I just wanted to share that the car was stolen last year and was missing for 4 months. I'm assuming they must have driven the heck out of it. Is there anything in particular that would cause the engine's compression to fail? Thanks for all of your feedback!
Steve Says,
There are several things that can cause an engine to lose compression. If the timing belt has broken or if it is missing teeth it can cause a low compression problem.
If the head gasket is bad it can cause a loss of compression. If this is the case there will usually be other symptoms such as overheating, coolant loss, etc.
It is also possible that your engine is just worn out. When engines get older and/or have higher mileage they tend to start losing compression. If the oil wasn't changed when it should have been or if the air filter was not changed enough it could also cause low compression.
Jun 13, 2009 Rating
The End of 1998 Mazda Won't Start by: Suzan
Well I had the car towed to a mechanic that said the engine is not holding compression and said I needed a new engine. If this were your car, and the transmission was possibly slipping already, would you spend the money for a rebuilt engine ($135K miles on car right now) or look for another car? Does it always mean an engine is shot if it is not holding compression?
Steve Says,
No compression?...I didn't expect that. The first thing that you might consider is getting a second opinion...unless you have a good mechanic that you trust. At the very least have them show you the compression test so you can see the low compression with your own eyes.
Now as far as your question goes, I would probably just get a new car. Yours is getting older, higher mileage and if the tranny is slipping then that would mean more large repairs down the road. It would be better to just get something newer with fewer miles on it.
I'm sorry to hear that your car problem is so expensive to fix. From the symptoms it sounded like a fairly simple fix. I hope everything works out.
Jun 03, 2009 Rating
More Info on Starting Problem by: Suzan
Would you think the battery or alternator a culprit if I told you the lights, radio, and trunk opener still worked. Also, the car's computer has been checked since my last posting and I guess it shows the engine is misfiring and the knock sensor is bad. Someone I know replaced the distributor cap and rotor; they said the cap was cracked and rotor broken(I hope that makes sense)but the car still won't start. Now they want to replace the knock sensor. Does it make sense that the knock sensor would be causing a start problem? What do you think about looking for a used knock sensor? The knock sensor has been bad on my car since I bought the car in 2000...at least that's what I was told. Back then an auto repair service told me it would be about $400 to fix, but I opted not to because they said it only affected the function of the engine's computer. I figured I could exercise good old-fashioned maintenance and be okay without it. Thanks for your help!
Steve Says,
Thanks for giving me more of the story. The more information you can give me, the better! My advice is still the same. The first thing that needs to be done is to find out why you have to keep jump starting your car and why you keep hearing the clicking noise.
It is not uncommon for things on the car to work (like the lights and radio, etc.) even when the battery is bad. The reason for this is because these draw a relatively small amount of voltage when compared with the starter. It takes a lot of voltage to start a car and if it does not have enough in the battery it can cause your type of problems.
Checking the electrical system is just a starting point. A bad battery or alternator may or may not fix the problem, but it is important to know whether they are good or bad. There is no point in anyone spending lots of time doing a diagnosis on your car if you just have a bad battery cable connection or something simple like that.
The knock sensor generally will not make a car not start. Anyone who knows anything about misfires knows that an engine that has a misfire will commonly set a knock sensor code. You want to find out what is causing the misfire BEFORE you check out the knock sensor code. 95% of the time the knock sensor code will not come back after you repair the engine misfire.
I hope this has helped. Please leave another comment if you need more auto repair advice or help.
