Rough startup.
 

Hi all,

I have a Mazda 2000 Protege and having this intermitent problem. It may happen once a week or so. The problem is when I start my car it has a very rough idle, the car shudders and seems as if it's going to stall. Then after 30secs to a minute something will kick in and the idle is normal and above 1000 RPM. I cannot produce this problem at will so it's hard to take it to a mechanic and tell him to check it out. None the less I took the car in an luckily it happened near a auto garage. The mechanic pulled out the spark plug cables one by one from the engine and noticed that the number 3 cable was not producing a spark, and hence the rough idle. They quoted me a whopping $400 to fix this. They were going to replace the spark plugs, coils and the cables.

I'd like to know if anyone has seen this before and is it necessary to change all 3 items and a tune up needed?
Can I do it myself or is this job best given to the pro's.

Thanks
Neel.

RE: Rough startup.
 

Depending on how many miles are on your car, and the level of your mechanical ability, kinda hard to say without seeing it. If you have not done a tune up on the car, do it, it's only 4 plugs. And as far as plug wires, it would probably be good to replace them as they are going on 6 yrs old. Without trying how to explain how distributorless ignition works in to much depth, this is common when wires start to break down. There are two coils and four cyls, and the spark and ground alternate while engine is running on the coils. I would not replace the coils yet, quite expensive, try the plugs and wires first and go from there.

RE: Rough startup.
 

Hello neeltampa. Do you have the 1.8l or 1.6l engine? I would not spend anything just yet.

RE: Rough startup.
 

I have a 1.8 Mazda Protege ES 2000. Mileage = 57k. I priced the coils and yes they cost a packet, so I'll do the spark plugs and get new wiring. I normally do my own simply car maintenance and this should easy to do. I guess I can also replace the coils myself if I find my first repair work was not successful.

Thanks for the responcs so far guys. Really appreciated it. Any more info will be helpful...

Neel.

RE: Rough startup.
 

The first thing I would have you do is go into a Mazda dealer and see if you have an open Recall 0702F. This recall will replace the coil for you free of charge if it has not been replaced already and the recall is still listed as open. After that see how it runs and if you need to replace plugs it is about due at 60k anyway.