Mazda Protege5 Maintenance and Repair

meinrad

LoL, that is at least the 4th I've heard have the rears wear out first. Seems so goofy.

bluong1

Unless if you drive more often in reverse than forward and/or if the hand brake can't release correctly the pads, it's impossible that the rear pads wear out before the front one.

Bruno

screeli

i have been looking for a good sporty car to buy for six months now and have narrowed my search down to 2 cars

by the way, i have bought and am in process of selling a 96 eclipse in that time(which i am very unpleased with)

i have not yet driven the 98 accord coupe but assume that it is similar to the pr5

i have found both to have high remarks in reliability and i enjoy the style of both

the pr5 of course has more room, but the accord has a bit more power and much easier to modify(aftermarket)

i am looking for advice, potential problems to be aware of, simply an opinion and if i get lucky, a professional opinion(if there are any mechanics out there with the time and effort)

i have ruled out other cars in this price range($10-$12k) because of being too small or not dependable enough...

im currently looking at a 02' pr5, manual, 9k miles (asking$12.2k) and a 98' accord coupe, manual, 34k miles, body kit, rims, etc (asking $13.5k)

the pr5 is local, the accord is not
i really like the modifications to the accord though...its one of a kind

(http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&cat- egory=6254&item=2413896736)

but am hesitant to buy from such distance (im in KY, its on PA)
regardless of it, i know i could get an accord in town for the same price as a pr5 (unmodified of course)

all opinions are appreciated!

thanks
eli

mazdafun

Seems to me the biggest difference. You can carry some rather large, bulky items with that rear hatch.

Stock, I'd say the P5 corners more flatly, and it probably has a stiffer ride than the Accord. Both have nice seats and good controls layouts.

The P5 is 4 years younger (do you get what's left of the original warranty?). Unless the Accord has new hoses, belts etc, it'll have more wear & tear on it, assuming both have been treated about the same by their owners.

revka

You can check in Edmunds' Maintenance Guide to see if there any recalls or technical service bulletins on the vehicle/s you're considering.

Also, for additional feedback, feel free to start up a new "Protege5 vs Accord Coupe" discussion on the Hatchbacks or Coupes board. Good luck with your decision. ;-)

Revka
Host
Hatchbacks & Wagons Boards

arb_16

I have a 99 accord coupe 4cyl 5spd and my girlfriend just got a 03 pr5.

The accord is more powerful, rides smoother, is quieter, has a lot more storage room in the passenger areas, and is generally roomier with the exception of rear seat legroom and of course cargo capacity. The accord handles very good but is too big to be genuinely sporty.

The pr5 has exceptional handling for a front wheel drive car. It also has a really tight turning radius. Generally the pr5 feels more sporty than the accord, almost "miata-like".

In terms of reliability, my accord has only has routine maintenance done in the past 82K miles. Consumer reports rates the repair records of accord and protege as much better than average.

Both cars have pretty thin sheet metal and easily chipped paint compared to most other cars. Also, they each get 25 city/31 hwy mpg.

Good luck deciding - You can't go wrong with either car!

boggse

Compared to what other cars? I haven't had a vehicle yet which didn't have paint that chipped easily.

arb_16

I guess compared to the nissans/toyotas and most american cars I've had. Perhaps because these cars are lower to the ground. I got a front nose mask to protect from the rock chips I was getting. You may want to check into the 3M clear paint protection film mentioned in the main Protege5 discussion.

Also, the accord coupe didn't come with side moldings to protect from door dings and the bumper covers have a very thin paint layer which gets scratched off easily

mazdafun

I see this happen mostly on GM and Chrysler vehicles. Not a lot, but it's usually these two brands when I notice a badly-peeled paint job (the front bumper of my dad's early-mid 80's Olds Firenza peeled almost completely). I think it was for a few years after they moved to waterborne paints. It took a while for them to get the painting process right.

I think the waterborne paints used today a softer than the old lacquers, so chip a bit more easily. They also put on really thin coats (a few pennies saved on paint per vehicle adds up) as well. Much thinner than before, but the thickness variation is much less too.

fries1

I have my '02 p5 with about 5000 mi on it and ever since the day Ive brought it home it seems like the outside air temp really affects my horsepower. On a cool or cold morning (35f) or less I have substantially quicker acceleration speeds than when we are having a warm day. This affect only lasts for 10 minutes or so after starting first time of the day, but it is quite noticeable. Is this normal or should I see my dealer check to see if the computer is configured correctly.
Thnks in advance for your help

bluong1

What you described is definitively abnormal.

boggse

Seriously though, my P5 seems the same way. Must have something to do with the way the engine is programmed to run when cold.

cdnp5

Yesterday I call my Mazda dealer (50kms from where I live in a small town with better service) to get my 48,000 km service done and he says something about one of things that need to check are the rear brakes because they (being Mazda in general I believe) are having problems with the rear brake sticking from the emergency brake. Of course this will cause premature brake wear if this happens.
Today they are working on my car and call me and say that my left rear caliper was stuck and I will need a new caliper, pads and rotor. As they didn't have the calipar part in stock I said I will check with the dealer in town. I call them up and say they don't have one plus this wouldn't be covered under warranty. I said yes because my car is at another dealer and they said it was a warranty item plus I need this done before leaving town again. He said nope as they haven't seen it. I say fine and hang up. Call back the original dealer and ask him to order the parts and I will get it down when I return back to town. As there is enough pads left on the brakes and its still fine to drive I can get this done later without having to worry. I understand that the local dealer would need to see it first and can't go on my word but they wouldn't even book an appt until Tuesday even if I would bring my car in.
I have seen a couple of notes lately about people having premature rear brake wear and maybe this is also your problem. I will say that the dealer that I use out of town has a much better customer service level than my local dealer (plus they are cheaper). They had no problem doing this work as warranty (and it should be due to the sticking parking brake) and my local dealer just didn't want to help or this is how I saw it.

Sporin

This is interesting because I have noticed the occassional squeal from my rear brakes lately.

Everything looked fine when I put changed off my snows a few weeks ago, and that was the week after it was in for the 30k service.

Braking stops the noice, and it comes and goes. Wonder if this is it?

My dealer is 2 hours away, so if this isn't a warranty item, it's not even worth the hassle of going there. I'll just do it myself or have my trusty local guy do it.

Might be worth a set of new pad either way.

dwryter

Long ago it was not unusual for cars to run quicker when cold and that may still be the case today. When I used to drag race, we didn't start our cars at the dragstrip until we were ready to approach the starting line, even going to the trouble of pushing them forward in the queue. Maybe electronics have changed all that, maybe not.

dagpotter

Now that people mention it I hear a "thunk" from my rear brakes when I get to the first stop sign in the morning when I leave for work. I put it down to the damp. But, with the excessive wear of the rear brakes, maybe it it related to the hand brake. I think I may need to visit my dealer to have them checked out.

jas9297

Wow, my 2002.5 (5spd) is a week from its first birthday. Last night I went to start it, and nothing. Not a thing. The Mazda roadside plan towtruck couldn't start it. This morning, another towtruck came by and managed to start it by sending some power to the other side of the main starter/alternator fuse (the 100A fuse), which was blown. But since that fuse brought power to the alternator, it wouldn't stay running.

Anyway, I had it towed to the dealer, who first said the fuse must have been blown by the jumpstarts.

My question is, any idea how the car could have died? The battery seemed dead, but I have no ide why. I left it for over a week, granted, but this has never been a problem before. Was the dealer correct that the fuse blew when the trucks tried to jump it (incorrectly?)? Should I worry about the battery and alternator now, even if it was just the fuse? Has this happened to anyone else? thanks

fries1

Ive heard that the U.S.model P5's that are having problems are not disc brakes on the rear, unlike our Canadian models that have discs on all 4 corners. Does this seem to be the case? Ive chatted to quite a few P5 owners here and a couple of mechanics with Mazda and so far no one seems to have an issue here. Maybe I am getting wrong info but I am the curious type and hope someone knows what is going on with the discs or drums.

pgill

I own a 2002 P5 in US and as far as I know, all US P5's have disc brakes on all 4 corners.

Sporin

Same here, all disks.

baggs32

The red one I test drove last night and the other 5-6 on the lot had all disks as well.

icvci

All North American Protege5s have four wheel disc brakes.

fredmcmurray

Hey, Sporin. Shoot me an e-mail when you get a chance. I used to go by dgraves1 and I have some information for you.

dwryter

Twice last week while idling at long red lights I noticed decreased resistance at the brake pedal, causing it and my foot to move a couple inches closer to the floor. I imagine this might be some sort of brake cylinder problem, but have noticed no other symptoms. Anyone else experience this, or know what's going on? My P5 is 14 months old with 10K miles.

Sporin

Took my P5 to the dealer to have the squeaky rear brakes checked.

As I suspected, the pass.-side is "worn right down to the metal."

The **rear** brakes I say? Why is that happening, and why is the pass-side significantly worse then the drivers? I was told that it is "normal" these days and it would be $360 if I wanted them to fix it.

And they didn't even have the parts in stock!!! Fixing a lot of rear Protege brakes are we????

Since when is REAR brakes wearing out at 36k considered "normal?" Especially considering the fronts are just fine? I protested firmly and very politely but got no where.

Something's fishy in Mazda-land.

This is the very first problem I've had with my P5, but I'm not pleased. I'll be doing the brakes myself btw... $360 bucks! Riiiiiggghhhttt.....

iamz

I'll check mine out after work today and give you some feed back. I have a 2002 with 45K on it. I'm guessing you just have a sticky caliper on the passenger side.

Sporin

I'd guess the same thing too if others (in this forum) hadn't had the exact same problem.

cdnp5

This sounds like the exact same problem that I'm having. Both of my rear brakes are just about 2 stops short from being metal on metal. I personally think this is a Mazda problem and so does my dealer as they are doing the work under warranty. Parts are not available here either (London Ont, Canada) as they have been on back order since May 20th! I talked to the service manager just on Friday and he said that he has called Mazda 2 or 3 times looking for his stock. He also said that he has more than just my P5 waiting for this fix. So I said that I'm getting very close to being out of pads, he said that he will replacing everything (rotor, pads, calipers) for free. I think this is a problem with the calipers not releasing and then drag the pads which we all know will wear them prematurely. I have 55,000 kms on my P5 and 80% of my driving is hwy and the front pads still have a lot left on them still. Maybe its time some people start calling Mazda NA? Has anybody scene anything about this on any other boards?

iamz

I checked my rear brake pads (just the outer pads that I could see) and they both are a bit shy of 1/4" remaining. I'm guessing new they must have been about 3/8". That seems about the right amount of wear for 45k miles.

lngtonge18

This does sound like a sticking caliper problem but it could probably be easily fixed by simply lubricating the sliding pin. The 90-97 Miata was known to have problems with the rear calipers sticking if the rear brakes weren't replaced properly and the sliding pin wasn't liberally lubricated, but Mazda never redesigned them so I doubt they will in the Protege's case either. The rear caliper design is very sensitive to the ability of the sliding pin to move freely and smoothly. Do those that are having problems live in northern climates with more road salt and other winter gunk on the road? If so, it may have built up on the caliper, contaminated the pin and restricted its movement. Doityourselfers could probably rectify the problem without having to buy new calipers, just take the pin off and lubricate it well. Anyway, my guess is the sliding pin is the problem, not the caliper itself.

Sporin

You may well be right. I will be replacing my rotors with beter Brembo units, but will try to just "rebuild" the calipers. I'll make sure to pay special attention to those pins.

Thanks.

mazdafun

Those pins can get really fouled with dust, salt, baked-on grease etc. You may even have some trouble getting them out if they're dirty enough.

I've never seen the service garage grease them. What do you recommend? This may be why my wife hasnt' gotten better than 31mpg with her P5.

lngtonge18

Are you asking me what I recommend to lubricate the pins? If so, I would use a high temperature molybdenum (sp?) grease. My dad uses this to lubricate wheel bearings and caliper pins and it works great. It lasts a long time, if the original nonsticking calipers and rear wheel bearings on my 84 VW GTI are any indication.

maltb

Sta-Lube makes a Hi-temp synthetic caliper grease. Your local parts store should have it. I never do brakes without it. A little bit in the right places also keeps the squeaks from showing up.

mazdafun

I'll look for the lube for my upcoming brake job. Looks like I take it easy on mine; I expect to do it at about 55,000 miles. I've got about 40k+ and still plenty of pad left.

vamazdapr5

Hello everyone, I just took delivery of my new silver Mazda Protege 5.

I was surprised to find that the driver's door can be closed shut AND locked simply by pressing down the lock button on the interior window sill and then closing the door.

This is in SHARP CONTRAST to every single other car I have seen, in which one has to LIFT UP THE OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLE when shutting the door.

Is my experience normal - i.e. no need to lift the outside door handle? Or should the door only be lockable when lifting the outside door handle?

Thanks!

VAPROTEGE5

iamz

It's normal for Mazda.

cdnp5

I just had my calipers, disk and pads at the rear on both sides replaced yesterday. The Mazda shop where I get my work done didn't give me a hard time about this (I didn't even ask, they just said they will do it). I will say that it took about 8 weeks for the parts to show up and I was down to metal on metal, I hate that sound. The good news is the my P5 is still amazing to drive, all 62,000 kms of it. Can't wait for my next road trip. Hopefully anybody else with the same problem can get their's fixed for free.

jmcknight2

- With almost 700 miles on the new P5, I'm enjoying it more every day. I've noticed that the front rotors are somewhat scored and dull-looking, while the rears are shiny and smooth. Braking seems strong and straight, though.
 - The windshield has several "wavy" spots in it that distort the forward and side views, and this is annoying.They are hard to see and barely noticeable.
Please let me know if any of you have experience or suggestions with these problems. Thanks.

bluong1

may be not the front but the rear rotors that have a problem? Few people have the rear callipers that get slightly stuck.

Or may be a stone that glue into the front pad?

Bruno

toneetouch

The first tank of gas on my auto P5 gave 25 mpg, about 70% highway. I know that the fuel efficiency only increases as the engine is broken in, but at what point does it plateau? What kind of fuel efficiency can I expect then?

I enjoyed the idea of having a car that was rare to spot on the average daily commute, but it seems like I'm seeing more P5's now than I did before I owned one. Am i just looking a little harder now, or are the rebates enticing others to go out and buy more P5's this summer? hmmmnnn....

ant

boggse

On the way home from DC today, the AC stopped blowing. It wasn't that the air wasn't cold, it just stopped coming out. I turned the AC off for about 10 minutes. After that, the air seemed to come out normally again the rest of the way home. I did sit in stop-n-go traffic getting on I-95 South from the Beltway for about an hour with the AC on recirculate, but the air didn't stop blowing until a couple hours later. Any ideas what would cause this?

bluong1

my mpg is around 29 (few folks here do better I think). Mine is a manual.

bluong1

let us know what is wrong, probably just the ventilator.

5port

I dont own a P5 but this applies to most cars. My last car was a 94 Civic Si and one day I was waiting for a friend for 20 minutes on a 104 degree day at idle (unusual for NY). After meeting my friend I got on the road only to find my AC stopped. At the end of the work day went out to the car and the AC worked fine. After speaking to a few Honda mech I found out there are temperature saftey switches located in a few spots in the AC system (one spot is on the AC compressor). If these swithches sense an extreme case of overheating they shut-down the AC system to save it from damage. After a few hours of cooling down the system fires back up and works fine. Most likely there is nothing wrong with your system. I will never leave my AC on at idle over 100deg for an extended period of time again. Hope this helps.

blappo

I've also noticed that there appears to be more P5's on the road since I got one. Before my purchase I would only see the same 2 vechicles near my work. Since I purchased mine I'm noticing at least 4 or 5 whenever I'm out. Although that could have something to do with being on the road more.

pciskowski

There are definitely more here in Memphis. I usually see one a day at least, and I used to be able to go two or three days without seeing one.

bluong1

for not seeing-more P5 sickness is close your eyes.

pciskowski

Just a fact.

icvci

Seeing as I work with Mazda, I see about 20 P5s a day.