well i had the surging 'idle' (if you could call it an idle) and the engine died every time i disengaged it, and i couldn't get it to accelerate past 4500 in any gear, under load.

turns out it was the intake manifold gasket. apparently has a big hole or something. the mechanic (i'm not well versed enough to do my own work yet) said its gonna take a week or so the get the part. the posts i read said these symptoms indicated a problem with the fuel filter and maybe the air sensor flap thingy.


kind of sucks, but my question remains, has this happened to anyone.. ?

 

you can make intake manifold gaskets using material from a local parts store...

if you're a 12A (which i'm assuming you are) there are also 2 rubber o-rings that would do good to be replaced.

it isn't hard to pull this stuff yourself...simply unbolt the carb, move it to the top of the engine, drain your coolant, unbolt the manifold, new gasket. reverse order...

 

sorry didn't mention it was a gsl-se 13b

this process would not work for the 13b?

 

is better off getting the gasket from mazda, i have done this in the past and i had problems with them plus the gaskets are fairly cheap

 

happening to me now, and I hope that an intake gasket will fix it. I'm gonna get one from Mazda I hope.

 

Don't let him gouge you on the work - installation of either the upper to lower intake manifold gasket is only about 30 minutes if you know what you're doing.

Even the lower intake manifold to engine gasket should only take about another 30 minutes more - and that's being conservative.

I suppose any vacuum leak of any kind, including intake manifold gaskets, could lead to 'surging', but if you get the new gasket on there, and it doesn't fix the problem - pick up your car from the mechanic, take it home and post back here.

If that doesn't fix it, the mechanic doesn't know what he's doing and you're better off learning how to troubleshoot and fix the GSL-SE idle issues by yourself - at least then, you know the work is done correctly and you can save yourself some money.

Those of us with SE's have learned what makes them work well - I've never heard of an intake manifold gasket (upper or lower) 'going-out' or blowing holes in them - this is not a high pressure area. Best of luck,