OK. I did the paperclip check engine light test and I got two codes.

One was "1 long followed by 7 short" which I think is a bad O2 sensor.

The second code was "2 long followed by 4 short" I can't seem to find this one anywhere.

Does anyone know the code? And am I correct about the first one?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Do you have the 6 cylinder engine?

1993-1995 Engine Controller Malfunction Codes

 

I forgot to mention that. Yes it's a v6 GS series

 

So, with a little luck it may be Code 24:
Codes 23 & 24: RHO2S Inactivation and/or Inversion
Sensor Purpose:
The oxygen sensors are located in the downpipes in the exhaust manifolds. There are two sensors, one on each bank (California cars may use additional sensors). The radiator-side of the engine is known as the "left" side and codes 15 and 17 apply to it. The firewall side of the engine is known as the "right" side and codes 23 and 24 apply to it.
The sensors are used to tell the PCME what the oxygen content in the exhaust stream is with respect to the ambient. From this, the PCME makes corrections to the injector pulse widths to maintain stoichiometry (i.e. about 14.7:1 air/fuel mixture). The sensors are used only when hot (they use heater elements to speed heat-up and reduce cold-start emissions) and when in "closed loop" mode (i.e. WOT is not closed loop).
A sensor will generally produce about 500mV output at stoich. When rich, the output voltage reaches a value above 500mV and when lean, the voltage falls below 500mV. The PCME tries to maintain 500mV average O2 sensor voltage so the averaged mixture is about 14.7:1.
The O2 sensors have 4-position connectors on them:
Fault Description:
Inactivation errors 15 (left) & 23 (right) indicate the sensor never "woke up" from cold. Cold sensors produce little or no output voltage. Once the engine RPM exceeds 1500RPM, the PCME expects to see the voltage on the sensor(s) go above 500mV within 100 seconds. If it does not, the inactivation code gets set.
Inversion errors 17 (left) and 24 (right) occur when the sensor stops responding to the PCMEs adjustments to the A/F ratio. Inversion refers to the sensor swinging back and forth (or inverting) across 500mV as the PCME alternately makes the A/F ratio slightly richer or slightly leaner. If the sensor does not mirror theses changes, the PCME will set the inversion code.
PCME Fault Control Moding:
When any of codes 15, 17, 23 and 24 are set, the PCME falls out of closed loop mode and instead relies on calculations rather than feedback to control the A/F mixture. The effect will be lowered gas mileage, smelly exhaust, carbon accumulation etc.
Memorization:
This code is memorized in the PCME non-volatile memory.
Things To Check When Diagnosing:
1. The generally accepted solution for these errors is to replace the offending sensor, assuming no connector or wiring fault exists.
2. For codes 15 and 17, replace the left (radiator-side) O2 sensor. For codes 23 and 24, replace the right (firewall-side) O2 sensor.

 

So with the codes that I got. You think it's 23 and 24? Sorry with all the questions, this is new to me.

 

OBDI is pretty badly messed up because there was no standard. Every manufacturer did his own thing and sometimes they did different things for different models.

My hope is that Mazda used the same system for all their 6 cylinder engines. The Ford Probe and the Mazda MX-6 are sister models. But your 1.8L V6 is an unusual animal. Non the less I hope they didn't reinvent the wheel, I mean OBDI or whatever they called it.

Here is how to read the "Morse" code: 2 long flashes followed by 4 short ones would equal "10 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1" which is 24.

So we know you have DTC 17 and 24. But we don't know for sure if 17 and 24 in your car are the same as 17/24 in the MX-6 or Ford Probe.

Reading through the part I pasted in the earlier post I was reminded of the OBDII code P0421, low warm up efficiency of the catalytic converter. It means the cat is less than 95% efficient. How about putting 1 gal of lacquer thinner, not paint thinner! in 1/2 tank of gas and driving it fro 100 miles or so. It cleans deposits of the catalytic converter.

Proceed with caution and a lot of finger crossing. Don't throw parts at it. If it truly is a HO2 sensor code than your sensor is probably O.K. But you can Google for how to bench test a Heated O2 sensor or any other part you suspect of malfunctioning.

Everywhere I read about the MX-3 with the 1.8 V6 people fell in love with it. I hope you get it straightened out.

 

Great info. I didn't know that's how you read "morse" code. Pretty easy when you put it that way. Thanks for the help. I'll keep you posted.

 

Something else I forgot to mention was that the check engine light wasn't on. However, I've seen it flicker and some trips it wouldn't run right (check engine light on) unless I shut off the car and restarted it and it would be fine.

I haven't gotten the o2 sensors yet, but today I changed to oil and replaced the fuel filter (something I bought awhile back, just didn't get around to it) and cleaned the battery. So I decided to clear the codes to see what would come up. All I was getting was code 41. O2 sensor codes are gone. I thought it was odd that I lost the olds codes and picked up a new one. Car runs great though. Any thoughts on the odd code changes?

 

Gotshafted:
The O2 sensor codes were put into the memory. You cleared the memory and the codes are gone. If they come back we will have to deal with them.

Here is something on 41.( I don't have time to read through all of it)
VRIS #1 Solenoid or circuit....need help!!! - Performance Probe Forum

 

I make it out to be vris #1 solenoid, camshaft position sensor, and coolant temperature sensor.