Mazda Protege 2000 Stall - No Mechanic can figure it out

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hi All,

I would really appreciate some help. My 2000 Mazda Protege has been having some trouble as of late. After being driven for about a half an hour it will stall at a red light or when idling and refuse to start for 10-20 minutes. If it is in a high gear it will continue to run, but then as soon as I stop it stalls with the same problem.

We have taken it to three different mechanics and they are all stumped. One replaced the engine coils and I cleaned the MAF - with no positive results. There are no codes with which to diagnose a problem, so they have all given up.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jessica

2

Idle Air Control valve.

3

I am curious to know if changing the IAC valve solved your problem.

I have a older Protege with a similar starting problem but runs fine once started (even when idling at a stop). Some on this forum suggested either fuel injectors / IAC valve. Had air intake system, throttle body and fuel injection cleaned at a dealer during their “Induction Service” special. Seems to improve the ride but starting problem persists. have to hold down the gas till engine temperature rises above the “C” (=Cold) mark before it will idle on its own.

4

Try this, turn the key to the run (not start) position & listen.

You should hear the fuel pump run for about 2 seconds.

When the car stalls & wont start, do you hear this same noise or not?

If you do, the problem is with the ignition, if you dont, the problem is in the fuel pump circuit.

As mentioned the idle air control valve could be the problem

If it is a bad IAC the car will still start if you give it a little throttle. Does it?

5

have the ignition module checked also.had this problem on a ford tauras .when it got to operating tempature the car would just die.and wouldn’t start back up till the car cooled down.replaced the ignition module problem fixed.

6

IAC control vale is faulty. It won’t always set a fault code.

7

The car does start when I give it a LOT of gas, but then stalls if the idle goes below 1000 rpm. Today was especially bad, in that it was idling very irradically and I had to drive with my foot on the gas and break to keep from stalling on my way to work. Does this point to any particular problem that was suggested?