So I just got home after driving though a HUGE DOWNPOOR. The rain was coming in sheets and you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you. Big puddles to splash though etc...

So I'm 2 mins from my house and all of a sudden I notice the votage guage is at just above 12V DC (IT's usually at 14V) . Then there is this STRONG smell of gasoline that filled the car. HOLY ****! I'm thinking pusation damper!! Get the car home -no fires. Look at the gas guage... seems like normal usage (17mpg). Pop the hood and a waft of fuel smell comes out. Check the Secondary fuel rail and hoses/surrounding area... everything is nice and dry, no gasoline on anything.

WTF is going on here?!?!? Low voltage and gas smell BTW, the terminals/connectors to the battery are shiny and tight..

 

Low voltage = weak spark = unburned gas in the exhaust? Just a thought.

Those storms this morning were crazy...of course, it has to rain when I get my TII running. I had 3 sunny weeks to drive the Subaru.

 

I just pray that's it's not PD failure...

 

Isn't the PD easy to get at on the N/As? It's a bitch on a TII. Make sure the screw is in the back of it...I think that's where the problems start.

 

Did you have your lights and blower on while you were on the road? With mine, the voltage usually sits around 12.5 - 13 with lights and defroster.

JB

 

Hell no it's not easy.. It's buried under the intake manifold.. Gotta pull the upper intake off..

 

Damn...it's the same pain on a TII...it's nice how all of the parts that fail all of the time are hidden. (I just changed my T/O bearing and the coolant hose from the rear rotor to the UIM...$35 in parts, hours and hours of labor)

 

All things considerd, removal of the upper intake is a half hour job if you've done it before.

To determine if there is a fuel leak, jumper the test connector (yellow plug near boost sensor) and set the key to "RUN". Go under hood. Where fuel is spraying out is your leak.

Have you tested or replaced your alternator? It may not be charging correctly, which can lead to a weak spark and flooding out. Or perhaps one of your coils get really wet?

 

The first time I took mine off, we had to pry the UIM up off of the LIM...after that I could do it blindfolded. I'm no mechanic, so stuff takes me a while the first time I do it. After that, it's simple.

 

Well, I did have on : headlights, fog lights, radio, defroster, front wipers, rear wipers, and blower on HOT (RX's fog up like a BITCH when it's cold and/or raining out!).

OK, that would determine the low voltage... but why the sudden strong fuel smell?

 

If you sparkplug wires or one of your coils are begining to go, the wet weather would extremly worsen the situation, causing weak spark... when was the last time you replaced wires?

 

Ii've never replaced them....


But i'm more worried about the fuel smell .

 

Did you notice any loss of power? It wouldn't hurt anything to replace the spark plug wires. If they were going bad and not generating enough spark, you will not burn fuel properly and probably smell it.

If your really adventerous... try grabbing each of the plug wires while the car is running. IF you feel jolts.. replace your wires.

 

I really didn't notice a loss of power... um.. the roads were basically flooded, so i couldn't open up the throttle (was going 30mph). Felt steadyt and torque'y like it alwasys does though.

 

True... OTOH, most people haven't, so I don't like to tell people how easy it becomes, because the first time it's usually complicated

PaulC

 

OMG !! Just primed the system using the jumper wire and a HUGE stream of fuel sprayed into my face!! seems like the leak is coming from UNDER THE UIM!! ...

 

pusation dampner or fuel line is my guess. Smells good, eh?

PaulC

 

Well, at least you found it without setting the car on fire. There's always a bright side.

 

Well, I just got off the VDI manifold and... uh... YES it's the PD I'm just glad the rotary gods spared me the engine fire

I will post pics just now.. and I WILL make a complaint to NHTSA and a letter to Mazda. This faulty crap is completely Mazda's fault I can see why people like RETed are so angry about it. ...

 

Here you can see the PD in it's gasoline soaked glory!

 

Here it is spraying ouy fuel!!

 

Enhanced in case you can't make out the spray....



.

 

I'm thinking since it was soooo rainy... all the moisture in the air made it too hard for it to ignite... thankfully.