I just got back from picking up my car at the local Mazda dealership. They've had it for two days, initially just to replace both of the seatbelt tracks for free under recall (YEAH!). BTW - They busted all of my A pillar moldings while replacing them, it's going to take another week or two for them to get them in (BOO!).



I have been having problems with the car not wanting to start after some thirty to forty five minutes trips. It seems like the motor is flooding. When I asked them to check it out, the dealership requested that I have a compression check done. I had been considering having one done anyway, so I agreed. The motor compression tests came back as stated below:



PERFORMED COMPRESSION TEST FOUND COMPRESSION IN THE MID FIVES A LITTLE LOW APEX SEALS ARE WORN OUT CAUSING LOW AND ROUGH IDLE.



This is what they are saying the cause of the car not wanting to start every once in a while. The motor runs very strong, with no visible smoking. It doesn't seem likely that this is the main cause of my difficulty with the starting of the vehicle. I believe it is flooding, I smell a strong gas smell around the car when it gives me trouble. When it finally starts, a large cloud of white smoke puffs out of the exhaust.



Do you think this is the cause of my problems? I thought it might be a leaky injector, but I am by far not a rotary expert. The service manager said I need to keep an eye on the strength of the battery and the condition of my plugs. The hotter I keep my spark, the less likely it is to give me trouble starting. Which I do agree with. I'm just not sure the compression of my motor and the condition of my Apex seals is contributing to my radon starting issues.



Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.



Thanks.

 

they busted the plastic peice on mine 2, right above the pass side seat and they said it was already broken and they would not fix it. those bastards i was so pissed.

 

the biggest contributor to flooding on a hot restart are vacuum leaks. my 12a has mid 5's on the front rotor (mid 6's on the rear) and it runs great. the lower your compression the more its goona be effected by other things, dirty aire filters, worn plugs, vacuum leaks etc



mike

 

Thanks for the reply. I will go through the engine for vacuum leaks again. Where is the best place to start? So, it's most likely not a leaking injector?



I've found this diagram of the vacuum system. Is there anything additional I should look for?

 

they like to leak at the intake gaskets too



mike

 

chased my ****** tail around for 3 days looking for vacuum leak and it was the uim gaskets...replace the gaskets and that stupid o-ring on the throttle body where the intake tube bolts up to it

 

When you say "seatbelt tracks", do you mean the retractor mechanisms by your shoulder? I know my driver's side doesn't wind back up- I've got an '88 vert if it makes any difference. Wouldn't mine having it replaced for free. Thanks.

 

No, he is talking about the power seatbelts in a S5.

 

you could throw some atf in there to restore some compression....

 

In with the oil? How much? This won't do any damage?