Re: VCTS
 

If you disconnect the solenoid connector (the electical connector) you will get rid of the noise, but youll probably get a check engine light that wont go away.

What you need to do is leave the connector as is, and disconnect the vacuum hose that goes to the vacuum actuator that moves the VTCS plates. This will avoid the check engine light. I have been running like this for about 13,000 miles without a problem, other than throttle response which is a bit more jerky, but only when engine is cold. If you do search on "cold engine rattle, you will get more details on this than you ever wanted to know :)

Re: VCTS
 

To address any additional affects...

I asked my dealer service manager about the rattle about a month ago and he said that he went to a training where this was covered, and he said that Mazda had no planned fixes for this, and basically I needed to live with it. I'm not really sure if this guy was trustworthy, as he also told me there were no service bulletins for the clutch chatter I've experienced (contrary to the info on this sites FAQ).

Anyway I asked him what would happen if I would disconnect the vacuum hose to get rid of the noise, he said I would get a check engine light. When I told him I didn't when I was "experimenting" (I've really been driving with the vacuum hose disconnected for about 13,000 mile)) he said it would be bad because it could foul the plugs. Fair enough... duly noted.

Today I had a bit of spare time and I pulled one of the plugs and found it to be a nice light tan color with no deposits on the electrode area. Again, this is after 13,000 miles with the hose disconnected. I'm running on the assumption that the rest of the plugs should be fine. So far, after this "mod" I have not seen any evidence to indicate harm to any system on the car, based on drivability or plug color. Has anyone else noted any issues by disabling the VTCS?

One possible area of concern that I really have no way of testing, is whether on not the primary catalytic is suffering any effects, since it may be working a bit harder to clean the exhaust. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

BTW... anyone trying to find out how to disconnect the vacuum hose should read up on previous detailed posts (search) to get important details.

I called my dealer to see if they have received this fix, no luck. Perhaps they are just testing it out on some customers cars in the Toronto area?

Good deal
 

Disconnected, and plugged the VTCS vacuum hose that leads to the diaphram. Works like a champ! No more cold start rattle noise, no CEL.

I'll report back with fuel economy variance (if any.) Hopefully this won't make that big a deal.

Thanks all,
Jim

All this technical talk... VTCS VTS... blah blah. For the half of us who don't have mechanical expertise (the one's who need this discussion board for advice)...

My car gets this vibrating noise too, it sounds like its coming from underneath the car or from the exhaust area. The noise goes away after the engine warms up after driving for a few minutes, and only happens when it is cold outside (when i mean cold i mean temps below 30F) here in minnesota.

So what is the exact situation with the dealer fix?? The message seemed not very clear from people's posts... did the dealers (here in the US) blow you off and said "you have to live with it" or did they find a way to fix this damn engine rattle problem? Because I'm brining my car to the dealer for service, and I want to be able to tell him exactally what it is so he doens't just tell me "i didn't find anything wrong with the car" and not fix it.

thanks
~peace

The dealers here in Fairfax and in my hometown of Pittsburgh all came up with different reasons for the noise and the end result was that I'd have to live with it!!! Those bastards!!!...LOL!!!:D

God damn it... are you serious? It is fuking annoying as hell... and I live in MN so the winters are way to freakin' long to have to deal with that every morning!!!

I swear to god.... this is my first Jap car that I've owned too, and I'm not too impressed. This sure as hell doesn't happen with the American car's I've driven in the past. And sure the Domestic cars may be of lower quaility, but at least the companies live up to that and fix the problems (i.e. all the Ford, GM recalls that happen every year).

I own a 95 Cobra Mustang as well, and it had alot of problems, but at least Ford addressed, and fixed all of the problems by recalling repairs to all of their cars. Whereas Mazda doesn't seem to give a rip about this very very anoying engine rattle... man I want to break something right now... and I just bought this Pro ES like 2 months ago, it only has 3000 miles!!!!!!!!! GOD DAMN IT!!!

~peace

I know what you mean my car has less than 3,000 miles on it and it sounds like shit! I work for the government, work hand-in-hand with DOJ and have friends in other agencies so I'm actually looking into some sort of legal action. I don’t really WANT to take any legal action and I’m not one of those people who take people to court all the time but this is not right what Mazda is doing. They know about the problem that plagues many of us and because of their own financial concerns they are just going to let us hang out to dry and deal with this problem. It doesn’t matter to me that it doesn’t affect performance or any other factor in the cars performance or reliability, and I don’t care if it goes away after it warms up. No matter how you look at it this noise is caused by a problem or design flaw, I seriously doubt Mazda designed the car to sound that way. I don’t care what they have to do to fix it they should HAVE to fix it no matter what the cost to them!! I really like the car, I really do, and I feel that I got a good deal on it but I would not have bought this car if I had known that it would make this noise. All I really want to do is put some pressure on Mazda to get off their greedy lazy asses and fix the problem, no matter how much of a small problem they say it may be, like they should.

The cold start rattle is the valve lifters when theyre cold, and the oil i still thick so thats why it makes noises. Mine kinda sounds like a diesel at idle as well when its warmed up, im reading that this is normal, a lot of people have this noise. Hm... weird.

This thread's from way back in 2002 .. I don't even think any of those members are still around.