Alrighty, its a mazda 323 auto, nfi what year prob mid 80's.

Anyway the other day I just had it started up and went to pull out into traffic and it just choked, then picked back up went fine all the 2 mins drive home from work. It choked on me one other time as well.

According to my bro it was doing weird s*** like holding back on gears and revving strange. He drives it way to hard though so I'm not surprised :/


I just checked it out now, the oil is like on L and it was filled up about a month ago at max. It has an auto fluid leak and I am assuming thats whats causing the erratic gear stuff (apprently it costs a lot to get that fixed so dad just keeps topping it up when it needs it).
The radiator looks like its rusting out or something and the underside of the cap was all orange-creamy like.
I know white creamy stuff is an indication of oil which is not good and can mean a blown headgasket.

It is not blowing any smoke or getting overly hot, operating under half on the thermostat.

Other than that the head/block join/surrounding area looks likes its covered in oil and crap, maybe its leaking out there :S


Its my mums car so im not going to be spending any great amount of money on it. Any suggestions to whats going on? with my limited engine knowledge I can only think of the headgasket is going...

check for water in the oil, might aswell check the condition of the spark plugs aswell. Make sure leads are securely connected.

how do i check for water in the oil without draining it out...?

Or do you mean oil in the water?

If it is getting "stuck" in gears I would not expect that to be an issue with the engine. Sounds like the auto is in need of a good service, eg band adjustment and full change of fluid and filter. Or, it may require a rebuild (relatively expensive for an auto). If your engine is covered in oily gunk/caked on grime, don't worry, that's normal for older cars. However, if it is pooling oil and you can actually smell oil burning while driving or stationary, then that is cause for alarm (apart from the obvious fire hazard, the engine could run dry and then you're really up s*** creek). To find the source of the oil leak, your best bet is to degrease the engine bay by:

1) Buying half dozen cans of $2 export degreaser from supercheap.

2) Move car to a place in the yard where you don't want stuff to grow ever again.

3) Let the engine and engine bay cool down until it is warm to touch (doesn't have to be dead cold).

4) Cover all electrical/electronic components with plastic bags and tie off.

5) Liberally spray every inch of the engine bay with degreaser and leave it to sit for a few minutes. To remove really hard/caked grime you may need to use a wire brush to loosen it up prior to soaking with degreaser.

6) Hose down the engine bay and watch all of the gunk and grease drip away.

Note, some of the symptoms you describe could be caused by something else but more than likely its the transmission being rooted. If the car is driven hard by your brother, it will die eventually, particularly if he revs the tits off it in neutral than drops it into drive (sure fire way to kill an auto).

EDIT: As shad suggested, check the spark plugs - your oil may be either leaking out or burning in the combustion chamber. If it is burning in the combustion chamber, the sparkplug electrodes will have a wet, black appearance and have significant buildups of carbon (soot). Generally speaking, the sparkplugs of a healthy engine should have tan-coloured electrodes.

last edited by sikgem at 13:45:00 27/Sep/04

ta, i knew you'd appear sooner or later with a car related thread :)

Also if it is carborated check the carby out, run some carby cleaner through it.

Maybe check the air filter to make sure its not clogged up.

In conclusion, take it for a service.

my 626 wasnt changin gears properly either...transaxel oil was gone and had to replace gearbox
also i've noticed that nowdays if my car lags a bit b4 changing gear (eg at wrong rev range) the engine oil is low
after i had to fork out s***loads to fix it i've been paranoid about anythin that seems/sounds out of place

sounds like the gearbox is running low on oil, and it is slipping badly from the sounds of things
check the oil
top it up
otherwise youll be up for a new gearbox

4) Cover all electrical/electronic components with plastic bags and tie off.

I never did get that, it says it on the degreaser can. I just sprayed it all over my VN engine, covered in electric sensors & plastic parts. Never did any harm to it whatsoever. meh.

apart from the obvious fire hazard, the engine could run dry and then you're really up s*** creek

a good burning of an old car never hurt anyone. Good excuse to buy a new car I say :p

If it's your mum's car, why are you spending money on it at all to fix it? Shouldn't your parents be paying to fix it?

my gemini choked once or twice, it was the fuel jets in the carb all blocked up, is the car fuel injected or a normal carby job? Try running some kind of cleaner through it. Like that wynns spitfire s***.

Don't forget, its an auto... and if something is wrong in the transmission it can stall (just as you can stall a manual by selecting the wrong gear, etc). Your average automatic transmissions are based on fluids - no fluids = no go.

I never did get that, it says it on the degreaser can. I just sprayed it all over my VN engine, covered in electric sensors & plastic parts. Never did any harm to it whatsoever. meh.

I don't usually but that's because I know to keep degreaser and water riiight away from electrics. But if I do have to thoroughly wash areas around things like the distributor, definately cover it with a bag.

last edited by sikgem at 18:22:10 27/Sep/04

Remember that radiator water can get grimey if it hasn't been flushed in a long time.
[edit] That means both block and radiator water being flushed.

last edited by Loki at 21:35:33 27/Sep/04

I don't usually but that's because I know to keep degreaser and water riiight away from electrics. But if I do have to thoroughly wash areas around things like the distributor, definately cover it with a bag.

yeah distributors need to be kept nice & dry & free of water, but my VN didn't have a dizzy, go look under the hood of your dad's vx or whatever it is he has, you'll find it hasn't got one either I'm guessing. It'll have (most likely) what my vn/vr have, a coilpack. There's no moving parts in it, and it's pretty much sealed against water. I drove my VN through a flood and the water came up over the bonnet, seriously it was comming up to the windows.

Yeah its got 3 coilpacks in a row. Fully electronic ignition, no doubt. A lot of cars still use/used partially electronic ignition systems for ages. Don't know why you would these days, though. Fully electronic ignition = win.

Head Gasket. Goto supercheap, get a head gasket to suit that car ($25), offer a mechanic 4 hours x hourly rate to install said gasket. Blue goop it up if the dude says the head is warped, sell car.



last edited by slap69 at 22:47:16 27/Sep/04

Get a new cam and some roller rockers while your at it lol

take it to a mechanic before u hurt yourself

its obviously your customized manifold slowing down your quad twin intake throttle body fiber optix keyboard twin turbo intercooled 15 inches of detroit muscle thats broken

everythings been said cept:

spray 'sellys no more gaps' on the gearbox. it'll seal that leak right up :)

hahaha

If it is getting "stuck" in gears I would not expect that to be an issue with the engine.

Actually, from the way he described it ('revving wierd' etc), it sounded like hesitation which would of course be to do with the engine (or the air/fuel going into it etc)

When an engine hesitates, it is different to the car revving all the way out to near-redline in each gear.