Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.  We have a 2012 Mazda 3, my daughter dropped my son off and called to tell me the car was vibrating hard and would not accelerate.

Luckily she was close to home so she brought the care back.  I started it up and the entire car was shaking, looked under the hood and the engine was vibrating enough to rock the car.  There were 2 indicator lights that came on, check engine light and the TCS/DSC Indicator light.  The car has 86K mikes on it.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Unless you got an obd2  reader you should just bring it to get fixed, probably a misfire on a cylinder

1 hour ago, jm1827 said:

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.  We have a 2012 Mazda 3, my daughter dropped my son off and called to tell me the car was vibrating hard and would not accelerate.

Luckily she was close to home so she brought the care back.  I started it up and the entire car was shaking, looked under the hood and the engine was vibrating enough to rock the car.  There were 2 indicator lights that came on, check engine light and the TCS/DSC Indicator light.  The car has 86K mikes on it.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Motor mounts? @1LtCAP

20 hours ago, jm1827 said:

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.  We have a 2012 Mazda 3, my daughter dropped my son off and called to tell me the car was vibrating hard and would not accelerate.

Luckily she was close to home so she brought the care back.  I started it up and the entire car was shaking, looked under the hood and the engine was vibrating enough to rock the car.  There were 2 indicator lights that came on, check engine light and the TCS/DSC Indicator light.  The car has 86K mikes on it.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

sounds like misfire. i'd imagine the cel was flashing? how many miles, and when was the last time spark plugs were changed. if it's a misfire, it'd almost be like a steady misfire...

 

 to check, you can get a free obd2 scan at autozone or one of those places, or you can pull the plugs to look at them. if its a misfire, the code will be p030X(X=the misfiring cylinder). i can't remember if this engine is coil on plug or not. if it is, you want to replace all of the coil packs with the splugs.

Thank you 1LtCAP , I will take a look at the plugs later today and probably just change them first.  The car has 87K miles on it.

Don't run it in that state any more than you really have to. Unburnt gas will be making it's way down the exhaust and will mess up the cat.

I had that on my old mercedes.  I agree it is probably a misfire, but when my engine and trans mounts just got too old and sagged, the thing ran like you described.  3 new mounting bushings later, I was good to go (less $500 for labor of course).  That might be a n easy DIY job, but my car repair skills have gone down the drain since all the computer-controlled bits have taken over.  My mechanic spent 5 grand on one bit of software to diagnose the cars so he knew what to repair. 

I would offer to lend my scan tool, but you can use one for free at Autozone, as Cap mentioned.  It's a good tool to buy for the long term though.  Even the cheap ones on Amazon will give you a good overview.

I assume the 3 does not have the rotary engine. My wife bought a Millenia some years ago, and nobody could work on it because that Wankel engine was a mystery even to some of the techs at the Mazda dealer.

Just grab a blue tooth scanner off Amazon for like 20 bucks, tons of phone apps now. I use torque pro, not free but also gives you lots of info from the vehicles computer.

3 hours ago, AlDente67 said:

 

I assume the 3 does not have the rotary engine. My wife bought a Millenia some years ago, and nobody could work on it because that Wankel engine was a mystery even to some of the techs at the Mazda dealer.

If Mazda techs told you the Millenia had a rotary engine, then I would be scared of any service they did. Millenia S had a Miller cycle supercharged 2.3L V6, Millenia (L) had a 2.5L V6 based off of or from a Ford Probe. Millenia was a relatively rare car, but none ever came from the factory with a rotary engine.

My Millenia S had issues with rodents who liked to chew through wires for coil packs, which did cause major vibration and flashing CEL

30 minutes ago, Malice4you said:

If Mazda techs told you the Millenia had a rotary engine, then I would be scared of any service they did. Millenia S had a Miller cycle supercharged 2.3L V6, Millenia (L) had a 2.5L V6 based off of or from a Ford Probe. Millenia was a relatively rare car, but none ever came from the factory with a rotary engine.

My Millenia S had issues with rodents who liked to chew through wires for coil packs, which did cause major vibration and flashing CEL

Right, it has been a few years, but yes, she had the S with the Miller cycle.  I don't know why I said rotary.  Too many quaaludes.

It was a good car.  Had the fancy chrome rims.  Original list price was over 45 grand, but apparently Madaz learned quickly that it was not going to compete with the lux segment as they thought and so dropped the ask price close to 30k.  I recall us rolling up to a friends' house a week after she bought it, and his ex-wife commented "That a sharp-looking Sentra"  Lol!

She has mentioned recently getting another Mazda but I have my doubts how they are doing these days.  I heard from mechs that the CX-5 was a good build.  Not to my taste, as I do extreme beach running with a ton of fishing gear, but she just drives to work,  And by extreme I mean I get stuck in the rising surf and have to have 3 rigs tow me out after I get buried up to the frame...in the middle of the night...with the tide lapping on the passenger side. 

But hey, you only live once.

 

14 hours ago, jm1827 said:

Thank you 1LtCAP , I will take a look at the plugs later today and probably just change them first.  The car has 87K miles on it.

I think this engine is "coil on plug". if you do plugs, do the coil packs too. 

11 hours ago, AlDente67 said:

I had that on my old mercedes.  I agree it is probably a misfire, but when my engine and trans mounts just got too old and sagged, the thing ran like you described.  3 new mounting bushings later, I was good to go (less $500 for labor of course).  That might be a n easy DIY job, but my car repair skills have gone down the drain since all the computer-controlled bits have taken over.  My mechanic spent 5 grand on one bit of software to diagnose the cars so he knew what to repair. 

I would offer to lend my scan tool, but you can use one for free at Autozone, as Cap mentioned.  It's a good tool to buy for the long term though.  Even the cheap ones on Amazon will give you a good overview.

I assume the 3 does not have the rotary engine. My wife bought a Millenia some years ago, and nobody could work on it because that Wankel engine was a mystery even to some of the techs at the Mazda dealer.

bad motor mounts(usually the one at the front end of the engine) will make it feel like you're riding on a giant hitachi. google that, and don't ask me how I know, lololol

 the 3 either has a 2.0L or 2.5L normal engine. 

 

 something not many people know....the Wankel engine was not invented by Mazda. it was invented by a german engineer named felix Wankel. 

 

Since it seemingly appeared suddenly, look for rodent damage to wiring or a vacuum line.

18 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

I think this engine is "coil on plug". if you do plugs, do the coil packs too. 

It looks like there is a coil on top of each plug, and it also looks like it has "control wiring" to each coil, not a traditional high voltage wire that goes to the spark plugs.  I will change the coil packs as well.

24 minutes ago, jm1827 said:

It looks like there is a coil on top of each plug, and it also looks like it has "control wiring" to each coil, not a traditional high voltage wire that goes to the spark plugs.  I will change the coil packs as well.

correct. each coil has a ground and a power. the computer controls each cylinder individually and livetime. it constantly adjusts the spark intensity, the burn time, and the dwell time. the high tension portion is in the spark plug well. it is simply a boot with a spring/carbon insert connected directly to the plug. 

 

22 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

correct. each coil has a ground and a power. the computer controls each cylinder individually and livetime. it constantly adjusts the spark intensity, the burn time, and the dwell time. the high tension portion is in the spark plug well. it is simply a boot with a spring/carbon insert connected directly to the plug. 

 

Pretty easy to replace them on most passenger vehicles.. if the car is gonna be repaired anyway it couldnt hurt just to replace them all, and it might end up fixing the issuue.

22 hours ago, JackDaWack said:

Pretty easy to replace them on most passenger vehicles.. if the car is gonna be repaired anyway it couldnt hurt just to replace them all, and it might end up fixing the issuue.

i started recommending coil replacement with spark plugs on the old ford 4.6 liter powered vans. it was a harder sell back then, 'cause back then the coils were still over 100 bucks apiece. but......if you replaced the plugs and not the coils.......when a coil went bad, it was the same labor all over again. and on the fords, it was super common for those dam coils to go bad. on the 4.6, the 5.4, and the 6.8 v-10

 

3 minutes ago, 1LtCAP said:

i started recommending coil replacement with spark plugs on the old ford 4.6 liter powered vans. it was a harder sell back then, 'cause back then the coils were still over 100 bucks apiece. but......if you replaced the plugs and not the coils.......when a coil went bad, it was the same labor all over again. and on the fords, it was super common for those dam coils to go bad. on the 4.6, the 5.4, and the 6.8 v-10

 

Don't some of those have 2 per cyl?

33 minutes ago, JackDaWack said:

Don't some of those have 2 per cyl?

My E430 has 2 per.  What a nightmare getting to the rears on this V8.  Actually my kids' but he is busy on his Xbox.

1 hour ago, JackDaWack said:

Don't some of those have 2 per cyl?

some do. chrysler 6.7 hemi has 2 per cylinder. single pack does each cylinder though

5 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

some do. chrysler 6.7 hemi has 2 per cylinder. single pack does each cylinder though

meant to type 5.7

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2020 at 3:35 PM, 1LtCAP said:

sounds like misfire. i'd imagine the cel was flashing? how many miles, and when was the last time spark plugs were changed. if it's a misfire, it'd almost be like a steady misfire...

 

 to check, you can get a free obd2 scan at autozone or one of those places, or you can pull the plugs to look at them. if its a misfire, the code will be p030X(X=the misfiring cylinder). i can't remember if this engine is coil on plug or not. if it is, you want to replace all of the coil packs with the splugs.

Just wanted to follow up- thank you 1LtCAP- it was a bad coil pack.  I changed the spark plugs first, same problem, change the coil packs and that was it.

I definitely owe you a beer!

Thanks again.

 

10 hours ago, jm1827 said:

Just wanted to follow up- thank you 1LtCAP- it was a bad coil pack.  I changed the spark plugs first, same problem, change the coil packs and that was it.

I definitely owe you a beer!

Thanks again.

 

it's always my pleasure to try to help you guys out when I can. if for no other reason than putting up with my moody ass here. 

Thanks Cap...from another moody ass who Peel loves to hate.