Hold light flashing / car runs like ass
 

Ok here goes.
One day I went to fuel up the car.Got it toped off and came home.Parked the car and went inside the house.About half an hour later I had to go somewhere so I started the car again.And well the car sorta ran but it just wouldnt go past 10 mph.I was like what he hell is this crap.Then a secondary problem arised.The car wouldnt start worth a damn.It was flooding.Replaced the wires and plugs.Nothing.Replaced the vacuum lines with silicone ones and also the entire rats nest solenoids all eight of em plus the engine duty solenoid.That set me back about a grand.Still nothing.Thought it might have been the fuel pressure regulator.Replaced that.Nothing.Took it to the dealer.They quoted me 500 bucks just to look at it.Told em to go fuck themselves.Took the car home.Then some luck.One day we meaning me and my father in law who is a mechanic decided to check the spark system again.
And the first trailing ignition coil wasnt firing.So I tested the coils using an ohm meter.The two trailing coils failed.
Ordered two new ones.And still the engine flooded.Through trial and error we found the small piece of harness that goes from the 3 ignition coils to the main harness to be the culprit.We took it off and removed the electrical tape.Cleaned the wires up and put some new tape on.Now all the coils are firing.But the car still wont go past 10 mphs.So now im back to square one.The weird thing is this.When pressing on the gas theres no real change in speed but sometimes theres a sweet spot where the car actually tries to go a little faster.Go past the sweet spot car goes back to 10 mphs.Let off the gas car goes back to slo mo. And sometimes the car actually drives fine.Weird.Also my car is an automatic and autos have a hold button for a manutronic type controll.Well this light is flashing and its not supposed to.So if anyone has any idea please help me out.Ive sank 2000 grand into the car and im still not able to drive it.This sucks

The transmission has an ECU of its own that has codes that should tell you some of the areas to check. If you have a manual, there is a way to check these codes. As far as the 10 mph thing, make sure that the rubber hose connections on the intercooler havent got splits or tears in them.
Just my 2 cents......

When the hold button light flashes, there is an error. The first thing you should do is check the CODES!! Ground TAT and GND terminals in you diagnose box. Go to page K-214 on your manual... Check the codes!!! Then go to to K-218 and K-218... hope this helps

Did you check your tranny fluid?? Hows the torque converter??

Yeah my father in law thinks it may be a torque converter problem 2.I didnt know that the tranny had an ecu of its own.How can i pull codes from it and where is it located? Who knows maybe a lose wire on it is causing all this.Thanx for the info guys.

The fluid is fine.Not low or contaminated.Rules that out.
Still it can be the torque converter.Ill check the intercooler hoses to see if theyre leaking.Im also in the process of changing out the front seal on the main pulley.Its leaking oil.Once its replaced im going to put it back toghether and im going to check for codes.Although ive checked it before with a obd 2 scanner and got nothing.Im going to check for codes old school and see if anything comes up.
Im also thinking of buying some starter fluid and spraying it in the engine bay to see if maybe theres a vacuum leak somewhere i havent looked yet.Thanx once again for the help guys.If you have any more ideas let me know.

check codes and then reset it, perhaps your in limp home mode

Disconnect your positive battery terminal, let the car sit for a few minutes, and reconnect. See what happens.

speeddemon7:

before i bought my car the torque converter was toast! It could barely move!! so the previous owner change it and voila... :D But im not sure in your case as its an on and off problem!?!

If it is a torque converter problem then i would suggest just replacing the auto wiv a manual... hehehe i know that's what i'll do... good luck ;)

Thanx for the help guys.Well tomorow im going to check for codes.Hopefully its something simple.I really cant afford a mazda tranny right now.They want 2200 for a remaned one.Thats just too damn much.Also quick question.Say my torque converter is toast.Can I just replace the torque converter?Or does the whole tranny need to be changed out?

Just a thought, but when I was trying to unflood my car (ended up being flooded with water, and not gas, but that's another story) I pulled the EGI and fuel pump relays and cranked the car a few times. The hold light was flashing. I put the EGI relay back in and the light stopped. Sounds strange and it's probably a long shot, but an EGI relay is a lot better than pulling out your tranny.

yes u can just change the torque converter... :D

like what i advise you, beter swap to manual then! second hand is ok as well ;) shop around dude

Do a "test" of the salvage yards in your area. Ask to price an automatic tranny for the FD. Then wait a few days and ask to price a MPV tranny. 5 to 1 says they will quote you a higher price for the "FD" tranny.
But they are the same transmission.

Thanx everyone for all the info.Ok so I went to rx7s.com and checked the manual out.It says ground the gnd and tat toghether and then watch the hold light.Good info but theres no pic of which of the holes to put the two wire ends.And they arent labeled which makes this damn near impossible to do without a pic.The only lead i have right now is that i know where the gnd is.Mainly because when i changed the fuel filter rob robinettes site shows how to prime the fuel system back up.Your run a ground wire from the gnd to the f/p.So i know where the gnd is but where is the tat?Im guessing tat stands for transmission automatic.If anyone can post a pic or hell even walk me on target id really appreciatte it.

bump.just keeping this posting within sight.I really need this info.

Check out your EGI system, specifically the relay. I know it sounds rediculous, but if you pull that relay out on an automatic the HOLD light will flash. If your car was having flooding problems I would check the EGI before I started messing with the tranny.

So you want me to pull out the egi relay to see if theres a change in the car?
Also the reason it was flooding was because of the ignition coil harness.The flooding issue is solved.At least i think it is.

He's saying check the relay and make sure it is working properly and not clicking on anf off.

the TAT and GND is in the Diagnose box. The black box near the fuse box. Open it and look inside. There should be a diagram. after u put the wire, put your key to on, but do not start the car. Read the codee!

Long flash = 10
short flash = 1

Count them and look up the codes!!

I know where the box is but it seems that either i got screwed and they forgot to put the diagram on the thing or the previous owner got rid of it.In any case I have no diagram.So doing the code test is impossible unless someone can show me a pic of the diagram or tell me exactly where in the diagnose box the tat is located.The gnd is located in the lower part of the box with two rows not the other section with three rows.
I know where the gnd is but not the tat.

?? no lable inside the cap of the diagnostic block?? check again....if there is no lable, I will try and locate the hole locations for you....

oops.....didnt read all the posts.....sorry.....I'll still check for ya...

ok so i feel like a dumb ass.I never thought to look inside the lid of the diagnose box.but sure as shit i double checked just now and there it was.So now im going to try and pull codes.Hope it proves fruitfull.Thanx guys.

Ok so i managed to pull two codes. code twelve and code 58.Im going to look them up.Hope its something easy to fix.

code 12 is the throttle sensor
code 58 atmospheric pressure sensor

im not sure how to fix them but what i know is that code 12 has something to do wiv the TPS (throttle pressure sensor). I fix this by recalibrating it using a voltmeter. A five to 10 minute work!! ;) Search damian's thread on the TPS

it also eliminate my fluctiating idle, rough idle... and ect...
do you have these symptoms?