Engine bogs down and stops after six miles

BOBLOFTIS

MEMBER
1986 MAZDA B2000
2.5L
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
82,500 MILES

Runs great when first started and runs great for 6 miles almost exactly every time. Sit for five minutes, restarts and runs great for another 3 or so miles. The longer you sit, the farther it goes, up to about 6 miles. New fuel pump and ignition coil and fuel lines. It sat for a very long time and the tank was rusty. Cleaned it out so it should not be that, but I could be. Any ideas?

Monday, January 27th, 2020 AT 3:26 PM

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
34,366 POSTS

I've had this problem four times with three vehicles. It was caused by the screen attached to the fuel pickup becoming plugged or it is collapsing. There's three clues. The first is the engine runs fine at first. The second is it only takes 5 - 10 minutes before it will run again, (as opposed to at least an hour for a failing sensor to cool down).

The third clue only applies to fuel injected engines with the fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail on the engine. The stalling occurs most often when the highest volume of fuel is being pumped, which is during coasting. The engine will run okay at highway speeds or when accelerating.

The opposite occurs with carbureted engines like yours. There it is simply a matter of loss of volume, so the slower you drive, and with the least load on the engine, the longer it will run, until the gas is used up in the float bowl.

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Monday, January 27th, 2020 AT 3:45 PM