Mazda Protegé

mazdafun

boggse

All three of the Triangle area dealers are Mazdaspeed!

townhall9

There was a good amount of discussion, recently, about the benefits of anti-lock brakes. I do not know exactly how much time/distance the drivers of the wreck had to react, but please "keep your eyes open", and remember that, especially in a Pro, a quick flick of the wrist, combined with stomping on the gas can, sometimes, do more good, in an emergency, than hitting the brakes.

snagy1

i'm at 26,000 miles on my 2001 pro, mainly highway miles, when have you guys had brakes done?, i have disk in front and drums in back, i can feel the pulsating of the front rotors already so i know am close.

mazdafun

Might mean one of your rotors is a little warped.

I've got 29,000 miles on my original pads. I figure they're at about 30-40% of nominal thickness, so I think I can go to about 40,000 miles before thinking of changing the front pads.

You'll know when you're down to the very last bit as the metal shims will cause annoying screechy sounds to come from your front brakes.

I've got rear drums too. From past experience, I plan on changing the shoes every other front brake pad change.

vocus

I was rough on the brakes in my 1999 Protege DX, a front disc/rear drum setup. I had to have my pads replaced at 26K miles as well, and the rotors were resurfaced. That cured all the problems in the brakes for my car at the time.

jeffy729

I was pretty gentle with my '99 Pro brakes. They had 53K on them when I got rid of it and they were still fine (they were about the thickness of yours at the 30K service). You might be able to go at least that long.

mazdafun

Depending on how much you zoom zoom and chirp chirp.

vocus

I know I beat the crap out of the DX I had, that's probably why the brakes went so soon.

protegextwo

Well, Paul I hope a car you own, never returns the favor....? :-)

-larry

vocus

I hope not either. My co-worker always said I needed a car that was built to handle the type of driving that I do, when I had the Protege. He was always trying to get me into a European car, even let me drive his C230 Benz. Well, it worked...

newcar31

how a European car can withstand any more abuse than any other car. It depends on what kind of car it is, not where it came from. My old Mustang could withstand more abuse than my Protege or a Jetta because it was designed to. I could break something on your Jetta in about 5 seconds if I wanted to. I would destroy the Protege if I drove it like a Mustang V8. The Mustang wouldn't be as easy to destroy with it's heavy duty transmission and sturdy live rear axle meant to cope with 300+ lbs-ft of torque.

vocus

I drove the Protege pretty hard when I had it (both of them), and the ES started to have a loud squeak within 15K miles. Come to think of it, the DX had a shifting problem when downshifting to 2 for passing. It would slip sometimes. This problem became more apparent as the car got higher mileage on it. Also, I warped the rotors on the ES, and went through a set of pads on the DX in 26K miles of mostly highway driving. I know it was because I brake pretty hard. On the ES, the rotors warped because I washed the car with cold water right after driving it in a little stop-and-go traffic.

protegextwo

"My co-worker always said I needed a car that was built to handle the type of driving that I do..."
-vocus

I think a Hummer should cure your problem.

-lovetrain

fowler3

Been a while, but I check by once in a while.

Looks like the "same old" with Vocus. Usual small problems with a few Pros. My 02 Pro is still running fine, just needs an oil change. Still smells new after 17 months and only 9800 miles.

Is it time to trade yet?

fowler3

boggse

Yes, but only for the sake of your Pro. 17 months and 9800 miles? Get out there and drive that thing! BTW, how is your 2002 17 months old? I though the new models came out in the fall.

iradel

Why do you all use 87? Won't premium (or whatever it's called) give you better performance?

jeffy729

The Protege 2.0 liter engine is designed to run on 87 octane regular (actually, I think all the Pro' engines past and present are). Putting Premium in it just gives you expensive exhaust. You won't net any performance gains out of it. That's one of the great consumer frauds is the way most oil companies quietly infer you get better performance from premium when you car wasn't made to use it and doesn't need it.

I did use 91 mid grade in my pre-knock sensor '99 Protege, but it did help the slight pinging. It didn't run any stronger or faster with it.

dinu01

Jeffy's rite on it: useless, unless required by the manufacturer.

Dinu

protegextwo

Jim, glad you stopped by. My 2000 PRO-ES smells new every time, I open the moon roof. Pretty cool. How is Tippy, your beloved Protege co-pilot and mans best friend? Please, post a little more often. Your common sense and well written posts are missed by my-self and I'm sure many others at this board.

-larry

justdrifting

Hello,

I thought that the suggested maintentance plan recommended that I replace the spark plugs around 30K miles.

I then called the local shop and they said I should have platinum plugs in there already, which should be good for 100k miles.

Anyone know exactly what kind of plugs are in these 2000 Proteges and when I should swap them out?

Thanks in advance!

dinu01

protegextwo

30,000 mile tune up.

-larry

edmund2460

I thought the last time this was talked about, the consensus was to use premium? Am I wrong that the owner's manual says 91 octane? would that not be higher than mid-grade?

dinu01

I thought the consensus was to use regular 87, as 89 might damage the engine and 91/92/93 are a waste of $.

Dinu

glideslopes

I put new NGK's in my 00 ES 5-Speed at 25,000.

27,000 on her now, and she still purrs. Still only have the one small scratch on the rear spoiler, and the RE 92's! She still smells and looks like the day I picked her up!

Regards,
Mark.

p.s. Anyone want to buy a 97 Quest so I can pick up my 02 MPV?

protegextwo

Use regular 87 octane as per Mazda Protegé Owners Manual.

-larry

protegextwo

The Mazda MPV is a nice van! Mark, good luck selling the Quest. :-)

-Larry

bluong1

why 89 octane might damage the engine? And btw my manual recommends gasoline of 87 OR HIGHER, (R+M)/2 method (average of research and motor index).

Bruno

snagy1

at 15,000 miles, i changed the air filter ( it was pretty dirty, i was surprised), and also the spark plugs, i put in split fire. have over 27,000 miles on my 01 pro-lx 2.0 now. i will be wondering if the split fire will last longer than my original plugs did.

bluong1

When I brought my car to the dealer for 15k miles service, I asked if the spark plugs need to be changes, the manager told me that it will be just a waste of money, the spark plugs are good until at least until 60k miles.

Bruno

newcar31

I replaced my spark plugs at 15,000 miles and the old ones looked like crap. It's only about $4 to replace them, so I don't see how it could be a "waste of money".

bluong1

Also if they look like crap, isn't that mean that there is too much deposit in your engine? May be you should use more detergent then.

Bruno

mazdafun

Spark plugs are relatively cheap and easy to replace.

I usually do mine at about 30,000 miles, or sooner if I detect a dropoff in performance or fuel economy (check it out, you'll get about 2mpg more after changing the oil, oil filter, air filter and spark plugs...at least that's what I average...then it's a slow decline after that).

dinu01

Unfortunately I can't find the source, but in Canada 87 is recommended, hence no point using higher.

There was a discussion about this in the Protege Problems board not more than 2 mths ago, in much detail, etc.

For myself, I use 87 and that's it.

Dinu

bluong1

higher octane than the minimum required. However, people have tendency to state wrong arguments and tell that it's worse performance-wise to use higher octane, which I haven't found any scientific prove. For me the true is:

(i) using higher octane doesn't improve the performance.
(ii) using higher octane doesn't degrade the performance
(iii) no long term harm for the engine.

Some oil companies might put greater amount of detergent on the higher octane gas. This aspect has been analyzed and tested few year back by an europeen magazine.

Bruno

boggse

Well, I broke down and ordered new tires for my 2001 ES. I ended up talking myself into getting the Toyo Proxes T1-S. I found a local wheel shop that could get them for me at $135 each. I probably could have beaten that at some of the places I found online, but I like to give the local guy my business when I can. He charges $50 for mounting and balancing. He has a machine that balances the wheel before he puts the tire on. He also uses a mounting apparatus that is supposed to avoid scratching up the wheel. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

For the record, my Dunlop SP Sport 5000m tires have 17,800 miles on them with 3/32 of tread remaining. One of them has recently started to go out of round which prompted me to order early. It is barely noticeable except when coasting at about 30-50 mph, but the guy I ordered my tires from confirmed my suspicions, although he did say I was being overly sensitive, and that it was barely out of round. I'll post some pictures on that other site when the work is complete.

townhall9

Use "regular" spark plugs. If you use the long life ones, and don't touch them for 100k miles, they will be "frozen" in place & the heads will have to be taken off the engine. Use low octane gas, unless you have a ping. If you do have pinging, try different brands of "low grade" before you pay more for higher grade.

maltb

Use anti-seize compound when replacing spark plugs and you won't have to worry about them being frozen: at 30k or 100k.

townhall9

I've used never freeze products, with good results, on other applications. But I've read too many accounts of long life plugs having to be drilled out - that were installed by mechanics that should have known what they were doing. I'll stick to regular plugs.

bluong1

from the ping. Modern engines, including the FS-DE used in the Pro have antiknock sensor, which delay the spark plug timing when ping is detected.

Bruno

townhall9

Help me out here. Is not pinging caused by premature ignition. Ignition that is caused by factors other than the spark of the spark plug?

snagy1

i agree with the plugs being frozen, i would not risk leaving a plug in for 100,000 miles. the overall cost of spark plugs is about 1 to 3 dollars per plug, thats not alot of money. plus plugs are easy to change on most cars, so can be a do it yourself type deal.

bluong1

If the spark time is retard, the max pressure and temperature of the compressed mixture goes down, this because the gases expand in the same time than the piston goes down, just lower pressure and temperature will avoid pinging, but the engine will loss efficiency, i.e., horsepower.

Bruno

shrique

I'm still getting that rattle when the car is cold and below 2500rpm's. Someone once posted that their was a TSB or something coming out about it. Just wondering if anything every happened on that. One theory was that it was the computer messing with the timing when the engine is cold that caused the rattle.

2002 Protege5

dsm6

From an earlier post:

"2.0L Engine Noise
This is what Mazda has to say about it, I think we should push them to come up with a fix faster, come on it has been a problem since the middle of 2000! What do you think? I would like someone to explain the jargon that they use VTCS plates? what are there function? What does ECT stand for and what is its function? Also they use the term "believed" to be the problem which means they are not sure or are trying to limit their responsability!
The dealer noted the noise and gave me a bulliten from Mazda.
Category: B Piston Engine
Repair Reference # 3562
Subject: 2.0L Engine noise with cold coolant temp
ALL 2.0L between 2001-2002 are affected
Customer may experience an engine rattle under light to moderate acceleration with engine coolant temps below 149 deg F and engine rpm's between 1500 to 2500.
Confirm noise only occurs within the VTCS ( Variable Tumble Control System) operation "valve closed" period (when ECT is below 149 deg F)
This noise is currently believed to be the result of the timing between VTCS plates "opening", and the ignition spark advanc command. This is an operating characteristic of this engine and no repair attempts should be made. Although the noise is present only during cold start up and disappears once the engine coolant reaches 149 degrees F, Mazda realizes that it is an annyance to some customers and its engineers are investigating possible countermeasures in an effort to address customer satisfaction. "

newcar31

It has something to do with emissions. I think if Mazda "fixed" it, the car would no longer be a ULEV which is why Mazda is twiddling their thumbs on this one and hoping people won't care. It isn't just the "rattle" that I notice, there is also a slight decrease in power in the affected RPM ranges. It does go away when warmed up. I think it is just a programming band-aid to get the old 2.0L ULEV compliant. I'd bet there is a way to rig it so that you do not experience this, but your car will no longer be ULEV. Usually Maltb can help out with these kinds of things, but for some reason, he's been avoiding this subject like the plague. ??????

boggse

VTCS is essentially the modern replacement for a choke as I understand it. I have no idea how it works. ECT is obviously Engine Coolant Temperature. So far, I am lucky in that I do not experience this.

newcar31

That's weird. All 2.0L engines are affected.

boggse

The TSB states:

Customer may experience an engine rattle...

I, thankfully, do not.