Okay guys, I need your expertise on my MS6. I've posted in about every Mazda forum and no one has replied. It seems like people on the Mazda forums are not very technical. All the posts I've searched with problems, everyone just says to bring it to the dealer. Here's what's going on....
I've got a 2006 Mazdaspeed6 with about 47,000 miles on it, bone stock.
I was cruising around in it one night playing in the snow, and bounced it off of the rev limiter a few times. Didn't think anything of it and it seemed to drive fine. The next day I go to drive it and once it gets into boost, the engine starts to buck and misfire. Throws a multiple misfire code for cylinder 1. I clear the code, get into boost, same thing. If I drive it casually and don't get into boost, you can't tell there is anything wrong with it.
So today I tore into it and pulled the spark plugs out. All of them looked good except for number 1. It was dripping wet. Looked into the cylinder and there was a lot of liquid in there. The weird thing is that the liquid looks fairly clear and has absolutely no smell to it. It doesn't look like oil and doesn't smell like antifreeze. I'm kind of lost as to what it could be. I saw a video where you open the coolant reservoir and crank the engine with all the spark plug pulled except for the suspect cylinder and if you get air bubbles in the coolant, you've got a bad head gasket. Did that and no bubbles. I'm wondering if there is maybe a small leak and when in boost, there is enough pressure to actually make it leak. And maybe the combustion is changing it somehow so its not green and doesn't smell?
The coolant looks to be okay too just looking into the reservoir. Not milky or anything. And the oil doesn't look bad either. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Anyone familiar with the Ford 2.3L motors and what kind of head gaskets are used? If they are metal or not?
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX Limited
1999 Cavalier Z24 Supercharged
1999 Grand AM SE (Beater Car)
1997 GMC Sierra
2007 Honda CBR 600RR
2005 Honda TRX450R
Check the compression on the 'bad' cylinder....the non smell throws me off, but it sounds like un burnt gas?...weird.
taste it. sweet tast is antifreeze. bitter/acohol taste gas. u might have a stuck injector. compression tester will defentaly let you know if you have a bad head gasket.
as mentioned above, taste the liquid and find out if its antifreeze. comp test will rule out the headgasket issue.
if possible, test the injector. not familiar with this engine but if possible pull fuel rail out a bit and crank engine to check if injector is dumping too much gas.
have you check the ignition side? (coil, cable)
check out this thread i found on mazda.com
http://www.imazda.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15185
Good luck!
03 cav
5 speed sedan
Doesnt this car have direct injection? Im not sure how that whole system works though.
That method to test head gasket sucks. Run a compression test on all cylinders. Also it could be a bent valve instead. Try running a leak down test as well. Also since you were playing in the snow it could be water you sucked up into the intake.
does it have a warranty? If so... I would get Mazda to fix it... but I would not mention the rev-limit play. lol
It's definitely water. It's clear and has no taste or smell. And yes, the motor is direct injection. I tore the intake manifold off, and from what I can see, everything looks good. No water collection anywhere in the intake.
Believe me, if it had warranty on it yet, I wouldn't have bothered posting about it. Mazda would have had it in their shop right away. Warranty ran out about 6 months ago.
I think I may have figured out what is wrong though; a bad coil pack. During non-boost driving, the spark doesn't have to be as strong to ignite the fuel/air mixture. I'm wondering if when I get into boost, the spark isn't strong enough to ignite. So I've got 15 pounds of 0 degree air rushing through a hot cylinder with no combustion. The large amount of air coupled with the temperature change, equals condensation collection, hence water in the cylinder. I'm going to put the intake manifold back on and swap that coil to a different cylinder and see if the misfire code jumps from cylinder 1 to the other cylinder. If so, I think I've got an answer to the mystery. I'll post with results!
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX Limited
1999 Cavalier Z24 Supercharged
1999 Grand AM SE (Beater Car)
1997 GMC Sierra
2007 Honda CBR 600RR
2005 Honda TRX450R
hope it is solved. good luck and glad to hear its not coolant.
