Mazda Xedos 6 - Jerky drivetrain

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Sat 24 Mar 2001 17:45
Mazda Xedos 6 - Jerky drivetrain - david stone
I have a Mazda Xedos 6 2.0 V6 Sport. Its a 1996P model with 59,000 miles on the clock.

The problem is that I find that the car is practically impossible to drive smoothly in stop start traffic using 1st and 2nd gears. It's practically impossible to drive in stop start traffic in 1st and 2nd gears without there being a slight lurch in the drivetrain (the only way around this is to ride the clutch which isn't the best thing to do!) The clutch / accelerator / gearbox combo just doesn't seem to be harmony. The Mazda garage says the car is fine and there's no fault.

However, it is no way near as fluid as driving, say a BMW 318is Coupe (my old car), in the same conditions.

Anyone have any ideas or any experience or how to cure this?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Sat 24 Mar 2001 21:42
Re: Mazda Xedos 6 - Jerky drivetrain - Andrew Moorey (Tune-Up Ltd.)
Doesn't sound at all right. It is one of those nasty problems that can be caused by a number of things. A culprit could be the throttle position sensor being out of adjustment or faulty. The out-of-adjustment is usually caused when the throttle butterfly gets gunged up leading to engine stalling. Instead of the mechanic cleaning the area the throttle is "adjusted" from it's factory set position and the signals being sent to the ECU (brain) are out of kilter. The injectors may be fouled leading to poor fuelling at small throttle openings or the vehicle speed sensor may be at fault. Any or all of these faults would not neccessarily cause the warning light on the dash to illuminate or a fault to be logged in the computers memory. Driving style can sometimes be a contributing factor but is unlikely as you have not had it with the Beemer which is a very highly strung animal. A full diagnostic check would probably reveal the fault. Try Yellow Pages under Car engine Tuning.
Good luck
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Mon 26 Mar 2001 14:14
Re: Mazda Xedos 6 - Jerky drivetrain - andrew smith
I had a similar problem which was mostly cured by switching to super unleaded. The engine now go's off power more smoothly which seems to minimise the jerking.
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Mon 26 Mar 2001 20:51
Re: Mazda Xedos 6 - Jerky drivetrain - david stone
Thanks for the replies.

Do you reckon that the engine simply needs a tune up?

Its been serviced by a main Mazda dealer since new, but Andrew Moorey seems to have made some valid points?
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Wed 28 Mar 2001 20:50
Re: Mazda Xedos 6 - Jerky drivetrain - david stone
I'd tried that super unleaded suggestion and the car is a bit less jerky, but not completely bug free. I think I'm going to get it tuned a la Andrew Moorey's suggestion.

Thanks for the all the tips.
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