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Choke stuck open, and a bit of a story
My 88 wagon has been sitting for about a month, so today I felt like firing it up to take it for a spin. I had a hard time getting it to fire up. I pumped it a bunch then hit the key, no luck. I pumped it again, nothing. Thinking I had floodedm it, I let it sit for a bit then tried cranking it again. Nadda. I knew the gas gauge was completely below the empty mark so I was thinking it was out of gas so I started looking for my chainsaw gas. Couldn't find it so I decided to try the car again. I removed the air filter and looked at the choke, which was wide open. Aha, the choke wasn't closing, that's why it wouldn't start! So I get back in, pump the gas pedal at least 15 times and this time it fired up. It wouldn't idle very well, trying to get it to move was out of the question. I was still thinking it was out of gas so I was gonna try to limp it to the gast station. It struggled up the road til, at one point, I just revved it a bunch then it ran totally normally. Why would my choke be stuck completely open? Why when I revved it up did it go from running like shit, to running like normal? And now, for the story part..
The reason the wagon has been sitting for a month is because I had bought another car. I had grown tired of not having the rear defroster working, rear wiper wasn't working, heat is stuck on hot, adjusting the vents does nothing, Body has a few rust holes, exhaust flex pipe is cracked, gas tank is bad, those 2 used struts need replacing again, etc. I found a 1993 Mazda Protege 4 speed auto for 500 bucks. The car has a power sunroof, remote start and a bunch of new parts. Went and looked at it and it looked pretty nice, although the windshield was cracked along the bottom, one hole up in the LR fender and the LF wheel bearing needed replacing. I testdrove it and it seemed fine. Bought it, brought it home then about a week later I had transmission problems. These cars use a F4-AEL, closely related the the 4EAT used in numerous Subarus, Fords and others. The hold light is flashing, and it's a code 62 for 2-3 upshift solenoid shorting or failure. At this point, the transmission is still shifting through 1-2-3, but no 4th or lockup. After sitting a few days, the transmission was working normally again. A few days later and more tranny trouble, another code 62. Once again, a few days later and it was working fine. Now, just a few days ago I was out on the highway and the transmission dropped into 3rd at 65 mph, more trouble for me. Normally, when I had tranny trouble before it always happened at less than 30 mph. The transmission is only shifting to 1 then 3rd, still no 4th or lockup. The problem is obviously getting worse. I am going to try changing the filter and flusing the fluid sometime in the new year. I'm hoping it'll take care of the problem, but in the back of my mind I doubt it'll help much. These 4 speed autos were well known for problems, and sometimes they were just relatively simple electrical problems such as frayed wires into the shift solenoids or corroded connectors to the TCU. When these problems occur, you are supposed to stop driving the car as soon as possible in order to not cause any more damage and get it repaired. Little did I know at the time I bought the car, but the previous owner also had trouble with the transmission. He said it only happened to him once but now I doubt that. So, this means the car has been driven for some time while the transmission problem has been happening, and as a result some internal damage may have already occured. I have no real way of knowing if anything is damaged without taking the car to a transmission shop and having them check it out, and that would cost some money, especially if they have to go inside the tranny to find out what happened. I simply don't have the cash to pay for any extensive problem-finding or overhauls. I'm gonna try that flush and filter change and then if that doesn't help I may end up selling the Protege for parts and fixing up the Wagon.
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