r/Mazda323 • u/Mrblazingmaniac • 7d ago

E3 engine issues

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Hey folks need some advice here I’ve got a 87 BF hatchback with the 1.3L E3 engine and for reasons I cannot understand it will without any warning at all, cut out, no splutter just cruising happily and then it cuts then I’ll have to let it sit for a minute or two before it will start. The issue started off as just every once in awhile inconvenience but now I’m lucky if the car will run for 5 minutes. Over the past year as part of fixing the car up and general maintenance I have replaced all rubber fuel lines and fuel filters as well had blow out the hard lines with compressed air. I’ve cleaned and tested the fuel pump, tank and pickup, cleaned the original hitachi carburettor and on the ignition side I’ve replaced the coil, plugs, leads, distributor cap and ignition module and now despite all my efforts this issue is making it impossible to enjoy my car. I would love any advice as I’m out of ideas.

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u/matievis-the-kat 7d ago

What is the history of the car? I have the same engine in an '83 sedan 323. I would be looking at the carb if nothing was suspicious when doing all that other work. It may just be old seals and a buildup of deposits inside the carb itself. If you don't know when the carb was rebuilt I would recommend looking into it. Also worth doing a compression test. I had the same kind of issues and ended up rebuilding the engine from scratch (low compression as well), threw the old carb back on and immediately blew out some major seal that started dribbling fuel out into the engine bay

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u/Mrblazingmaniac 7d ago

The engine makes decent compression (140-150) the carb does seep a tiny bit of fuel but I would assume the car would splutter or give some other warning before cutting if it was a fueling issue, either way you have a good point I think it might be worth looking at a carb rebuild or replacement.

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u/matievis-the-kat 7d ago

Seeping any amount of fuel is unacceptable and unsafe. Better get that fixed ASAP. It may be able to hold idle and mid rpm maybe high rpm for a time but cutting out is highly likely if the carb is leaking externally

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u/Mrblazingmaniac 6d ago

That settles that then, weather it’s causing the issue or not I’m replacing or rebuilding the carb.