i have 1995 protege 1.8 dohc , purchased used. when it starts it runs good BUUT it seems to have a issue when its cold out i have changed the rotor and plugs and cap i thought it was flooding 2 reasons 1 cause if i spray start either in nothing changes and 2 because some times it starts if i hold pedal down and crank the heck out of it burned 1 starter out already now i am thinking that the computer is a issue it does have spark and fuel. tonight i had to go get it. wouldn't start again for girl friend after work . after i cranked for a while and the mas flow was disconnected this time it decided to start also i noticed when i drove it there was no difference in running with or with out mass flow connected again im leaning towards computer as it seems like its not going into a cold start mode? or mass flow? loose nut behind the wheel ? i just don't know and it driving me crazy
just hate to throw money and parts at it .. any help or suggestions would be gratefully accepted
Thank you

 

It sounds more like a distributor problem to me. The coil is inside the distributor and is likely not putting out a hot enough spark. It could be the MAF but the ECU would be the last thing i would suspect.

 

New guy here, but I'm a Mazda tech. Diagnosing without being there is a shot in the dark. I would start with pulling the codes off the ECU. I'm sure you have at least one. To have spark and fuel is half the knowledge. How much spark and how much fuel could still be an issue. I know it don't help but it could many things without being there. Compression, air bypass system, insufficient spark, timing, sensors, vacuum leak. Some of these are typically faulty together. It seems to start in clear flood mode(when you hold the pedal to the floor while cranking), which would indicate a flood condition. Leaky injectors, bad fuel regulator, bad fuel return are some causes of that. When I've had a job like this, most of the time is due to overdue maintenance and use of bad gas (arco). I start with checking timing, ignition, air/vacuum, fuel pressure/volume, clean TB etc.. But if it works the same with or without the MAF, that would mean the MAF is not functioning. Then the ECU would run a base map. Basically no fuel efficiency because it has no idea how much air is going in. Anyway, sorry for yapping on. Again, it could be many things going on at the same time.

 

again thank you for your responses and feel free to yap all you like some times there's good information that comes out of a rant i to am a tech but not for cars, machines 25 years ago i work on cars had my state certs from Michigan but now technology has come so far that i am completely out of the loop
i am starting to believe it is a fuel delivery problem
i did find a couple small vacuum leaks they would connect to some switches on front side of mtr above water pump it looks as though they are in series. the stems are broken off so i plugged the little hoses. but would those stop it from starting or more for fuel efficiency..
the last 2 mornings it started up perfectly ran a little ruff for a min.. then smoothed out but this morning it again started, idle fine but when i put in gear no power at all then stalled and then no start.e i finally took breather hose off and poured a little gas in and then after cranking it it fired up like there was never a issue had the power i was looking for a valve stem as i remember from older cars with fuel inj. to see if i was getting any fuel pressure. just for note it was warmer this morning 31 degrees f.. than any of the other mornings when it started fine. also when i do spray start fluid in it doesn't
start it seems to quit trying Evan normally as i crank and crank it i try's to start but never catches im going bat **** crazy here.

 

Cold engines require a rich fuel mixture. A vacuum leak would cause a lean condition when cold and hard start/rough idle until warmed up. Excessive carbon accumulation on the valves will also cause cold start issues (try a bottle of Techron in the gas tank to decarbon it) A bad fuel pressure regulator (pretty common) will cause cold start issues as well as a worn out ignition coil. After 100k miles the coil will not put out 40k volts. They slowly degrade but will seem to run fine but only put out 15k-25k volts.

 

THANK YOU HIXX , i feel that i have some where to start now , the carbon on the valves could very well be a issue ,i purchased this car used for 500 it had been sitting a long time possible a year or more,then i got it to my place and it sat for another 3 months cause of title drama, i did how ever start it periodically and i noticed that it smoked quite a bit making me think valve guides so i think there could very possibly be carbon build up.. the spark also has me thinking that its not strong enough kinda yellowish not the bright sharp blue id like to see.. i was looking for a schrader valve to see what kind of pressure i am really getting no luck yet finding one ? also going to change out fuel filter thinking that it is partially clogged . another question is that the original air box is not connected there is a k/n RACING air filter that was on it until the very first time i had trouble starting it.. i found that where the k/n filter is jammed on right before mass air sensor it had cracked i did repair it with some epoxy so i can jam the air filter on again.. i just haven't because there is no mounting to hold the weight of the filter from bouncing around witch i believe is the cause of the plastic being broken and being cold makes the plastic much more fragile and the bouncing had the breather hose partially pulled loose . is it possible that its getting too much air ? after i got it started this morning finally 40 min of cranking ect it ran good drove her about 200 miles started fine the rest of the day ..Again thank you for your input. and if there is anything more you can suggest after reading this rant please do.. i am going to start this car every couple hrs tonight as i have to be at a customers early ,, and its is going to be in single digits temp wise tonight here in eastern pa .

 

is it possible to advance or retard the timing as we used to do on older cars by turning the distributor on this fine 1995 mazda 1.8 dohc motor???
thank you.
bryan