Mazdaspeed 6 issues...

[drive_sideways]

Was driving into work today and my CEL came on. Popped my Hood when I got to work and noticed my intake filter box had popped open, all 4 latches were undone. I'm assuming that's what caused the CEL. I don't have a scanner or accessport yet to read the code.

Also, when I get on the throttle hard it's kind rough when accelerating. It feels like it's almost sputtering, lots of small but major torque dips. I assume that the fuel pump is the reason, it feels like it can't keep up and it's leaning out. I live very close to sea level, Hudson Valley area of upstate NY. That and the previous owner only ran 87, I filled it for the first time today and put 93 in it. I filled it about 1/4 mile from work so I didn't have a chance to actually get on it and see what difference it made. Anyone with any input on the troubles I'm having? Tomorrow morning I'll actually get to test my CEL theory, which I'm 99.9% sure was the intake box throwing what most likely was a vacuum leak code.


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[Speeden6]

I would bet Intake Box is your issue.

Now for the cuts and sputtering and what not. switch to 92 or 93 Oct and never look back. STOP flooring your car. You should really invest in Accessport and Fuel PUmp Internals.

Your internals may be gunked up from the way the previous owner treated it as if he was running 87 he obviously didnt know or care about the car so you need to fix any damage he may have done.

[SSinstaller]

Running 87 is going to ping and knock constantly. You're lucky it pulled timing and didn't just blow up.

Year's of 87 could have done bad things to your motor..

[Fstrnyou]

Put a few gallons of E85 in if it's available, then top off with 93 to mix the E up better. That should bring your octane up a bit.

[drive_sideways]

Intake box was the issue that's all good now.

Still running a little rough. It didn't ping or knock at all when I test drove it. I put only 93 in. I'm gonna look for a e85 gas station I would assume we have one.

The previous owner also never got on the car, so my assumption is with 87 octane and easy driving it's got carbon buildup.


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[drive_sideways]

Got a e85 station 25 miles from my house in Latham it looks like.


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[btstarcher]

No more than 2 gallons of e85.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by btstarcher No more than 2 gallons of e85.

Alright thanks. What's the benefit of e85?


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[btstarcher]

Originally Posted by drive_sideways Alright thanks. What's the benefit of e85? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Higher octane. Really if you're running better it's not necessary.

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[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by btstarcher Higher octane. Really if you're running better it's not necessary. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

It's still a little odd under hard acceleration, it stutters still. Hpfp will be my first mod as well as a cobb apv3 and Cobb intake


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[Fstrnyou]

You definitely need to dilute that 89 or whatever with some e85. Running "okay" or not.

During fuel shortage last year, I had to put some 89 or 91 in. Premium and e85 were all sold out everywhere. I could barely push the gas down and I was getting upwards of 5 kr. I did find that light throttle in higher revs was better than medium throttle at low revs to keep knock lower.

[btstarcher]

I thought he said he filled up with 93.

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[Fstrnyou]

My bad. Should have re-read it. Forgot he got 93 already, but depending on how much low octane was still in it when he got 93...could still be iffy.

[drive_sideways]

I fill all my cars with 93. It only adds up to like 3 or 4 more dollars at the end of a fill up and all my vehicles run significantly better on it even if it's not required to run.

I drove it right down to 1/8th tank on the last 87 fill because I wanted to get most of it out of the system. Normally I fill all my cars at 1/4 tank, less of a chance of condensation buildup in the tank. Filled it completely on 93. CEL came back on again as I was driving into work tonight, I drove it super easy the whole way in. Will be taking it to advanced auto tomorrow to have them read the code. Maybe I'll just buy my own can't hurt to have one, I do the majority of work on my own cars anyway. I'm a HVAC facility mechanic/power plant operator by trade and I deal specifically with a very modern electronic control program every night I work, by principle it's not to much different then a cars ECU I wouldn't think.


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[Fstrnyou]

Rather than spend money on a code reader, save up and buy a tuning solution. They can read codes too. In addition to all the other benefits like data logging.

[drive_sideways]

My car needs to be registered by the end of this week and in NY it has to pass inspection before it can be registered if it was bought in another state...
Maybe I can talk my wife into buying a Cobb apv3 now lol


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[drive_sideways]

Update- went to autozone today finally and got the codes run. There's quite a list.

Long story short I'm gonna need a new fuel pump it looks like. The guy at autozone recommended a Delphi fuel pump for $331. Are they any good? Or should I just opt for the autotech HPFP $349?


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[MSP6]

read more before you buy anything. That delphi is an in-tank fuel pump and 99% not an issue. The autotech are High Pressure Fuel Pump internal components, the HPFP is under your hood.

I am from the Hudson valley originally, there is E85 pumps at a Valero on 9W in Newburgh, not too far from the 84 onramp. There is also E85 at the station in Fishkill across the street from the Regal movie theater.

You really might have more issues if the numb-nuts before you ran 87 for a long time. I would give it 2 gallons of E85, reset your battery and baby it for 75-100 miles to let your fuel trims adjust and settle. I doubt that having the airbox open a little is going to cause a ton of issues like that, you can throw an actual intake on a stock ecu car without issue and those would flow way more air than a slightly cracked open stock air box.


My bet is that you actually have a bad Primary O2 sensor. My speed 6 surged and bucked and drove like dog shit at light throttle when my primary O2 went on me.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by MSP6 read more before you buy anything. That delphi is an in-tank fuel pump and 99% not an issue. The autotech are High Pressure Fuel Pump internal components, the HPFP is under your hood. I am from the Hudson valley originally, there is E85 pumps at a Valero on 9W in Newburgh, not too far from the 84 onramp. There is also E85 at the station in Fishkill across the street from the Regal movie theater. You really might have more issues if the numb-nuts before you ran 87 for a long time. I would give it 2 gallons of E85, reset your battery and baby it for 75-100 miles to let your fuel trims adjust and settle. I doubt that having the airbox open a little is going to cause a ton of issues like that, you can throw an actual intake on a stock ecu car without issue and those would flow way more air than a slightly cracked open stock air box. My bet is that you actually have a bad Primary O2 sensor. My speed 6 surged and bucked and drove like dog shit at light throttle when my primary O2 went on me.

I take that back it was pretty stuttery at light throttle this evening lol


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[drive_sideways]

Mines not at light throttle, it surges when I floor it. It drives normal when I baby it. I know where the HPFP is I've watched a few videos on it. I might bring it in to the shop and have the 02 sensor done when I get the inspection done. Hopefully I can get it to go back to normal asap


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[drive_sideways]

The other thing is my CEL didn't come on until after I put 93 in it...

Could that being throwing my fuel trims off? Sorry about the pestering questions, I'm new to mazda speed cars, came from VW/subies prior. Still own a VW.


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[Fstrnyou]

Different octane gasoline will not effect fuel trims.

Maybe in theory it could if junk gas was consistently causing knock enrichment, then fuel trims could go negative. Then when you put good gas in without knock, you run a little lean until your trims settle. But if you reset the battery, none of that matters.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by Fstrnyou Different octane gasoline will not effect fuel trims. Maybe in theory it could if junk gas was consistently causing knock enrichment, then fuel trims could go negative. Then when you put good gas in without knock, you run a little lean until your trims settle. But if you reset the battery, none of that matters.

I reset it once, I'll do it again and see what happens. It's gotta go to the shop for a NY inspection anyway, and they are sticklers here


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[MSP6]

I would think fouled spark plugs and/or fried O2 from constantly being pig rich because it was running on 87 and dumping god knows how much fuel in there.


Replace Primary O2 - $100-120 or so IIRC
New spark plugs -$10 Just grab some from autozone don;t worry about getting Denso's or anything.

Reset battery

You will know pretty much right away if these were the culprit. If it is still acting up then try putting 2-3 gallons of E85 in there. I wouldn't start paying someone to do anything until you check the couple of easy to do, low cost options that could very well be your culprit. These cars are fickle as fuck and once people start tearing into them bad shit happens if they don't know what they're doing.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by MSP6 I would think fouled spark plugs and/or fried O2 from constantly being pig rich because it was running on 87 and dumping god knows how much fuel in there. Replace Primary O2 - $100-120 or so IIRC New spark plugs -$10 Just grab some from autozone don;t worry about getting Denso's or anything. Reset battery You will know pretty much right away if these were the culprit. If it is still acting up then try putting 2-3 gallons of E85 in there. I wouldn't start paying someone to do anything until you check the couple of easy to do, low cost options that could very well be your culprit. These cars are fickle as fuck and once people start tearing into them bad shit happens if they don't know what they're doing.

Thanks!!

I'm glad we have forums like this to figure problems out u guys seriously a big help that's much appreciated


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[drive_sideways]

Even better let's get a flat on the way home from work too......


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[drive_sideways]

Update- so got home from work and decided to clean my MAF, and I'm glad I did. It was coated in a thick layer of black sludge.

Also, decided to check vacuum lines. Glad I did too. A line connected to the turbo inlet pipe had popped off. Wondering if that was the cause of my CEL. When I drive to work tonight I guess I'll find out...



The blue circle is the line that was disconnected


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[Fstrnyou]

That's the EBCS recirc line.
You had a vacuum leak all the time & boost leak when the EBCS is activated.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by Fstrnyou That's the EBCS recirc line. You had a vacuum leak all the time & boost leak when the EBCS is activated.

That is most certainly a cause for at least some of the codes. Drove into work without a issue. Car is running so much better, but still running a little rough, will be doing spark plugs and cleaning the fuel system this weekend. Who knows when the last time that was all done...


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[Fstrnyou]

Originally Posted by drive_sideways That is most certainly a cause for at least some of the codes. Drove into work without a issue. Car is running so much better, but still running a little rough, will be doing spark plugs and cleaning the fuel system this weekend. Who knows when the last time that was all done... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Top of the list after car purchase is change filters, fluids, and plugs.
Check brakes and alignment.
Rip out interior and clean/shampoo everything.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by Fstrnyou Top of the list after car purchase is change filters, fluids, and plugs. Check brakes and alignment. Rip out interior and clean/shampoo everything.

Check fluids daily to bi-daily as a habit, they are all good, oil change was done 500 miles ago with Mobil1 synthetic.

Will need rear rotors and pads soon calipers are all good, what do you recommend for a pad/rotor upgrade?

Interior is in very very very good shape, gonna give the leather a good washing and treatment this weekend as well, and give the whole exterior a good wash as well.


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[Fstrnyou]

I've only had to replace the rear pads once since I got my 6. I put in Power Stop Z23 Evolution Sport from Rock Auto. The only down side was after bedding, I would get brake squeal like they were race brakes or something, but that has since gone away. I intend to install the Z23's in the front when it's time. Since the rears don't typically do much work, I can't speak to their performance or effectiveness.

As far as rotors, stick to the basics. No slots, no crossdrilled.
I'm certain there is a thread that covers nearly every available pad/rotor for 3's and 6's.

[drive_sideways]

Yeah I found one. Everyone seems to swear by the Hawk kit, rear pads and rotors for $163 on anything auto seems like a decent deal to me. They let off a lot less dust then stock too. Slotted and cross drilled rotors though.


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[drive_sideways]

CEL's back on
It only runs rough randomly. Mainly if I drop it to 2100-2200 rpm then punch it, sounds and feels like a major misfire... jerks and bucks and cuts power


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[drive_sideways]

Ended up replacing my fuel trim position sensor, $409 later... runs very good now though.


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[Fstrnyou]

You'll have to be a little more accurate with your sensor description.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by Fstrnyou You'll have to be a little more accurate with your sensor description.

The mechanic told me that's what it's called which confused me lol. Pretty sure he meant o2 sensor. $430 for o2 sensor and inspection... does that seem a bit steep?


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[Thor Hammer]

Originally Posted by drive_sideways The mechanic told me that's what it's called which confused me lol. Pretty sure he meant o2 sensor. $430 for o2 sensor and inspection... does that seem a bit steep? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What brand O2 sensor did he install? OEM from Mazda or aftermarket? Around here we prefer the NTK brand available at Rock Auto. Ill let you look it up and decide if you got hosed.

Glad its fixed.

[drive_sideways]

Originally Posted by Thor Hammer What brand O2 sensor did he install? OEM from Mazda or aftermarket? Around here we prefer the NTK brand available at Rock Auto. Ill let you look it up and decide if you got hosed. Glad its fixed.

It was at his shop for almost 3 weeks. Idk if they charge for "boarding" a car I know some shops do. If he does I'm gonna be pissed considering it was suppose to be done the first week, that's when he ordered all the parts for it


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[drive_sideways]

So guess what? CEL AGAIN!!! This time for P0401, EGR valve...
Is that a known issue with these cars?

It's like $360 to buy the valve

It's running and idling really well though, no stutters, no surges, far more power then before the o2 sensor replacement. It also passed emissions flawlessly 2 days ago


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