 2000 has the IAC located between the engine and firewall, but still an easy removal and installation. Maybe you can save a few bucks by ordering the IAC online and then taking it to a nearby mechanic or even a gas station with mechanical service, and watch them replace the IAC within 30 minutes, so they do not over charge for labor. The mechanic's service protocol may assign a one hour labor cost, but definitely no more than that. My IAC is $65 shipped. Purchased it at rockauto.com but itdid not arrive yet, so I cannot vouch for the company's reliability just yet. There are other sites that sell the IAC too. Naturally, the dealer will carry them but probably price the part at 200% or more profit. Mercedes transmission fluid runs $22 per quart at the dealer, compared to other brands at $2.00 per quart and less when on sale! Of course, the Mercedesservice manual insists on replacing with Mercedes brand fluid only. Any other fluids void the warranty.

The Bureau of Automotive Repair is teethless and ineffective. They do not want to expend any effort invetigation even if the violation is obvious. Unless evidence available

 

Oops..sent the reply without proof reading. To reiterate, BAR refuses to investigate unless there isa mountainof evidence, making their caseEASY and solid. I brought a case to them where the dealer said my fuel injectors were leaking profusely and too dangerous to drive. I knew different because such asituation would have gas fumes everywhere, not to mention gasoline all over the engine. BAR came by, took photos, and refused any further action because I was the only complaint submitted against the dealer. Did not matter that maybe other victims did not realize they were scammed by the dealer with unneccessary repairs. BAR is just another bureaucratic waste of money.

 

I replaced the IAC on my 2000 MPV today in about 20 minutes or less, and the engine works fine. It starts up right away and drives normal; there's no more dying out as if no more fuel whether hot or cold. I would also like to thank one of the posters here who suggested the IAC instead of my first thought, the fuel pump. I would have wasted money and effort to replace the fuel pump that was not the problem. I can now affirm that rockauto.com provided fast service and the right parts that I ordered online.