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Good luck with your job search.
You may want to check chapter 9 in the service manual protege5.ugly.net; there's a lot of diagnostic information in the OBD section (09-02B). Also, I would call the dealer and explain the situation to them.
Thanks, Phil
If the 95 Protege is like our 99 Protege, the water pump is a SERIOUS replacement job, since it lives under the timing belt. I wouldn't recommend doing this yourself as you may mess up your timing and cause engine damage.
Is there such a link for the 1999 Protege anywhere? If not, will this 2002 manual be applicable to our 1999 Protege for the most part?
And what is the difference between the "FS" and "ZM" vehicles? There are different sections for each of the types (of engines?)?
Thanks!
Meade
With 32K km (roughly 20K miles) your 2000 Protege does not appear to be driven frequently. Does that mean that it sits most of the time in a garage or that you simply drive a few kilometres per day? Did you follow the prescribed coolant replacement schedule? I have not seen the radiator on this vintage of Protege, but I would be surprised if it was made of plastic; perhaps this is a reference to the fan or maybe some housing holding the radiator. Is your car showing signs of rust in other places?
As one mechanic once opined, "one of the worst things you can do to a car is not drive it."
There's a lot of factuality in that comment about not driving a car being one of the worst things you can do to it. Things need to run, and run often, for seals, engine and transmission parts, and other stuff to be lubricated. Otherwise you've got a rust- and corrosion-prone hunk of steel, rubber and plastic sitting in your driveway.
Meade
The dealership had no good explanation as to why it was leaking, and so far that's been the only non-wear or accident-induced repair the car has needed....currently at ~46K.
Good luck, lizz!
I have a 1992 Mazda Protege SE that I bought 1 month ago, two days ago when I started my car down the road it was pulling back as if it wanted to stop untill I changed from D to 2nd( it is an automatic) it stopped.
But when I parked it at my destination and decided I wanted park it well, it would not start. I left it there till after 2 hours came back and tried to start the engine again and it was working, next day same thing. Now this morning I start it, took it off and then started again now it won't start and since this morning it has not started at all.
Would that be only the engine or maby not enough oil,even though a few days ago a gas attendant checked for me and the oil was at a good level.
The only lights that came on when I start is on the Right side all the usually lights comes on, like: BELTS,BRAKE,BATTERY, OIL ; the Left side has a picture that says CHECK
.
This is my first car that my husband bought for me and I do not know much about under hood but I'm ready to learn everything, so that in the future I know what too look for.
Please help!
Well in that case you have a great tool, the online service manual for the Protege at http://protege5.ugly.net/
When the car was purchased did your husband have it checked by a mechanic you trust? You may want to do this in order to ensure everything is in working order before you get any more surprises.
It turns out that it was not the water pump at all. There were actually two problems. First, the upper radiator hose had been replaced by somebody for the previous owner and they had not pushed it all the way on - it was leaking coolant. Easily fixed. That did not explain the ringing or whirring sounds though.
I discovered what these were the hard way. As I was driving down the highway I suddenly heard a belt squealing. I pulled off to the breakdown lane and the engine quit, but not before some smoke had issued from under the hood. The lower belt (for the AC) was almost off, and had been the source of the squealing. The auto shop told me that the AC compressor had seized, and that it would be a $1050 repair. I told them not to do it. Without the belt the car will run fine, but I don't have power steering, and in the '95 Protege that means you'd better have some good upper body strength to turn the wheel at low speeds.
I've done a little research comparing the auto body shop's quote to costs of parts and found that there were big differences. They told me that a replacement compressor (without the clutch, for which they would charge me separately) would be $595. They did not specify if that was new or remanufactured. They did say (after I told them not to do the repair) that the only other option was a used compressor off an old Protege, which they were not sure they could find. A remanufactured compressor (with the clutch) costs $248 (for a factory model) or $395 (for one made by another company). That's a big difference from the $595, especially when you take into account the clutch.
I'm going to try to find out how reasonable their quote is (it just doesn't sound right) before I do anything.
'95 Protege LX, 5 spd., 185K miles
Check plug gaps (check your manual...I don't recall the proper gap range), and the connections between them and your wires.
Check your air filter. A dirty filter will noticeable drop your power.
After that, I'd take it to a shop. Faults in the fuel system, emission controls, exhaust and other systems could cause loss of power. A good shop manual will offer a trouble-shooting table that you can reference by symptom.
It could be as simple as a dead battery, or it could not. That's the first thing I'd check (and have the charging system checked at the same time). Old batteries, even if they seem to provide enough voltage when checked with a multimeter, often can't provide enough current, which can lead to loss of power, then non-starts. Between discharges, they recover a little, so that may explain why you were able to start once after letting it rest a couple of hours. Hopefully, that's all it is, as it would be a simple and inexpensive solution.
See if someone can scan your car's computer for any error codes. Some auto parts stores offer code reading as a free service. A shop may charge you for 0.5-1 hour of labor to do the same thing. Any logged codes may give the mechanic a place to start looking, but they also need to know any symptoms you can report.
Put new plugs / wires / cap / rotor on the car about 5K ago. Rechecked that. Looks great.
The car will start and idle somewhat rought, only slightly rough at idle. If you drive it REALLY, REALLY easy, it won't jump and jerk too much, however, anything more than very slight throttle and it feels like wet plug wires! Its REALLY bad. Not as bad when you first start, much worse after the engine is warmed up.
Also, I can get it rolling and at a certain speed / throttle it will surge.
I reset the computer (disconnected battery cable) then reconnected thinking Check Engine light would come back on. It did not.
The car has never used any oil or smoked so I'm betting against the EGR valve.
Anybody have any experience with this? Also, if the Check Engine light comes back on, how do I read the codes without an analyzer?
As far as trouble codes with the check engine light, you will need a code reader for the '95 as it is OBD2. Auto Zone stores will do this for free. They will also print out the possible causes for the code light and try to sell you a part that may or may not fix the problem. It is one place to start the troubleshooting. Another option is ALLDATA on the internet. For $15 you get everything Mazda has reported to its dealers concerning TSB's and the fixes for them. Also, the Haynes manual is pretty good for some of the repair procedures for this car. You can either buy it for $15 of find it at many libraries. And you have probably seen the link to the Protege5 shop manual.
As far as you specific idle problems, I can't say for sure. On my '95, I replaced the O2 sensors at around 100K. This was in response to a check engine light. I replaced my EGR valve at around 150K. This was in response to pinging upon acceleration. Just recently I replaced the neutral switch that was bad and caused a low/eratic idle and the check engine light to come on. I have not had a surging problem. I currently have a bit of a shudder problem in higher gears at lower end RPM's caused by my clutch finally wearing out. Is your car a manual or auto? ALLDATA shows many more issues with the auto than the 5 spd.
Manuals will specify the tolerances for many of these sensors so you can check them with a multi-meter before spending any money replacing them. The secondary O2 sensor is particularly expensive. Also, the EGR valve gets caked with carbon deposits over time and it's easier to replace with a new one than clean it out.
A new one would've only cost about $100 more. In retrospect, I think I would've replaced it. Even though they didn't charge for the subsequent cleanings, and drove me back and forth to work, it was still a hassle.
Meade
Scroll down page and download each file, starting with 00-00, 01-02a, etc.
After all 87 files are on your hard drive, open the 00 INDEX file to find where a subject of interest can be found
And, best of all, it's free
JoeyC
If the light is switching itself on intermittently, it could be a bad connection that's causing it to activate. You don't notice the transmission delaying shifting into different gears, do you?
You have accidentally punched this button. The purpose of "hold" is to prevent the automatic transmission from shifting into the highest gear. You might want to use this feature if you are coasting down a long decline to use engine braking to save brake wear.
Would the valve just need a cleaning? If so, what cleaner is good for this? From reading the forums, the procedure to clean the valve does not sound too difficult.
Has anyone had to replace this valve on the 02 Protege? If so, how much did this cost and did you have to go to the dealer for replacement?
By the way, a big thanks to alternator for providing a 2002 Protege Workshop Manual. This will defiantly come in handy!
Thanks everyone and I look forward to your responses.
Thank you,
Cobbster
A transmission expert was commenting on an autoshow this evening that the "transmission on the average modern car is engineered to last about 150,000 miles". It sounds like your rebuilt transmission worked up to spec.