Check your plugs. NGK OE Laser Iridium is the only thing that you should be using, not even the Iridium IX's.

 

I would do a compression test. At your mileage, especially if it is a 2.3, you are probably nearing the end of the engine's life.

 

Oh, don't say that. I've owned the car since 2006 (I think) and have a romantic idea that it will be the last car I own. That and the fact that 10 years ago I realized I had lost the title and now cannot get rid of it.

The next time I have to take it into the shop I will ask them to check the car's compression.
Thanks

 

Just joined and may not be posting in the correct thread, sorry.

I have a 2004 Mazda 3 with about 230,000 miles on the engine. The car starts normally and runs well for the most part. It seems when the engine is warmed up the idle becomes somewhat feeble. The idle, 800?, will hesitate and then return to normal when sitting at a stop. There also seems to be little power getting going. The car has a manual transmission and it seems I need to rev the engine more than in the past.

Any suggestions as to what I might be able to do to improve this situation?
Thanks,

There's a few things that can cause that behavior. You mentioned that it happens only after it warms up so something is probably throwing off closed loop fueling. That could be a vacuum leak, bad O2 sensor, or any of the temp sensors like intake or coolant temp sensor. Does it have any codes that could lead you in a direction?

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk

 

I was thinking vacuum leak too.

 

Just joined and may not be posting in the correct thread, sorry.

I have a 2004 Mazda 3 with about 230,000 miles on the engine. The car starts normally and runs well for the most part. It seems when the engine is warmed up the idle becomes somewhat feeble. The idle, 800?, will hesitate and then return to normal when sitting at a stop. There also seems to be little power getting going. The car has a manual transmission and it seems I need to rev the engine more than in the past.

Any suggestions as to what I might be able to do to improve this situation?
Thanks,

check and see if your throttle body is super dirty, fuel flushes and throttle bottle cleans usually fix rough idle problems on older cars with high miles because there usually neglected services

 

Do you have a check engine light?

If looking for a vacuum leak, the PCV hose is the prime suspect, unfortunately it is behind the intake manifold and unpleasant to try to get to. It breaks down because it runs right next to the block exposing it to significant heat. If it leaks a typical sign is a wandering, throbbing idle.

Do not despair if your engine is worn out. Your car is a terrific candidate for a Ford Fusion 2.5 engine swap.

 

Yes the check engine light is on. I'm not sure my problems coincided with the light coming on but then again perhaps it does not matter. Thanks for your help

 

Well since you have a check engine light it is time to get that read and see what it tells you. You can get a basic code reading for free at any of the national auto parts chains. I would start there and report what they find.

 

I will do that.
Thank you

 

Any updates?

 

I'm building a set of matching bookcases and not driving my car much these days. I did go to Reilly's automotive and they told me the engine light was because of my O2 sensor indicating my engine was running rich. He said the O2 sensor on bank one was rich. The employee suggested that the O2 sensor may in fact be faulty (dirty) and that cleaning it might make the reading return to normal......

 

Again I'd like to thank everyone for helping me out with my car. The engine check codes for my problem were P2188 and P2177 (which showed up twice?) These codes when I googled them:
P2188

• Leaking fuel injector or pressure regulator
• High fuel pressure condition
• Faulty Oxygen (O2) Sensor
• Faulty Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor

P2177

• Intake air leaks
• Faulty front heated oxygen sensor
• Ignition misfiring
• Faulty fuel injectors
• Incorrect fuel pressure
• Lack of fuel
• Faulty Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor
• Incorrect Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) hose connection

I saw a post here where the car was having similar symptoms as mine and I watched a youtube video showing how to replace the air filter, and clean the MAF, and throttle barrel. As these were easy to do and the post mentioned claimed that cleaning the MAF solved their problems that is what I did. (The clerk at Reilly's suggested I change my air filter as it was cheap and easy to do. He was correct that the filter was quite dirty.

Long story short after about 100 miles of driving the check engine light remains off and the car's symptoms of rough idle and weak acceleration at low idle speeds have gone away.

 

Does it have any codes that could lead you in a direction?