Is it my radio or what???

[Tim]

The other day, whenever I started my car to get to school I heard this loud buzz come from the front passenger speaker. It was present as long as the ignition was on (regardless if the engine or radio was off). After about 2 minutes it went away.

Now whenever I start the car and the engine's cold, the buzz will come back but go away anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes later.

Any ideas as to the cause of this? Time for a new radio maybe?


Regards,

Tim

[DetroitDon]

Sounds like ignition interference.......possibly a plug wire, but most likely one of the plugs is causing the problem.

Don

[gomer]

Could it be that this is the seat belt buzzer? , I believe it is underdash on the drivers side.

[FB71]

Tim,

There's an RFI capacitor bolted to the side of the distributor, with a single lead extending to ignition coil. Its an electrolytic capacitor, and they have a limited life span, so it may be time to replace it. Don't sweat it, its not hurting anything other than your ears, and you don't need a Festiva or Mazda specific one to replace it. Go to a boneyard, look for a late model anything (I tend to gravitate towards Fords ), find the coil pack, and you'll see a small black box/cube, silver canister, etc, bolted to it, with one lead extending to the coil pack's positive lead. cut it loose, remove it, bring it home, and replace yours with the newer one.

[Tim]

Tim,

There's an RFI capacitor bolted to the side of the distributor, with a single lead extending to ignition coil. Its an electrolytic capacitor, and they have a limited life span, so it may be time to replace it. Don't sweat it, its not hurting anything other than your ears, and you don't need a Festiva or Mazda specific one to replace it. Go to a boneyard, look for a late model anything (I tend to gravitate towards Fords ), find the coil pack, and you'll see a small black box/cube, silver canister, etc, bolted to it, with one lead extending to the coil pack's positive lead. cut it loose, remove it, bring it home, and replace yours with the newer one.

That's a very likely cause. I'll look into it and see if it makess a difference....

Regards,

Tim

[mechanicaldj]

might be the residuals from the radiation, from staring and posting too much on certain web sites............................................. .................................................. .................................................. ............post slut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tim]

post slut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone commented!!!!!!


That's a very plausible theory about the radiation you got going there...

I'll have to look into that as well.


Regards,

Tim