02-06-2011, 09:49 PM
[size="3"]So I just got done with a 1660 mile drive in the car. [/size]
[size="3"]My first destination was to Daytona to watch the Rolex 24 hour race, got there on Friday and left on Sunday. Had a great time there, was a good race and the weather was great. I ended up parking my car next to my friends RV in an empty RV spot of the horseshoe straight. Every year Team Mazda buys the spot (at around $900) and never uses it and just gives it to us. The car was right out in the main pedestrian traffic lane and popping the hood and revealing the SC under their sure brings in a lot of traffic to the car. I slept in the car for the two nights I was there, I can definitely say it's not as comfy to sleep in as my 928 and the canvas top doesn't do a lot to keep in the heat on 40 degree nights.
[/size]
[size="3"]Moving on from there I headed over to Orlando for a couple days at Universal and headed out of there Tuesday night for a overnight stop in Venice. So far the car has been doing great, but from here it started to be not at its best. The car fired right up and was running great till I got to the stoplight leaving the hotel, I was headed across to a self serve car wash to clean off all the race track dirt, and it started to miss, had to rev it up and drop the clutch to get thru the light. So at this point I'm 540 miles into the trip and something is really wrong. So I get to the car wash, and it's closed (it's for sale if you looking for one in Venice), so I use the stall to dig in under the hood and check everything. I know it's ignition, it's feels to much like it, so I check the wires, pull a plug, everything looks good and it's only doing it from off the line at a low rev. Everything under there isn't that old, wires, plugs, cap, rotor, Hall Sender. [/size]
[size="3"]So I push on in my trip as there isn't much I can do with it at this point and at this point the miss off the line is sporadic, so it's onto Naples. On the way I find that on the highway it's running great and pulling strong in the rev range I'm running in between 2.5k to 5k. I tanked up in Naples and dropped the top on the car for the rest of the day, car is still missing. Now it's time to cross the Tamiami Trail, 80 miles of nothing but gators, caution signs for panthers, and a questionably running car (I do at least have beer in the trunk if I get stuck). Well the miss seems to have gotten worse, it's now missing if I go above 5k, but I'm still good to go in the 2.5k to 5k range.[/size]
[size="3"]I made it across the Tamiami Trail and decided if the car was going to die, what better place than my next destination, Key West. I figure I will deal with it some more down there and make a couple calls for advice. I made it all the way there, parked the car and proceeded to the bars for the night. The next morning around 10 or so, I make my way to Advance Auto in Key West where I found 4 NGK Iridium plugs. I tossed the plugs in at Advance it seemed better above 5k now, but it could just be that intermittent issue and there really isn't anywhere for me to open up the car on the island.[/size]
[size="3"]It's now Friday and I'm headed back home with a few stops on the way, Miami is one of the stops and I know I can find help there if it gets worse. On the way out of Key West I decided to get the car a hand wash as it was really dirty at this point with race track dirt and concrete dust down the side of the car. Well deciding to make a stop at South Beach in Miami was a big mistake. The traffic there is completely miserable; I was in stop light to stop light traffic for what had to be 3 hours or so. Making it more miserable was the heavy clutch in the car, the worn syncros in the transmission and that random miss off the line. It was also in the 90's at this point, but low humidity so it's wasn't bad. The car ran great temp wise, never above the first white mark even with the SC in there. The high speed fan was coming on a lot of course, but it was enough to keep it in check. [/size]
[size="3"]Completely done with the Miami experience and getting pissed off with the traffic, I moved onto my stop for the night Melbourne Beach. Found a nice German restaurant with plenty of beer on tap, it was also a nice drive to the restaurant in the cool night time air with no traffic. The next morning the car has had a nice break and is completely cooled off, the transmission shifts into gear much easier now and the miss isn't there and it's pulls nicely.[/size]
[size="3"]So now it's Saturday and I'm on my way back to South Carolina with a stop off at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Still a nice day, sunny and in the 80's. Only 300 miles to go till I get to my parents for the night in Hilton Head. I got about 50 miles from my stop for the night and I finally saw the check engine light blink on for the first time, didn't feel anything in the engine when it happened and the light shut right off. At least now I know something got triggered and a code should be stored. [/size]
[size="3"]It's now Sunday and I only have a hundred miles to go till I'm home. I did the blink test on the car before I left and I got a 1-2-3-4, which confirmed my suspicions of the problem, the Hall Sender. The 2 in the code signifies it's an intermittent issue, which I was also seeing. I was pretty convinced it had to be that after going thru everything else, but it's a new Bosch unit I just installed back in May.[/size]
[size="3"]Overall it was a good trip in the car, could have done without the unknown miss in the car so far from home, but it pulled thru and never left me on the side of the road. No issues with the SC and still have my original belt on there after what must be 5k or so miles on the install. The fuel mileage wasn't bad; I think the highest I saw was 24mpg. Overall for the 1660 miles I spent around $260 in fuel. So it wasn't all that bad. Now I just need to get a replacement Hall Sender, thankfully it's still under warranty. Oh and the only other part that seems to have been a casualty is the driver side door switch. The light no longer comes on with the driver's door open, but does with the passenger side.[/size]
[size="3"]For those of you looking out at the snow, you and your 968 could be looking out at this with a nice drive down to Key West, just bring a spare Hall Sender with you. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />
[/size]
[size="3"]My first destination was to Daytona to watch the Rolex 24 hour race, got there on Friday and left on Sunday. Had a great time there, was a good race and the weather was great. I ended up parking my car next to my friends RV in an empty RV spot of the horseshoe straight. Every year Team Mazda buys the spot (at around $900) and never uses it and just gives it to us. The car was right out in the main pedestrian traffic lane and popping the hood and revealing the SC under their sure brings in a lot of traffic to the car. I slept in the car for the two nights I was there, I can definitely say it's not as comfy to sleep in as my 928 and the canvas top doesn't do a lot to keep in the heat on 40 degree nights.
[size="3"]Moving on from there I headed over to Orlando for a couple days at Universal and headed out of there Tuesday night for a overnight stop in Venice. So far the car has been doing great, but from here it started to be not at its best. The car fired right up and was running great till I got to the stoplight leaving the hotel, I was headed across to a self serve car wash to clean off all the race track dirt, and it started to miss, had to rev it up and drop the clutch to get thru the light. So at this point I'm 540 miles into the trip and something is really wrong. So I get to the car wash, and it's closed (it's for sale if you looking for one in Venice), so I use the stall to dig in under the hood and check everything. I know it's ignition, it's feels to much like it, so I check the wires, pull a plug, everything looks good and it's only doing it from off the line at a low rev. Everything under there isn't that old, wires, plugs, cap, rotor, Hall Sender. [/size]
[size="3"]So I push on in my trip as there isn't much I can do with it at this point and at this point the miss off the line is sporadic, so it's onto Naples. On the way I find that on the highway it's running great and pulling strong in the rev range I'm running in between 2.5k to 5k. I tanked up in Naples and dropped the top on the car for the rest of the day, car is still missing. Now it's time to cross the Tamiami Trail, 80 miles of nothing but gators, caution signs for panthers, and a questionably running car (I do at least have beer in the trunk if I get stuck). Well the miss seems to have gotten worse, it's now missing if I go above 5k, but I'm still good to go in the 2.5k to 5k range.[/size]
[size="3"]I made it across the Tamiami Trail and decided if the car was going to die, what better place than my next destination, Key West. I figure I will deal with it some more down there and make a couple calls for advice. I made it all the way there, parked the car and proceeded to the bars for the night. The next morning around 10 or so, I make my way to Advance Auto in Key West where I found 4 NGK Iridium plugs. I tossed the plugs in at Advance it seemed better above 5k now, but it could just be that intermittent issue and there really isn't anywhere for me to open up the car on the island.[/size]
[size="3"]It's now Friday and I'm headed back home with a few stops on the way, Miami is one of the stops and I know I can find help there if it gets worse. On the way out of Key West I decided to get the car a hand wash as it was really dirty at this point with race track dirt and concrete dust down the side of the car. Well deciding to make a stop at South Beach in Miami was a big mistake. The traffic there is completely miserable; I was in stop light to stop light traffic for what had to be 3 hours or so. Making it more miserable was the heavy clutch in the car, the worn syncros in the transmission and that random miss off the line. It was also in the 90's at this point, but low humidity so it's wasn't bad. The car ran great temp wise, never above the first white mark even with the SC in there. The high speed fan was coming on a lot of course, but it was enough to keep it in check. [/size]
[size="3"]Completely done with the Miami experience and getting pissed off with the traffic, I moved onto my stop for the night Melbourne Beach. Found a nice German restaurant with plenty of beer on tap, it was also a nice drive to the restaurant in the cool night time air with no traffic. The next morning the car has had a nice break and is completely cooled off, the transmission shifts into gear much easier now and the miss isn't there and it's pulls nicely.[/size]
[size="3"]So now it's Saturday and I'm on my way back to South Carolina with a stop off at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Still a nice day, sunny and in the 80's. Only 300 miles to go till I get to my parents for the night in Hilton Head. I got about 50 miles from my stop for the night and I finally saw the check engine light blink on for the first time, didn't feel anything in the engine when it happened and the light shut right off. At least now I know something got triggered and a code should be stored. [/size]
[size="3"]It's now Sunday and I only have a hundred miles to go till I'm home. I did the blink test on the car before I left and I got a 1-2-3-4, which confirmed my suspicions of the problem, the Hall Sender. The 2 in the code signifies it's an intermittent issue, which I was also seeing. I was pretty convinced it had to be that after going thru everything else, but it's a new Bosch unit I just installed back in May.[/size]
[size="3"]Overall it was a good trip in the car, could have done without the unknown miss in the car so far from home, but it pulled thru and never left me on the side of the road. No issues with the SC and still have my original belt on there after what must be 5k or so miles on the install. The fuel mileage wasn't bad; I think the highest I saw was 24mpg. Overall for the 1660 miles I spent around $260 in fuel. So it wasn't all that bad. Now I just need to get a replacement Hall Sender, thankfully it's still under warranty. Oh and the only other part that seems to have been a casualty is the driver side door switch. The light no longer comes on with the driver's door open, but does with the passenger side.[/size]
[size="3"]For those of you looking out at the snow, you and your 968 could be looking out at this with a nice drive down to Key West, just bring a spare Hall Sender with you. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />
Current:
2016 Cayman S
Former:
94 968 Cab 6 Spd. Black/Cashmere D1R SC
86.5 928 Garnet Red Metallic
(This post was last modified: 02-06-2011, 09:52 PM by banditsc.)
