[mrschmitt]

Let me first apologize if I have posted this in the wrong forum. I needed to get some help, and I hoped that somebody here would be able to do that. I have a 2004 Mazda 3 with about 160 000 km's on it. Yesterday, when I started it up, the check engine light came on. My gas was very low, so I assumed that this must be the reason. I went and filled up the tank, and it still is on. The car seems to be running perfectly fine. I'm willing to take it into the dealer, but am trying all other options first so that I don't have to shell out big bucks for something simple. A friend of mine recommended that I simple blank out the code, and then see if it comes back on. Is this a good idea? Any other suggestions of what I can do that might fix the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. If I am supposed to "blank" out the code, how do I do that.

 

[MazdaTX]

Have all the recalls been done on this car? There was a problem with a part in the 04's that caused an evaporative emission system leak detection which threw the check engine light. I believe it was basically the sensor and the fuel cap that was the problem or some such.

 

[icspots]

Go to an auto parts store that lends out it's scanner (In the US Advance Auto Parts and Auto Zone do) and get the code read. That will let us know why it's on.

 

[mrschmitt]

As far as all of the recalls, yes I believe that we have fixed everything. We have owned it from new, and have always taken it in for everything that Mazda suggested. As far as the code reader, I just went around to a couple auto parts stores, and none of them would either lend me the reader, or read it for me. They said that it becomes a liability issue when they tell someone what is wrong with the car, and then that doesn't fix the problem. Does anyone know of any stores that might do this in Ontario, besides a mechanic?? Any other suggestions, on small things that I might be able to check/fix. I did notice a very faint smell of coolant/antifreeze when I looked under the hood, but it was extremely faint, and I can't see any leaked antifreeze. Might this have something to do with the CEL?? Once again, any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Matt

 

[icspots]

There are so many things that can cause a CEL that randomly looking around for things to fix will probably end up fruitless. Unless someone else has suggestions of where to get your code read I'd just go to a random mechanic and get them to read it for you. Maybe they'll even do it for free seeing as it will take them about a minute to do. Once you have the CEL code we can start running down what the actual problem is (some codes can have multiple causes).

 

[mrschmitt]

So this past weekend, I went to a mechanic friend, and he read the code for me. It came up as the following:
PO106
Manifold Absolute
Press/Baro Seal RWS/Perf
He cleared the code, and the check engine light stayed out for a while, but after a few starts, it came back on.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Matt

 

[icspots]

With that code try the suggestions in this thread. :arrow: http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=98665.0

 

[mrschmitt]

I am having a hard time finding Mass Air Flow Sensor Cleaner. Anyone else out their in Ontario, Canada that has bought this product? I noticed that HouRman also said that brake cleaner would work, but I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to make things worse by using the wrong kind of cleaner. I saw another post on another site that said you should never ever clean the MAF sensor.
Thanks everyone.

 

[icspots]

brake parts cleaner is fine.