Just saying Hi

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum and new to the Mazdaspeed platform. I guess I technically owned a Mazda a long time ago as a 1990 Ford probe with the 2.2 liter engine and standard transmission. Nothing fancy but it sure was reliable.

I started out modifying Honda and Acuras in the late 90's early 2000's. Which lead me down the path of becoming an automotive mechanic. I did that for about 10 years then burnt out on anything car related.

Many years later I started to get that urge to buy a car to tinker on. I started looking online for mainly standard transmission Japanese cars and came across the 2009 Mazdaspeed 3 that I currently own. When I bought it last summer it had relatively low miles for the year, I think it was around 68k when I bought it. It was a two owner car, never left the state and the owner before me maintained it very well. The only aftermarket upgrade being the wheels. Still have the stock wheels that I plan on refinishing and replacing the aftermarket wheels with.

I have recently installed CorkSports HPFP internals, Corksports stage ll intake/TIP and a Cobb access port currently running Cobb ots map. Looking at starting the custom tune process fairly soon. After doing a decent amount of lurking on forums I think I will be using Freektune or PD for that.

Looking forward to learning as much as I can about this car and hopefully I can contribute some of my learned knowledge from years of turning wrenches.

 

Welcome. You have started off with the right parts, HPFP and AP. Next regularly recommended is a catch can, some of our Approved Vendors have excellent units.
Hope you get many miles and horses!

 

Welcome. I’m not even the owner of the MS3 my kid is but I’m such a car junkie I find myself in here a lot. Just going through threads to get a feeling for the platform to help the kid out.

 

Whalecum to MSO! You cannot go wrong with freektune or Purple drank Justin and will are amazing at what they do.

I'd get off that Cobb map garbage asap even if you just get an ots+ from freektune, speaking from experience doing that myself the difference it made for the drivability of the car is just amazing!

 

Word! Beefwhore I start the tune I wanna know if I'm either being paranoid or just looking at fuel pressure too much. I've noticed that some times at idle it will drop to 270ish then pop back up to the 400s. I did the PRV test and it opens at 1780-1800. I see 1850 thrown around a lot for that valve and was wondering if there a range, like +/- 50?

When I did the pump internals everything looked good as far as wear goes, but it was pretty dirty. The original internals looked like they were in good condition. I didn't see any witness marks indicating any damage. Unfortunately I have no idea what it was doing before as far fuel pressures go...

 

Welcome!

 

Thank you!

 

Welcome man! Seems like you have done some research which is great! As far as fp goes I think it is normal somewhat as long as it stays steady during wot. If I'm not mistaken it is because it is driven by the cam lobes so sometimes it fluctuates a bit but wot is when you should make sure it doesn't dip. Should stay above 1600 no matter what during wot or else that is a concern.

 

1850psi is the crack pressure on the PRV, doing the PRV test with the engine off has nothing to do with the hpfp internals being upgraded our not as it'll do it even on a bone Stock pump, Infact the hpfp isn't even running during the test. There's no +/- on it that I'm aware seems like you're okay the engine has to be hot to get it to read properly it is not you'll get a low value. However it seems like you valve is " k" but with 50-80 psi low ( there's no +/- that I'm aware of) it would appear to be that it's on its way out.

 

Also, in the system there is a Spill valve. This controls the fuel entering the HPFP chamber. It can be removed and cleaned like in
this thread by JT.
You had mentioned the internals looked dirty, might be worth it while you are playing in that area. The spill valve is controlled by the ECM, check wiring and grounds in the vicinity of the fuel pump.

 

I will mess around with it some more this weekend and see what I come up with. Thanks for the info!

 

Welcome to the forum! It's great you've been doing research. Not a lot of people do that lol. Some just hop on and ask a bunch of questions without actually searching for anything.

In my experience with the fuel pressure issue you've seen, I have seen that on my car in the past. If your car isn't chugging or running rough at idle I wouldn't stress it. The momentary drop in RPM can affect the HPFP pressure seeing as how the HPFP is driven off the camshaft.

Try to force the car to drop RPM by activating all your loads quickly with the car warmed up. Your loads being high beams, AC, blower motor, etc. If your reading isnt staying below 400 then you're probably ok. It could also just be a dirty pump/spill valve.

 

I'm sure it's fine and I'm probably overthinking it, but would rather be safe than sorry. I guess I can use my points to buy that corksports rebuild kit for the pump

I'm going to keep my eye on that prv, I've tested it a few times after driving the car for 20 min or so, so it was warm and pressure went up fairly quickly. I will definitely look into cleaning the entire pump. Probably get that done before I proceed with the tune.