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Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.
- Sputters when accelerating. Idles fine, though a bit low. Rev engine and it sputters a bit until it gets to higher RPMs then smooths out and runs fine. We were thinking possible head gasket. No water/coolant in oil, and no oil in cooling system, but we know that's not necessarily a clue.
Possible head gasket and alternator coincidentally? Possible that a bad alternator causes both? If you need more information please ask. Any thoughts are most appreciated.
Thanks.
I see three problems:
1. Battery won't hold charge. You are on the right track. Check alternator. If that's good, check for a ground in the electrical system.
2. Overheating. My first guess is stuck thermostat.
3. Sputtering. My first guess is fuel system. Check for a plugged fuel filter first. After that, clogged injectors.
I hope these help.
Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.
- Sputters when accelerating. Idles fine, though a bit low. Rev engine and it sputters a bit until it gets to higher RPMs then smooths out and runs fine. We were thinking possible head gasket. No water/coolant in oil, and no oil in cooling system, but we know that's not necessarily a clue.
Possible head gasket and alternator coincidentally? Possible that a bad alternator causes both? If you need more information please ask. Any thoughts are most appreciated.
Thanks.
I have an OBD2 tester, and almost beat myself up that I had forgotten about it.Take it to autozone, and have them check the alternator. The overheating could be bad battery, the fan is electric...soooo..if the battery was about dead, and the alternator not working, the fan won't work, at least not well.
As for sputtering acceleration....there's lots of possible causes.
Have the zone check which codes you are throwing, and start there.
What do you mean "a fountain"? As in shooting out of the radiator? Continuously, or just at start-up?If you have a head gasket leak, the easiest check is to pull the radiator cap off cold and start it up, if it has a blown head gasket, you will see a fountain, it is not a 100% method but 99.9% of the time it works. The other .1 % is the automotive world fooling you, where a combustion gas tester is needed.
Battery can be alternator, or if it drains quickly even without runnng the vehicle it could be a dead cell. If it holds a good charge for a while and dies when running it is likely an alternator or a bad ground. On that vehicle, if it is an automatic, check all your grounds, a cd4e transmission will tear itself apart from a loose or faulty ground, and a no start would be the least of your worrys then.
On sputtering, it sounds like a vacuum leak, they general run very high or very low rpm at idle, and run terrible below 2k rpm. It can be other things but vacuum is the likely culprit, you can test for it yourself or have a shop check it, depends on how safe you feel with flammable sprays.
Oh and on overheating, I know the mazda 2.0 is different from the ford one, but they both share similar design. I do not remember on the mazda but the ford water pump had plastic fins that would snap off after a certain age.
Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.
- Sputters when accelerating. Idles fine, though a bit low. Rev engine and it sputters a bit until it gets to higher RPMs then smooths out and runs fine. We were thinking possible head gasket. No water/coolant in oil, and no oil in cooling system, but we know that's not necessarily a clue.
Possible head gasket and alternator coincidentally? Possible that a bad alternator causes both? If you need more information please ask. Any thoughts are most appreciated.
Thanks.
First, thank you to everybody who responded. You have been great help. The car is my son's, and I've been letting him use my truck so we haven't gotten to it yet in any depth, but will this weekend.
I have an OBD2 tester, and almost beat myself up that I had forgotten about it.
What do you mean "a fountain"? As in shooting out of the radiator? Continuously, or just at start-up?
I did have the cap off to put some water in while it was running, and there would occasionally be some bubbles come up, but no "fountain", and I figured that was just air being displaced from inside the radiator. (It had lost some water when it overheated, and I removed the cap after I started it, not before.)
Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.
- Sputters when accelerating. Idles fine, though a bit low. Rev engine and it sputters a bit until it gets to higher RPMs then smooths out and runs fine. We were thinking possible head gasket. No water/coolant in oil, and no oil in cooling system, but we know that's not necessarily a clue.
Possible head gasket and alternator coincidentally? Possible that a bad alternator causes both? If you need more information please ask. Any thoughts are most appreciated.
Thanks.
Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.
- Sputters when accelerating. Idles fine, though a bit low. Rev engine and it sputters a bit until it gets to higher RPMs then smooths out and runs fine. We were thinking possible head gasket. No water/coolant in oil, and no oil in cooling system, but we know that's not necessarily a clue.
Possible head gasket and alternator coincidentally? Possible that a bad alternator causes both? If you need more information please ask. Any thoughts are most appreciated.
Thanks.
Simple alternator check... with your car running, disconnect the negative on your battery. If your car is still running it's because it is running off the alternator. If it stops running after the battery disconnect, it's because the alternator is bad and isn't feeding/charging the battery.
Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.
- Sputters when accelerating. Idles fine, though a bit low. Rev engine and it sputters a bit until it gets to higher RPMs then smooths out and runs fine. We were thinking possible head gasket. No water/coolant in oil, and no oil in cooling system, but we know that's not necessarily a clue.
Possible head gasket and alternator coincidentally? Possible that a bad alternator causes both? If you need more information please ask. Any thoughts are most appreciated.
Thanks.
Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.
- Sputters when accelerating. Idles fine, though a bit low. Rev engine and it sputters a bit until it gets to higher RPMs then smooths out and runs fine. We were thinking possible head gasket. No water/coolant in oil, and no oil in cooling system, but we know that's not necessarily a clue.
Possible head gasket and alternator coincidentally? Possible that a bad alternator causes both? If you need more information please ask. Any thoughts are most appreciated.
Thanks.
Car diagnosis question
1999 Mazda 626, 2L, 240K miles
- Battery won't hold a charge, but battery is new (only 4 months old, Interstate brand). Idiot light is on and came on just a few days before things started happening. I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in. Makes me think something is artificially draining the battery and/or the alternator needs replacing.
- Overheated badly, out of nowhere. Only once, has been parked since because of the battery thing.......
Does the battery lose voltage merely because it is connected to the vehicle when it is not running("parasitic drain") ?
Or does the battery only lose voltage while the engine is running(charging problem) ?
The 99 Mazda probably has electric cooling fans(overheating?)and electric fuel pump(sputtering?), beside the OBDii computer etc. Maybe the charging/voltage problem should be resolved before diagnosing other issues.
:twocents:
Ps, I would guess that if there is a parasitic drain, when you are connecting the freshly charged battery to the vehicle you might witness some larger sparks due to the current flow/power being drawn.
Do you have a volt meter ?
There is some drain, even when the vehicle is not running. OBDII has a memory hold. Also, stereo memory and clock (if you have one separate from the stereo). However, I have left cars sitting for more than 6 months and they still started, so drain is minimal.
.....I charge the battery on a charger, it charges fully, but drains very quickly when put back in.......
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