05 Mazda 3 Hot/Warm Start Problems
 

Hi all,

I've got an 05 Mazda 3 2.3L with ~206k miles on it that is giving me issues.

Last year I went on deployment about April and got back in January. I asked my friend to drive my Mazda but alas he fell through. Every since I got back my car has been having issues with starting.

I've bought a new car so I don't drive it very often, maybe once or twice a month or so. It always starts fine first try but if I turn it off it won't run. The car turns over strong and I'll hear it try to run for about 1/2 a second, but it dies. If I repeat the process it will usually cough into running after about 5-30 tries. If the car is more hot, it is more like 30.

So far I've replaced the battery, spark plugs, and the camshaft and crankshaft position sensor. I replaced the last two because an engine light showed and that's the code it showed, and the symptoms of those being bad are similar to the problem I'm having is. I think what happened with that light triggering though was because a friend and I were messing with some connectors under the hood and maybe triggered it to go off.

I'm kinda at a loss with this one and have done some searching but can't seem to find the answer. Sorry if this was a little ramble-y, just trying to provide enough info for a diagnosis. Thanks for any help!

If you were gone for a while, you may have a bunch of bad fuel in the tank, especially if you live in an area where the fuel has ethanol.