The little canister on the passenger side firewall(cold start assist?)... what does it do and why is mine empty?

 

The one behind the cruise control? Yeah that was a leggacy from the carborated rotary days. I have no clue why mazda brought it into the fuel inected world.

If you live in sub-zero weather, feel free to fill it up with the proper anti-freeze or whatever mix.

 

It is zee cold wedder start mechanism. It injects glycol into the intake to assist in starting in sub-zero temperatures. You can make your own out of antifreeze if you want. I believe the ratio is 9 parts glycol to 1 part water. I do not know if that is also true when speaking about low tox type antifreezes. The stuff dates back to the days before low tox. In AZ we have little need for it, so the old tanks here run dry most of the time. In fact, when I first got my nephew's 2nd Gen, I found that the prior owner had put windshield wash into it.

 

Remove it. Never did anything, never will.

Mazda issues a TSB that said to remove the canister, and plug the nipple on the intake.

Search for details if you need more info.

 

removed mine completely, was always a useless system.

 

alright cool guys, i think imma take it off