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I've changed my belts twice in a week. I've had the belts retensioned three times!
I have a terrible squealing noise ... not sure if it's the actual belt(s) or the alternator.
I priced alternators for this vehicle and went into shock!
$179 to $300 +
Have you had any success in resolving your issues ...?
The belts do stretch over time, but you shouldn't have to re-tighten them more than once a year tops. I think Gates belts are better than most.
The alternators on the Protege are generally good, but if it does go bad you could have a local alternator/starter shop rebuild it for probably $50-$100. This would require the car to be down for a few days.
Firstly, my car’s fuel efficiency declined. Normally, I would get 29.5-30.5 miles per gallon. These days it is always below 28mpg. So, I decided to check the engine. I removed spark plugs and noticed black soot on them, which tells you that too much gas goes into the cylinders. I started from checking fuel pressure regulator but it does work good as test showed. Second thing I’ve checked – the Oxygen Sensor. I ran test on it and it is definitely working. My check engine light is not ON either.
This is time to jump to my second issue.
When I drive, I noticed that my tachometer jumps up and then back down. For example, if I drive consistently with engine speed 3000 RPM. Looking at tachometer I would notice that the arrow would suddenly jump up to 3500 and immediately go down back to 3000. This happens sometimes every 5 seconds, sometimes just a few times on 20 miles trip. The engine sound doesn’t change, nothing hesitates, nothing else is happening besides the tachometer readings.
So, at first I didn’t want to tie these two issues together and now, after I checked engine parts for operability, I think may be this is tied together. May be a central computer (if there is one) is malfunctioning and causing a few issues at once.
Curious if anyone else got something like this?
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I have a 2000 Protege DX, 60k miles, manual transmission.
It has been doing a strange thing, mainly at freeway speeds of 60-75mph it does this little back and forth type jerk, doesn't slow down but the "jerks" range from small and lite to hard.
This is the second time my car is doing this, the first time they diagnosed the ignition coils were having white marks from wear and tear, those were replaced and it fixed the problem. Now its doing it again. I had the coils replaced again about 2 months ago and it did not fix the problem,
Any one experience these littel "jerks" i'm about to give up, no one can figure out what is causing it and no codes ever show up. This is getting expensive. :confuse:
The other option (likely the smart one) is to go see your dealer.
I bought a 2000 Protege ES two months ago with 177000 miles on it. Now i might sound crazy for buying a car which has that much mileage on it. But it was a love at first sight when i saw it. It had a full stereo system with dvd monitors and a lot of other bells and rings. The most appealing part was when i test drove the car. the 1.8 l engine coupled with the 5 spd tranny made me feel like i was driving a supercharged car comparing to my 93 civic with auto. And the price was al right. Since the purchase i've been challenging a lot of cars on the road and it shines in it's class. But recently i have noticed the idling problem and i am gonna work on that tomorrow. And by the way plz let me know if anybody recognizes my car (you may be the previous owner) It is a silver 2000 Protege ES with tinted windows, kenwood monitors, magnaflow exhaust, and clarion sub woofers in the trunk.
Is there anything else coming up that I can do preventatively?
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
The spark plugs are mounted in the cylinder head just like any other vehicle. On any DOHC engine, they will be straight through the top of the head.
Perhaps this is a job for your mechanic?
he's right!! Danged new-fangled models... Thanks to Hali @ cardomain for this pic from his space...
Anyway, if a person can't find the plugs, they should seriously think twice about changing them. I envision a stripped or cross-threaded hole, a broken coil or a boot pulled off of a wire.
Anyway the problem is i can be at a stop light and when the light turns green I push the gas and the car struggles to go. I can feel the engine trying to go and after sometimes up to 10 seconds the car spurts to life. This happens at intersections w/ lights and stop signs, when making turns that i slow down to turn and try to speed back up after making the turn, when i move back out of spots and then put the car in gear. The check engine light has been on for months, which i have had checked out but was told that it is a just an error. My oil was changed approx 1 month ago and I keep that up to date. This problem has been getting worse and is dangerous when i am making turns and trying to merge. Any suggestions on what this could be before i take it to a dealer so I don't get ripped off. I am super grateful for any advice!!
Thanks
An EGR that is stuck open can also lead to similar symptoms. This is normally only open under certain conditions.
I removed master cylinder cap..removed e- brake cable...removed caliper..removed pads (left inner one in to be used for pressure against c-clamp)..Problem...Rear pistons will not move in to make room for the new pads. I tried w/ bleeder valve open too...will not push in. I was told that the rear pistons need to be screwed in..upon examination, there are no notches or grooves or anything on the piston to insert piston removal tool.What am I overlooking? I think I explained ( I hope so ) everything. Any advice will be appreciated. And thanks for your time. Jim
This is the entire factory workshop manual for the protege/protege5 in pdf.
i think not.
perhaps you meant your alternator was being ruined constantly because of a bad battery and too much power draw from your stereo.
that i could see. :shades:
then again, you could have other problems. hard to say.
I don't know whether your radiator fins are vertical or horizontal on that car, but when you take the radiator cap off, can you see the ends of the fins....and do they look clean (ie. not all gunked up which would restrict coolant flow thru the radiator).
Is there an air purge screw on your thermostat housing (ie. no air block in the engine).
If you still aren't getting flow, I'd pull the thermostat out completely, and then verify that you have good coolant flow thru the radiator even at low temperature.
No i didn't replace the hose. But i did put a new head gasket on ,but i bought an 1.8 and just recently found out that the engine size is a 1.5 could that be the reason it wont crank.
Check your parts house, and see whether it's the same or different part number for the different engines.
When you took the head off, did you look to match up the gasket against the original?
Well today it would not shift into overdrive, the battery light came on, and then the air conditioner stopped blowing cold air.
But as soon as I started slowing down to make
a turn back onto the rd. I live on the battery light went off and the air started working again.
So I decided to drive it around a little more and when I got back on the main highway and started picking up speed it started doing the same thing all over again. As long as I drive about 20 to 35 miles an hour it's fine but when I try to go faster it will not shift to overdrive the battery light comes back on and the air stops blowing cold air.
Any thoughts would be appreciated alot.
Do I understand your symptom is when you hit the starter, it is not able to turn the crank of the engine?
If so, then it is possible that you put the head back on and the timing is off. When the starter is turning the crank and pushing the piston up into the cylinder during the exhaust stroke, the exhaust valve needs to open to get the air out of the cylinder. If your timing is off, then when the piston tries to move up the exhaust valve is closed, the air has no place to go, and it puts too much resistance against the starter.
Alternatively, if there is a leak of coolant into the cylinder during the compression stroke, that will stop the crank as well. Fluid can't be compressed.
Did you align the marks when putting it back together?
I now notice that when I'm driving, the air seems to lose a bit of pressure and then come back. I notice a slight decrease in temp as well when this happens. Also, while driving, when the air starts acting up, it feels like my car accelerates a slight bit and then goes back to normal. When I'm at idle and I have the air problem, I'll step on the gas and it feels like the car wants to jump out of its body.
The temp isn't what bothers me most, its the slight acceleration then decelaration of the car while driving at a steady speed. Any idea on what this could be? I had someone tell me it could be the compressor.
My 1997 Mazda Protege was rear-ended last week. The left corner of the rear bumper got punched in when the driver behind me tried to pass me in a right turn-off lane. Since that accident has occured I've noticed that the car's electrical circuit indicator (the battery) frequently lights up for about half an hour and then turns off. Could this be caused by the accident or is it a separate event?
Thanks