Ok, so this happened this morning. I've driven about oh 1500 miles in the last week. I was out last night, drove through a rainstorm, and zero issues at all. I parked at the hotel, go out this morning to get in the car and drive it from my parking spot, up to the front desk area and park there, leave the car running. I come out 2 minutes later, and the car has stalled.

From there, it wouldn't start. It would start for a half second, and instantly stall out. I tried holding my foot down, no change. I tried pulling the relay, and the car just cranks, no sputter at all. But admittedly I was trying a BUNCH so I couldn't swear how that was. I DID find also that if I feathered the gas I could get it to stay sputtering. Never an idle but very rough sputtering.

I did see some codes pop up that I looked up, and it was the P0102 and p0112 I believe. Something to make me suspect the MAF. I unplugged it, and after the first attempt that stalled, it then started and idled fine, though in Restricted Performance mode. At that time I was able to move the car out of the parking lot and to a neighbor's house who was kind enough to let me park in their driveway to try to figure this out. Along the drive, even though I can't pass 3k RPM, the engine pulls fine. Since the car starts, drives, and pulls hard up to 3k, obviously at least ONE of my fuel pumps is working, so I'm leaning away from that at the moment. But would a bad pump cause the car to not even start with a bad MAF but then allow it to run when it's unplugged?

They also gave me a lift around town, so I went and picked up MAF cleaner (actual CRC MAF cleaner, not just carb or electrical), some canned air to blow out dust, fuel treatment because why not, a spare relay, and fuel filter since I don't know the last time it was changed. I haven't yet changed the filter but I'm obviously leaning towards the MAF sensor.

Does it make sense that the sensor being bad would cause the car to not run when it's plugged in, and run when it's not? I mean, that's what the logic says in my head, but before I try to track down some place that can order me one for what I'm sure will be a small fortune, could there be something else that is causing it?

I guess what gets me is the sudden flareup of whatever it did. The car was perfectly fine last night, and then this morning, it starts fine, thirty seconds later it all goes wrong. I would've thought the MAF going would've at least acted up but there hasn't been anything recently to suggest.

AND after all that... does anyone have a definitive cross-reference for potential cheaper (or even IN-STOCK) sensors at AutoZone, O'Reilly's etc? Their computer doesn't even pull it up if you look by make/model/year, so I'm trying to track down either specific part numbers, or alternatives that would work. I saw a thread where a couple Mazda and Subraru MAF's supposedly interchanged, but if they're the same price, then I wouldn't bother testing that theory.

Sorry for any of this that might be elsewhere, I've only had limited access to search this morning amidst my frustrations. And online isn't an alternative yet, as I'm on the road.

Help?

 

The MAF sensor I just installed was also for a Mazda and Subaru. Works perfectly.

How cold is it? It might be your temperature sensor (which disconnects when you unplug the MAF). I have. non- SC, so my temp sensor is at the crossover pipe; don't know on SC units. Here is what I think: when it's cold out sensor recognizes the cold weather and directs enrichment. Once it heats up sensor fails to recognize the temperature increase and continues to enrich causing stalling and failure to start a warm engine.

Reinstall the MAF, and unplug the temp sensor and see what happens. Good luck.

 

It's about 65 F here at the moment, actually. I hadn't checked the temp sensor, I'll have to see if I can trace down where that is. You don't happen to remember a part number, or what model car referenced for that MAF by chance, do you? I'm not sure if the non-SC uses a different MAF but I'm trying to get everything in order. Time to see if I can find where the temp sensor is I guess.

 

It was an ISUMO OEM part no 22680-AA310; GEGT7610-83 (about $ 24)

and replced a Denso LNE1620cb (which should be the same as yours).

How cold was it in the morning when it started right up? I like the sensor theory more and more.

 

I'd say it was probably mid-50s when I first started it? I'm stuck in Kentucky so nothing too crazy. I'm thinking about running over and finding one. The one that AutoZone lists, well they list three, and they appear on the site as not vehicle specific. So I'm trying to hunt down a part number or info on them here on the site so I can at least take a look when I get there to see if it'll work right before crawling under, if it's at the pipe? I'm a lot more flustered than I want to be, but that might have something to do with the 1200 miles left to get home...

 

Replace the temp sensor

 

Going to anyway, as it's completely gunked, BUT...

I found my problem.

Through all the posts I had perused, one of them had mentioned the fuse #12 in the engine management fuse box. So on a whim, I went back, and replaced it even though it wasn't blown. But then something in my mind said "just for kicks, trace the MAF plug back through. So I did, and that's when I realized that in the dark garage I was working in when I replaced my bushings and whatnot... well when I put the upper shock mount back on the passenger side, I somehow crushed the wiring underneath the washer of one of the bolts. So for the last oh, 3000 miles or so, it's been running on borrowed time, and apparently had finally vibrated through to bare wire and caused a ground condition when the MAF was plugged in. I pulled the wire out from under the bolt, spread them apart (they weren't broken through but two had bare wires which were grounding out each other I guess), plugged the MAF back in, and the car started, gave a bit of a rough idle to start with, and then started to settle in more. Revs freely, no more restricted performance message. So I'm going to go buy new wire to solder and splice out the bad sections, and buy a new temp sensor while I'm at it.

And then, drive home?

But in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't start throwing tons of money at my own foolish mistake.

 

Hartz' law: if it's broke, what did I do wrong! Frank Andrew Hartz 1881 to 1973: Master Plumber and Model T mechanic

 

So far, 4 hours on the road, not even a hiccup since. Thanks for letting me vent, and providing insight for things I hadn't thought of!

 

9 posts and learned an other thing ... safe drive home!