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Mazda Protege Accessories and Modifications
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Yeah, their midwest DC is in Ohio, as a matter of fact.
Will you put them on the car for your trip out here?
So far, they are quieter than the stock tires, and despite having a lower H rating, they hold better in corners.
Andrew
Dale
Meade's Wife
lawman
Ashu and Hank had them, but I don't think they do now. Who else?
Raymond
Hank (on his Protege?)
Lawdude
Chow-chi
You're right, I guess Ashu doesn't have them on his 6.
But I wasn't aware that Tammy had them...are you sure about that?
On more important matters, the ar handled beautifully in the Pacheco pass and over the Grapevine, the former in light rain.
I have the standard/black one on a P5.
I don't have any pics yet... I need to get the dig cam out and "just do it"
No worries. I bought one and was very impressed over the one I had bought from Mazda. Better materials and fit. Very happy.
Thanks
Bruce
It's a bit expensive, but for people like me that don't want to change the stock look of the headunit it's worth it. Looks like it's goodbye FM modulation for me!
Did they remove the link from your message? I didn't see one. I'd put one into my wife's P5 as a present.
Those new gen-4 iPods look great! But, I'm going to wait a few months for any bugs to shake out before even thinking of upgrading.
http://www.logjamelectronics.com/piemazpcalp.html
There, I know I posted it this time, so if they remove it, I'll know.
I'm waiting for Target to get the G4 iPods so I can use my discount. I had fought it for a long time, but with the 20 gig at $299 the price finally got close to the competition.
Basically the adaptor is in two pieces. It is the cd changer adaptor that plugs into the back of the headunit and the aux in adaptor that plugs into that. It's a bit pricey at about $120 with shipping. I'm waiting to order till I buy the iPod which hopefully won't be too long. My XM radio will like it too
Now I'm off to find tips on removing my radio.......
I just bought a 2003 P5. Anything that I should watchout for?
Has anyone yet figured out how to rewire the fog lights so they can be operated independantly of the main headlights?
I imagine there is some kind of relay that is only powered when the headlights are on.
Thanks.
Buy adapters as noted in post 1094.
If you know how to remove the headunit, skip this part:
I bought two sets of Ford radio removal tools from the auto parts store. You can make your own, but for $10 I just bought them.
Take off the side covers of the radio. You can use a bent paper clip and pull. They pop right off. You'll see 3 holes on either side of the radio. The top and bottom holes are where the clips are. Put all 4 tools into the radio. Top hole/middle hole and middle hole/bottom hole on each side of the radio. Pull apart slightly and remove the radio. Two sets of hands would make it easier but I did it myself. I used a very small flat head screwdriver to take out the plate between the volume and tuning knobs. It gave me somewhere to pull. Slide out the radio.
Aux In Installation:
The aux in plugs into the back of the radio. It only fits one spot so that's easy enough. I bought a 3' mini to rca cable from radio shack and ran it from my cupholder up behind the radio and plugged it into the rca in's in the aux input. Then it's time to put in back together. There is plenty of space under the radio for the aux input box so I took a piece of velcro and stuck it under the radio. Slid the radio back in till the clips snapped. Put the cover pieces back on and I was done.
Only tools I needed were the radio removal tools, a paper clip and a small flat head screwdriver.
http://www.mlive.com/prnewswire/prnauto.ssf?/cgi-bin/stories.pl?A- CCT=mlive2.story&STORY=/www/story/08-03-2004/0002223662&E- DATE=
After that, if you don't already (and I don't think this matters anymore as pretty much all fuels from all refineries come with detergents), buy fuel from a "big brand" name for a few tankfuls.
After that, check your plugs and plug wires. If you see lots of black deposits, you're running it too cold (lots of short trips) or the fuel mixture is too rich. Try the "Italian" tune-up (long, fast drive) first, and see if this clears it up. Then check your plug wires (they're cheap enough, you might just replace them) and replace your plugs.
Check your fuel filler cap. It may leak a little. Of course, this would probably have already set off your "Check Engine" light.
If you still have problems, get a tune-up done. Mention that you think you're getting MPG significantly lower than you expect. The valves may need to be cleaned. The injectors may need to be cleaned. The Engine Control Module may need to be updated. Your Positive Crankcase Ventilation valve may need to be cleaned or replaced (this recirculates some exhaust fumes as some unburned fuel is always in it).
Some LX models (like mine) were affected by a failing Mass AirFlow sensor, which causes poor MPG, rough idle and even stalling. My poor LX exhibited the symptoms and got about 16mpg when that happened to it. This device is abbreviated as MAF or MAS.
Your oxygen sensor may be fouled (excess fuel), which only makes a bad situation (rich mixture) worse. No point in replacing it until the root cause is addressed.
Anyway, the body shop claims the new hood matched to my Ugly Green Pro ES will run me $1200!
Someone on the Pro board suggested a CF hood. Any thoughts on a good place to get that CF Evo Hood from Vis? I may not like the bling bling of it but maybe getting the cf hood will push me to finally lose the lame 16s on the car and get decent, light, better roadholding 17s.
I like just good ol' OE replacement CF hood. looks clean and not as outrageous as the Evo style.
which green do you have? Sepang or Emerald?
I haven't found a straight replacement CF hood. If you know one you like, lemme hear about it. My searches keep turning up evo style hoods.
here's a good one
I figured I shouldn't respond in the P&S board....don't need to augment that message count needlessly.
We haven't had much snow yet (lucky), but some ice. I've been OK so far on the Falkens. My driveway has only a slight slope to it so it's not challenging to drive up it when it's slippery (one thing we looked for when house-shopping).
Keep us posted on the tires. My wife's being pretty easy on her stock Dunlops, but I want to keep an eye out for replacements in a couple of years when the rubber gets too old (she let her Dunlop D60A2s on her Saturn get too old and the sidewall on one blew...those things were probably 7 yrs old then...she puts those kinds of things off for too long (I kept bugging her to get new tires)...guess who ended up changing out her blown tire in the blowing snowstorm)? She was lucky. It blew on a local road just before she was to get onto the freeway, so she was able to limp into a gas station safely.
Anyway, I'm changing out the tires on her P5 in 2-3 years no matter how much tread is left so that doesn't happen again. She's gotten pretty good wear out of her Dunlops, unlike some. She's over 30k and has about 50-60% of the original tread left.
And I just put a new battery in my iPod. 20 hours of run-time! Now that's cool. That's enough for even international flights (though I hope I won't have to go on any for work any time soon). It was time; its original battery was lasting only 3-4 hours. It was pretty easy too, especially with the plastic tools that came with the battery.
Anyway, happy holidays and take care!
Cool about the iPod battery. My new iPod is under the tree just waiting for Christmas day!
The Falken ZE-512s are not as good on snow as the Dunlop SP Sport A2s I last had on my LX. But apparently they're better than the Dunlop SP5000 on my wife's P5. Yeah, she's pretty easy in corners (they inspected her tires this morning at the dealership and they have over 50% tread left with 31k miles). She's just a leadfoot on the freeway.
Anyway, the tires are OK accelerating and cornering. They're worse at stopping, but it's all manageable. It's not bad enough I'll get snow tires as it doesn't snow that much here. However, I'll probably check out the BG Goodrich Traction T/As the next time around and the 4th (and probably last) set of tires I buy for my LX will be what I consider did the best.
If you have a story to share, please send your name, daytime contact info and a line or two about your vehicle to jfallon@edmunds.com by Wednesday, December 29, 2004.
Did you enjoy all the snow!
The day after the snow (my last day of the year in the office), I heard on the radio that my employer had closed for the day.
I ventured out on Saturday to take my daughter sledding. The Falkens did OK in most respects except in braking. They slide real easily, perhaps due to its unidirectional design?
Anyway, forward traction is OK for an all-season tire. I just had to start slowing down waaaaay far in advance so I could brake gently. I note the BF Goodrich Traction T/A is available for order from Sam's Club and in my Protege's (and my wife's P5's) size. It's still a unidirectional tire, but the tread design looks better-suited for mud and snow use. I think that'll be the next set I put on my Pro.
Riding on the Goodrich Winter Slaloms reduced the stress and added to my sense of security. Love those winter tires!
PF Flyer
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Now if Mazda would get off their rear and do something like that, there'd be one less reason for me NOT to consider a Mazda as my next vehicle. Of course, I'd prefer if they'd get away from the trend of heavily customized center stacks that make it difficult, if not impossible, to put in aftermarket gear. I'm seriously thinking Hyundai or Honda because of this.
Some aftermarket companies provide replacement faceplates (like for the current Accord) that make putting in aftermarket head units easier, but you usually lose some of the functions the factory unit had.
I despise that trend, since I usually prefer the power and sound of aftermarket components (I do prefer the user interface of factory head units as they usually offer larger buttons and dials than aftermarket units do).
Use a small precision flat-head screwdriver to pry off the two plastic panels that cover the 4 holes (one cover at each end of the head unit face). Insert the removal tools until you hear clicks. Then pull out the head unit and detach the wiring harness connector, antenna and ground cable. Reattach cables and wire harnesses (and adapters) in reverse order.
If you don't have an adapter, then you'll want to have a multimeter handy to identify the wires in the harness to match them to your new head unit's pins. I can provide a graphic showing the wires in my '99 Pro LX, if you want (I have to draw one more legible than the one scribbled in my notepad). If I could have, I would've purchased one. Crutchfield sometimes provides them. The place I bought mine from didn't.
thanks
Robert
P.S. I would appreciate all the help I can get.