Mazda Protege5 Maintenance and Repair

spacecommander

I have an automatic Mazda Protege 5 with 4,460 miles on it. The past 500 miles or so I've been consistently getting only 20 MPG and it's driving me crazy.

Quite frankly I don't know what to do. I'd like to keep this car, but if it's not going to be good on gas I think I need to get rid of it sooner rather than later.

Any advice or encouragement from other automatic P5 owners?

iamz

What % of your driving is city (stop and go)? Also, how many miles do you normally drive each time you get behind the wheel?

Check your tire pressure and make sure your at 32 psi.

You can expect to get about 27 mpg +/-2 with 90% highway and 10% city.

Your still in the break in period, so the good news is once your engine loosens up, you should start to see the MPG's go up.

spacecommander

I'd say my city/freeway driving is around 60/40. I've been making a lot of short trips around town, usually going no more than a mile or two. I started out getting higher mileage doing the same driving and instead of going up or staying the same my MPG have gone WAY down. I will check my tire pressure because a few of the tires might be a little low.

The bottomline is that I live in Los Angeles, do A LOT of city type driving (our freeways are always backed up) and need a hatchback type vehicle with a lot of cargo space. If I'm not averaging at least 25 MPG (my absolute minimum), then this car is not going to work.

lngtonge18

I say give it until about 12k before getting worried. My 00 Accent did the same thing. It was rated at 28/36. I initally got 32 mpg on the first few tanks with mostly city driving. Then, after an 800 mile highway trip, my mileage plummeted rapidly. I was lucky if I got 24 in the city and this was with a little 1.5 liter engine mated to a 5 speed (I live in Florida so no reformulated crap gas for us). It slowly started going back up as the miles piled on, with the most noticeable improvement after the 3rd oil change. Between 9-12k, my mileage went back up to respectable. I got a consistent 28-29mpg in city driving while running the AC all the time, just like the sticker suggested. So don't fret. After a few oil changes, you should see an improvement in mileage. Some engines are just built tighter then others and require longer break-in times. Tire pressure will also make a big difference. On my 02 Lancer automatic, my city mileage jumped from 22-23 mpg to 24-26 with just inflating the tires some. Good luck!

maltb

With CA gasoline and LA bumper to bumper traffic running A/C you sure won't get up to the EPA estimates. Try running the A/C less if that MPG is super important.

However, as others mentioned, you won't know the true mileage until you hit break-in @ 8-10,000 miles.

spacecommander

Thanks for the input maltb, lngtonge18 and iamz. I'll try to hang in there a little longer.

Sporin

I regularly get 28-32 MPG in my P5 at 21k+ miles. I ahve a stick adn drive a mix of about 60/40 city/highway.

Having the A/C on constantly easily kills 2 MPG.

jpi2

Has anyone noticed if their outside temperature display has not been operating properly? Here in the metro. Wash.D.C area, it has been quite hot (in the upper 80's to the upper 90's), but my display reads 130, 124, and some outragous temps. Is it something that is normal with other Protege5s? I am assuming that the cable is getting hot from the metal roof and the insulation isn't helping it any either. Any comments and advice would be appreciated. The car is about 3 weeks old so I am get it into the service department since others are having problems with their A/C output.

feijai

I have a 2002 midseason refresh P5, purchased earlier this summer with automatic, alarm, moonroof, abs, airbags, leather, basic CD radio (still can't see why one would bother with more), and the bumper guard (useful!). The car is a great car. I love it. So does everyone else. It looks great. It handles wonderfully, is a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I got it. But no one cares about love slurps: to the car problems encountered so far.

ROOF RACK. Removed. It does indeed reduce the noise significantly, particularly the high frequency whistling when the moonroof is open. However, I've made the discovery that the roof rack rail breaks up the air pressure vortexes around the moonroof; without it, right around 20 MPH the car makes a potent pressure boom-boom-boom when the moonroof is open, somewhat similar to the sounds made when a single window is open on the freeway.

GAS MILEAGE. I have averaged 21 MPG in mixed driving, despite proper tire inflation AND regardless of the roof rack installation. It has been dismal. How much is due to air conditioning? (I'm in DC). How much is due to the "break in period"? I doubt both can account for 6 MPG.

TRANSMISSION. Only 2000 miles and already two transmission issues! First off, when coasting, if you put on the gas, the transmission makes a mild "click". Dunno where this is coming from; the dealership says it's no big deal, but it *really* annoys me, since I get a click all the time in stop-and-go city driving. Second, I was driving down the road and suddenly the car locked into third gear, the engine warning light went on and the AT (automatic transmission) light went on. I limped it back to the station, where they could not repeat the problem, but COULDN'T deny the code in the transmission: "PO 705". Can anyone look that up for me? They were mystified and had to call Mazda, and Mazda's best guess was -- get this -- the alarm was interfering with the transmission. They replaced the alarm module. Things have worked since, crossing fingers.

AIR CONDITIONING. Anemic.

SEATS. Hurt backs after medium-length or even short ( <1 hour) trips. I've broken them in so they're not so bad, but basically they just don't have nearly enough lumbar support. Additionally, the right passenger seat doesn't have enough adjustability; one wonders why that is, given it'd be cheap enough for Mazda to just manufacture one seat design rather than two different ones. And annoyingly the right passenger seat doesn't fold forwards. How hard would that have been?

OTHER BITS. I broke down and purchased a cargo mat after-the-fact. The cargo area gets dirty and hard to clear. The mat turns out to be rather important. Get one at car purchase. Also, I am still annoyed at the lack of pockets in the back area. Eventually I had to break down and purchase one of those "trunk organizer" things at Target. Also, the car tends to buzz a lot at an unusual spot: the left foot rest area. They should have covered that with some foam or something. Dunno what to do about that. Last, the dense cellular camping foam remains a good solution to the most bizarre flaw in the car design: when the back seat bottoms are popped forward or removed, and the back seats folded down, the clips which connect the seat bottom hinges will imprint very seriously onto the leather. I keep strips of foam (bright blue :-) under the seat bottoms, and when they are folded out, I cover the hinges with the foam, and everything is happy.

iamz

For your wind noise at 20 mph you could try the moonroof deflector. I can't say wether it will work or not because I still have my factory rack and my Thule bike rack installed.

In your "stop & go" driving, if your doing alot more stopping than going and driving the car short distances that don't allow the car to warm up properly, I'm not sure any car could meet the city EPA estimates. I wonder how the EPA comes up with their so called city driving MPG estimates anyway.....hmmmmm?????

I agree that the seats don't provide enough lower lumbar back support.

I'm confused about your front passenger seat. The seat back doesn't tilt forward on your car at all?

xeones

I think the seats on my P5 are the best car seats i've ever ridden in. but i'm at best 5'7". I don't raise the seat at all either.

Just a reminder make sure you raise your headrest. Insurance industry estimates that upto 80% of whiplash can be prevented simply by raising the headrest...

dagpotter

I have a pre-refresh P5 with automatic also in DC area. I have just over 6,000 miles on it. I took the roof rack off a month ago. I am getting 24-27 mpg in heavy stop and go (I-66 to work everyday). It has gotten better as mileage grew. We are having bad heat wave, and a/c could be better, but it seems to really rely on car speed, which in stop and go is low. I haven't had any tranny issues, but do have a buzzing noise, off and on, down low on driver's side of dash.

japagraham

Hello All

Gas Mileage:
I drive 100 Miles round trip each day - all highway, but lots of stop and go - and have consistently got 32+ MPG in my 5 speed

Mouse in the wheel wells?
My shocks seem to squeak whenever I hit a small bump. It started with just my rear passenger side, but now it seems to be coming from all the shocks with the smallest of bumps. Not to impressive for 7500 miles. Any ideas?

Lookin good:
I haven't taken the roof rack off yet for the noise because I think it may look really goofy, Anyone try it? worth it?

Driving 101:
I've driven many standards and never had this problem ('til now). Sometimes, accelerating from a standstill, while in first gear, the transmission clunks 4 or 5 times before it gets going. This only happens when the car is first started (never after 5 minutes of driving) Is it that the oil hasn't covered everything yet? Anyone else notice this?

Mazdaspeed?
Mazda is dumping a 170hp engine into an MP3-styled version of the 2003 Protege (I believe they're calling it "Mazdaspeed") But it doesn't look like they will offer the new engine in the P5? I'm begging to trade up. When will the hatchback crowd get to play with more power? (What are you thinking Mazda?!?) I guess that was a rehtorical question.

Enjoy your P5's

braxtona

A hint on our anemic air conditioning. I think we all suffer from an air conditioning unit that was designed to cool just a passenger compartment, not a passenger compartment with the hatchback area. I've found that if I do the counter intuitive move of directing my air conditioning to both the floor and the dash vents it cools the whole interior much more rapidly. You won't have as much cold air blowing in your face, but the vents underneath the front seats that blow out towards the rear will help cool the back of the car much quicker, thus giving the dash vents a better chance at keeping you cool.

pciskowski

Does anyone else have a rattle in their passenger seat? It's about to drive me crazy. It stops if I put my hand on the seat back. I took it to the dealer, but they couldn't find anything (no surprise). Anyone else had this and fixed it?

dwryter

The dealer surprised me by diagnosing the clicking sound I heard in the clutch area upon launch as a bad strut. (His mechanic described it as a groaning sound.) OK, it's still under warranty: 4 months old, 3800 miles. But they just replaced the strut, test drove the car, and now hear the same sound from the right front. They're ordering a new strut for that side.

I haven't run over any prostrate telephone poles or Oldevai Gorge-like potholes, so I wonder if this might be a common defect. If you're hearing a clicking or groaning sound and are still under warranty, better get it checked pronto.

reitrof

After one year and 13,700 of happy, trouble free motoring I have my first problem in my P5. The CD player is acting up.

CD Drive makes noises after I turn the engine off and there is no CD in the player. Sometimes while playing a cd it won't let me change to the radio or eject the cd unless I turn the engine off.

Took it to a new dealer and they checked it out but of course it didn't act up for them. When I went to pick the car up they said it was on record and if the problem recurred they would replace it.

Got into the car and decided to check it out before I left the dealer. The noise started again. Went back inside and got the service guy and he listened to it and said no problem, they would order a new CD player and put it in when they got it. Great!

My question is that he said they would replace the CD player only. Is it seperate or all one unit?

Thanks
Bruce

mazdafun

If you're talking about the single-disc unit.

The 6-disc changer is a separate unit.

wayde

I love driving this car! Handles like its on rails. Only wish for more power - but it is a gutsy little engine (better than low end than honda).
Seats - LOVE them - have taken 10 six hour trips and very comfortable the whole time.
Roof rack - removed cuz I like the sleek look.
Noise - none (for my ears) - just normal driving noises.
Have a white P5 with black windows and magnetic bra - people are always askin me what it is!
MPG - ranges - hwy trip w/ 3 people and luggage going 80 mph and I got 32mpg! City driving can drop it significantly - but then I ZOOM at every light
Dealer Experience (only have had regular maintenance done) - excellent. (morries mazda in minnesota)
What else? Give me a MAZDASPEED P5

reitrof

Sorry, yes it is the single cd unit.

Thanks

maltb

Since the '01 Protege, they have been using a modular audio unit. Because of that, they can replace the CD player only. Once they remove the whole unit, the CD player easily separates from the radio.

lngtonge18

Do other Protege owners notice a lot of CD player problems? More then a few have mentioned it in the forums and my friend's 00 Protege LX cd player went on the fritz at 13k (his CD was stuck in it which he never received back). I think Mazda needs to look into the quality of the supplier of these units. They shouldn't fail this early on.

mazdafun

Got my '99LX in late January of 1999, and have had 29,000 problem-free miles with it (many of them with a CD playing).

protege_fan

My LCD display went wonky and they replaced it. BUT it took OVER a month to get the part here and installed. Ridiculous IMO.

BTW, the radio/CD player always worked fine..just a display problem. Now there are no more problems.

reitrof

Thanks. I will let you know how it turns out.

Bruce

silverp5

Our AUTOMATIC p5 is still very young, with approx 6,000km it has yet to see its first service. It has never been abused, but our transmission already has a severe problem.

SYMPTOMS: Once in a while, the shifting of the gears seemed rough during highway driving. On interstate 5, when driving at a constant speed, I gently touched the gas while changing lanes and the car jurked into gear quite violently. Also, sometimes the over-drive-off engagement seemed rough. Basically, the shifting seemed clicky and sometimes jerky and that may be what led to the real problem...

PROBLEM: Put the car in drive, and start driving. The first two gears seem okay, but once you get into third - it's as if the car were in neutral. The rpm jumps up and the car no longer accelerates. Definetly a severe problem as the car can no longer be drive unless it is in position "2" and we limit ourselves to 50km/h.

OTHERS?: We have an appointment in a week for repair under warranty, when I asked if this had happened before they said they'd had one other identical sounding case out of about 400 cars they've serviced. Has anyone else out there experienced this?

OVERALL: The car is fine in handling, for an un-modified car it handles very well, but does not have much power. My girlfriend drives the car and she thinks the power is sufficient for her, the car looks nice and it is designed to be spacious enough. Until this transmission problem, we were happy with it ... but now we are quite worried.

Post #311 seems to report similar symptoms possibly (possibly not), these symptoms COULD be unrelated, not sure yet. Anyone else have a similar problem or symptoms? Thanks! Please reply on this board.

mazdafun

I think they were traced to bad solenoids and their entire AT units were replaced. No problems since, I think.

Don't know which AT unit you have. I have the non-sportshift AT on my '99. Other than one issue with hard shifts from 1-2 when stepping on the gas right after braking (which I've learned to avoid by waiting about 1s after coming to a stop after the first few times), no problems.

abesls

I was wondering if any one has experienced a strong smell something like rotten eggs after a few minutes of driving. and wondered how to fix the problem.

bluong1

that's the sign of the catalytic converter doesn't work properly. The smell may be due to the converter overheat or possibly the fuel mixture is to rich (gas/air ratio to high). Some people claim it could happen temporary in new cars during the morning start up or some other condition that could create a rich unburned mixture (e.g., hard or sudden change of load.) But the smell should slowly disappear with age. If it happens more often, get the dealer checking the car.

Bruno

mazdafun

Some contain more sulfur than others, depending on the source of the crude and the particular refining processes it was put through.

glennisf

I am experiencing the same feeling with first gear. The car is very reluctant to go into first gear unless I am at a dead stop. In situations where I am coming to a near stop (a stoplight changing just as I arrive at it, etc.), I find that I have been choosing second instead of first. RPM and speed-wise, I should be in first gear in those situations, but the car doesn't want to go into that gear. It feels like the stick is rubbing and is tough to move into the slot.

sharonf

Has anyone had any problems with the horn on their P5? I had to have mine replaced after I found it simply not working at one point. They said there was a short or something and replaced the horn. I've not had much need to use it lately, but I was just testing it again...and it seems that it's difficult to get a response...have to press harder than on any other car I've driven....and only certain areas respond.
From your experiences with the P5....is your horn sensitive to touch? and does it respond whether pushed in the center...bottom...or sides?
Just want some input before I go back to the dealer.

capitano

but I accidentally honked the horn in the dealer showroom while I sat in one on sunday. I was just chatting with the saleswoman and my finger was playing in the groove between the center section and the spoke on the left side and beep. Surprised me as I had paid much attention to the steering wheel layout and had expected horn buttons like on my wife's civic. Didn't seem especially touchy, but it didn't take a lot of force to set it off.

mazdafun

I think your horn difficulty may be corrosion on the contacts in the steering wheel or they are bent out of shape.

Mine has no difficulty, although I miss the little horn buttons I have on my 323. Those were easier to use for little "hey, the light's green!" toots.

nocomment

Brrr....it's starting to get cold on the East Coast, so I've been using my heater at low speed, I can hear a metallic whirring/whistling when I have the heater blower going at low speed. It's less noticeable at higher settings because of other noise. At first, I thought it was the CD, but it's not...is this a normal sound?

bluong1

is it depend whereas you put AC or heater or only on the position of the fans?

I haven't noticed such noise. I usually set the fan at 1 or 2.

Bruno

maltb

could be a misplaced leaf from your favorite tree? I try quick throws of the switch to try and dislodge those things.

feijai

After a 2-week trip to Spain, I came back to discover my 3K mile P5 with a problem. When the car is cold, the engine makes pinging spurts here and there, and when it does, it loses power. After about 2 miles driving, the engine warms up and hums nicely. I too have noticed a sulfur smell, though I haven't connected the timing of the two situations.

I took the car into the dealership, and they gave me the runaround, claiming that it was typical engine behavior; namely that remaining fuel in the cylinders deposits on the heads and walls and needs to burn off. Sounds like BS to me.

The problem has worsened now that it's really getting cold outside. Any ideas?

bluong1

The protege is equipped with antiknock sensor, so pinging shouldn't happen. It seems that there is a problem with the ECU or sensors: the timing is wrongly computed and the engine produces unburned gas. I would make the dealer check for the emission. If something is wrong, they will see it right away.

Bruno

betsyf

I have a 2002 refresh Protege5 with an automatic (sports) transmission. It is fully loaded with abs, airbags, etc. I have had it 2 months and have 2500 miles on it. I have noticed a whining noise when I accelerate on the highway - could this be the fuel transmission? It starts when I hit the gas pedal and wont stop until I take my foot off. No performance problems, but it is really annoying - does anyone know what could be causing this and can it be fixed?

bluong1

altersys

My '02 P5 with sportmode manumatic has a very strange high-pitched sounds coming from the front of the car (not sure if it's the engine compartment or the tranny itself) that used to only show itself above 80 mph. Now it's doing it at all speeds though it does get louder as the revs increase. Also, the frequency varies with the vehicle speed, not engine speed. I would say it sounds like alternator whine but the radio does not have to be on for the sound to occur, and like I said the sound's pitch varies with vehicle speed, not engine speed (as alternator whine does). In all other respects, it *sounds* like alternator whine.

The wife and I took the car to the dealership promptly and were told that this is a common occurrence with people who have the manumatic P5 and that we "shouldn't worry about it." The thing that gets me peeved is why we should be okay with a "common occurrence" as though it's something to live with on an OPTION part... that doesn't make sense to me.

Anybody have info on this issue? Anybody else with the same issue? I cannot find any TSBs for it.

thanks,
-Alt

golfboy

Now that winter has finally arrived up here I decided to try out the rear window defroster after the insides of my windows fogged up (seems to happen alot in this car compared to others...but that's another story)

I think there may be a problem. When I hit the button, a clicking sound can be heard from under the steering column and no visible effect can be seen from the defroster. I thought it might be a burnt fuse, but all are fine. Anyone else have this problem or hear this clicking when pressing the rear defroster button?

protege_fan

Yes, the clicking is normal. I think it's a relay or something. Anyway, I hear the click every time I press the button for the rear defroster and it works great.

protege_fan

BTW, we're +15 as of 8:00 am this morning! Gotta love Chinooks!!

goddi

I've got about 11,000 miles on my '02 P5. For a while now, the P5's clutch has not been as smooth as it has in the past. What is happening is that when I take off in 1st gear, and the clutch is just about fully engaged, the clutch seems to shudder. It seems to be sort of slipping and grabbing until my foot is at the very top of the release, causing a slight shudder. If I increased the rpms and forces more slip, the problem seems not to occur (but I am inducing more clutch wear then normal).
Now the strange part. I noticed my tire air pressure was about 3 psi's below my usual 32 psi that I keep the tires at. After adding back the 3psi's, the "shudder" seems to have disappeared. Now this disappearance act has only been in the past few days so it may just be a coincidence. Before this, the shudder comes and goes on a daily basis.
I searched every message on this board but found no complaints about the P5's clutch. Has anyone has similar problems or thoughts about this annoying shudder? The dealer of course said everything is "fine." I've had manual transmissions for over 30 years and never had this problem. Gary

protege_fan

This, again, sounds like the clutch chatter. If you scroll back a few pages in the P5 board (not the problems/solutions board), you'll find the actual TSB that I posted on it.
Or try the following link:

protege_fan "Mazda Protege5" Nov 21, 2002 5:14pm

It is a known problem and I know of at least 1 person locally that's had their clutch replaced because of it.

pciskowski

I have this problem bad, and the dealer won't fix it because they cannot get it to do it. I called Mazda, and they cannot make the dealer fix it if they don't detect a problem. In their defense, it did not do it when I drove it to the dealer or drove it home. However, if there is already a TSB about it I would think they would fix it.

Of course, it is now doing it again...

protege_fan

Did you let them keep it overnight? In my experience, it only does it when the car has been sitting overnight, and then only usually in colder weather.

pciskowski

Yes, they did kept it overnight. I was suprised that it did not do it, because it was a very cold morning (for Memphis).