Mazda Protege Maintenance and Repair

jstandefer · June 2001

It almost sounds like it could be a problem with one of the constant velocity (CV) joints. Does it happen only when the wheels are turned? I'm sure one of the other members can shed more light on this.

As for the brakes... I had to have mine replaced at 25,000 miles. The dealer wanted about the same amount, but I went to Midas instead and saved about $150. However, now I really wish I paid the extra money and had the dealership replace the pads (and turn the rotors). Before the replacement, the front brakes never squealed. Now, they constantly squeal whenever the brakes are applied. Very annoying and quite embarassing!!! BTW, I have a '99 ES.

maltb · June 2001

You may want to note more carefully when the noise occurs. The calipers on the Pro are noteworthy for loose guide pins. You would most likely hear this under light braking. Otherwise, as Jerry said, a noise during turns would be the outer CV joint.

nikecar · June 2001

you could always buy the Mazda pards and get them installed at another shop....
or if you are fairly technically inclined, order the Service manual and do it yourself..

maltb · June 2001

One thing about dealer brake jobs. They are required by Mazda to use an on-car brake lathe for warranty, but this carries over to service work. This means the rotors stay on the car and the brake lathe attaches where the caliper would. Doing this is the most accurate way to turn rotors. If your local goodyear or midas do the same, more power to them.

anwarma · June 2001

THANKS for the responses to you all. Your input was valuable.

The noise only comes when going straight (I mean straight line) NOT in turns at all. As for the brakes, they are very smooth after replacement and so far no squaking noise as of yet.

When did you guys started hearing squaking noises from the brakes of your car after MIDAS brake job.

FYI - Mazda brake pads cost $90 for both front side and You can only have them installed by mom and pop shops as MIDAS and Goodyear Gemini would not install them for you.

Does anyone know how much does the service manual cost for the 99 Protege. If it is reasonable enough Price wise then I would like to do a lot of things my self whatever I can?

maltb · June 2001

You should note that the dealer pads for $83.60 include the pad hardware. Many times the hardware is overlooked on a brake job, but bad or missing clips are the #1 source for brake noise. Also that price assumes you have an ES, the DX/LX pads are $67.70. Prices stated are MSRP. There's a reason dealers charge what they do for parts.

nikecar · June 2001

I had my brakes (on Altima) done at the dealer cuz i wanted it done right.. That leads me to want the Service manual, but its $125 for mine, But the brake pads are like $40 from a dealer friend and doing 2 brake jobs ($150 each at dealer) pays off the book. Also, I need to do a tune-up and rather get the parts and do it myself.. Of course some things will still be dealer/othershops, like tranny fluid change...

But the more I can save, the better...

chikoo · June 2001

did you check you wheel bearing?

a broken or chipped component within the bearing(rivet,ball,roller) can cause a ticking noise

anwarma · June 2001

Chikoo:

Is there a way for me to check the bearing myself?

I hate to take it to the dealer he is going to charge $60 for the diagnostics only.

I will wait for your reply.

THANKS!

chikoo · June 2001

lift up your wheel on the jack so that it does not touch the ground.
Rotate it freely and try to locate the sound.
If it comes from within the Hub/rotor assembly and not the calipers, it could very well be the bearings.

anwarma · July 2001

THANKS! I will let you know when I do the bearing check.

re34240 · July 2001

I just bought my 2001 Protege ES a few days ago. and I love it!

Last night, I was going to go cruising with my girlfriend and the moon roof open. to my dismay when I turned the lights on... the dash lights didn't come on. I couldn't see my gauges or anything.

headlights worked. tail lights did NOT. and if I left the lights on when I left the car. there was no warning tone.

I was going to take it to the dealership this morning to have it looked at but.. everything works today! very strange. I didn't mess with anything. anyone have any similar experiences or any ideas on what could be wrong?

mbs7 · July 2001

Maybe it's just a blown fuse?

mbs7 · July 2001

Today my wife was driving our 99 LX and the "Malfunction Indicator" light came on. The manual says it could be the gas cap, a blown fuse, or some electrical problem in the engine. She called the dealer and the man she spoke with said the most common cause is the gas cap not being on tight. The thing is that I am pretty much the only person who ever puts gas in the car and I always make sure to the cap clicks when I screw it back on. Anyhow, the light is still lit and the guy told her that it can take a couple days for the indicator to reset itself.

Has anyone had any similar experience? We are taking the car in on Friday to have them look at it, so I'll give an update then.

As a side note, after a few months of owning our Protege, we noticed that if we accelerate more than just gently, the car (seems to be the engine) makes a sort of crackling noise. It is not loud, but to a conscientious owner like myself it is noticeable and doesn't sound like a healthy engine. Because of this noise, I'm afraid to accelerate hard (like when getting onto the freeway.) When we had our 30K maintenance done I had the dealer check it out. They hooked it up to their computer and said it doesn't ping. Anyhow, on Friday I'm going to have that checked out too. We have tried: several tanks of 89 octane gas and a bottle of Techron, but the noise is still there.

compensate · July 2001

Brakes:

I was surprised to see that some of you had to replace front brakes so early. I have a 99 Protege ES 5-speed with 44,000 miles on it. I still have the original brake pads, front and rear. I expect the brakes to last at least a bit longer. I'm not that easy on brakes either. I wonder if having an automatic vs a 5-speed would have an effect on the brakes?

Dash Lights:

I've never experienced that problem in my Protege, but it could be a loose fuse - check to see if there is a single fuse for dash and tail lights, but I think they're different fuses. It could also be a minor wiring problem, like an exposed wire (hitting against metal or other wire). Sounds strange.

Malfunction Indicator Light:

I doubt it is the gas cap, but I could be wrong. However, my wife drives our Protege more of the time now and she has always tightened gas caps on all of her cars very loosely (she sometimes has had trouble taking them off when I've filled the tank - I twist them on tight!). We have yet to have this light come on, even with my wife not putting on the gas cap tightly. My guess is that is could be some sort of sensor (oxygen sensor?) that needs to be replaced or some other electrical problem (or a malfunctioning light itself). I have owned several Mazdas over the years and always seem to have to have an oxygen sensor replaced around the 40,000 - 60,000 mile range - not expensive normally, but free from Mazda if within warranty period.

Crackling Noise:

Since I have the 1999 ES, it has a different engine than the LX that year. However, I'd still be interested in this noise. Is it always continuous when accelerating or sometimes intermittent? Can you give an example of what this crackling sounds like (is it like mild valve clattering?) and approximately at what location it sounds like it's coming from (such as "near lower part of engine" or "toward the passenger side of the engine")? This one is very strange.

Good luck to all and zoom zoom zoom...

jstandefer · July 2001

You have been very lucky with those brakes!! I have a '99 ES 5-spd with just about 44,000 miles on it as well, and I had to replace my front brake pads at 23,000 miles! I am, however, a hard driver, especially after trading in my beloved (but expensive to maintain) RX-7 on my Pro...

jstandefer · July 2001

I believe this is the same as the "Check Engine" light on U.S. cars. This light will come on if there is any malfunction or error detected in the emissions system. A loose gas cap is generally the most common culprit. However, I would have it checked out by the dealer. The computer will save the error code and mileage it occured at in memory, and the dealer can retrieve it and determine the problem. By chance, did you run out of fuel? This can cause the light to activate as well. The car is still under warranty, so get it checked out. It's better to have something replaced now for free than to pay to replace it later.

mbs6 · July 2001

I want to thank everyone for their responses to my post! These newsgroups are great!

Mild valve clattering? Maybe if I were more of a machinehead I would be able to say, but I'm afraid I just don't have enough experience with the sounds of valves to be able to say.

Here's what I can say. From inside the car, the sounds seems to come from the lower middle of the hood compartment. The sound is intermittent in that sometimes it is worse than others. However, I can make the noise almost anytime by simply accelerating harder, and I can make it stop by easing off the accelerator. If I always accelerate lightly (and I mean pretty lightly) then the noise is absent. When I'm cruising at 70 on the freeway there is no noise, except sometimes when going up an incline. I really thought it has all the classic symptoms of pinging, but the dealer said no.

jstandefer, you're right that the Malfunction Indicator is the check engine light. However, we didn't run out of gas ;-) In accordance with the owner's manual we never let the tank get much lower then 1/4 tank. I agree with compensate in that I doubt it is the gas cap.

I'm anxious to find out what the dealer will say on Friday and to let everyone know what's up.

blarg1 · July 2001

i have a 97 protege, 5 sp, 86K miles. I am fighting the engine light. idles high again.

I have replaced oxygen sensors twice, pcv valve, fuel filter, idle control motor twice

the car just had a new idle control motor put in last week, and the engine light is back on and the car idles high.

the mechanic said the dealer told him that this is a rare failure of some sort of wax seal in the idle control motor when there is a coolant leak, and the temperature goes up. apparently there is a coolant channel in there?

idle control motor is located under the air intake hose, kinda next to the throttle body.

also the machanic says there is carbon forming with in the throttle body. sounds a little suspicious to me.

anyone else having these problems?

h109 · July 2001

hi all !

i have 2000 pro ex. yesterday, while driving on a newly laid road, a big patch of tar(asphalt) stuck to my tires. and, it gathered a lot of gravel from a parking lot. this was causing a hell of a wobble. thinking it was a problem with the wheels/axle (i have a poor car/auto knowledge), i was about to get it towed to the dealer. that's when i noticed it, luckily. i took out some of it using a screwdriver. but am unable to get all of it out.

can anyone let me know of a way to get the tar out from my tires.

thanks in advance,
-hari

fritz1224 · July 2001

I would think gasoline or some other petroleum based solvent would work. Use a rag soaked with the stuff and a screwdriver to get in the treads. Shouldn't be hard.

h109 · July 2001

hi all !

i have 2000 pro ex. yesterday, while driving on a newly laid road, a big patch of tar(asphalt) stuck to my tires. and, it gathered a lot of gravel from a parking lot. this was causing a hell of a wobble. thinking it was a problem with the wheels/axle (i have a poor car/auto knowledge), i was about to get it towed to the dealer. that's when i noticed it, luckily. i took out some of it using a screwdriver. but am unable to get all of it out.

can anyone let me know of a way to get the tar out from my tires.

thanks in advance,
-hari

mazdafun · July 2001

Try using some ice to cool and thicken the tar before mechanically removing it (makes it less sticky). A solvent can get the rest.

h109 · July 2001

thanks for the tip, mazdafun.

but, two questions :
1) how to mechanically remove it? do you mean i have to use a machine ?
2) can you suggest a solvent and where to get it.

thanks again,
-hari

nikecar · July 2001

go to any Auto parts store and ask a clerk what is good. They should have tons of stuff.

mazdafun · July 2001

Something that isn't sharp will do. I've only had to remove tar patches maybe two times. I once had 8-inch long patches stick to both tires on the passenger side when I parked onto a tar strip at the road/gutter border. It was a hot day, and I think they laid it down recently. What a mess!

Anyway, I tore off the bulk before driving off. When I got home, I used flat-head screwdrivers; a big one to scrape off the larger clumps and a smaller one for picking tar out of the tread. There wasn't much left afterwards, so I skipped the solvent.

h109 · July 2001

thanks a lot mazdafun & nikecar

protege_fan · July 2001

I'm not sure if this is a problem or not, but when I start my Pro up in the morning, the rpms shoot up to about 2000 and then the car will idle at just under 2000 rpm until I start to drive. After I start to drive and then stop, the rpms are back to "normal" (about 650-700 rpm). If this is not a problem, could somebody please explain why this happens? My Pro is a 2001 LX 2.0 manual transmission w/ AC, ABS, and remote keyless. Thanks in advance!

Protege_fan

the_big_h · July 2001

that's normal, it's called warming up. If you let the car warm up long enough the rpm will drop down to normal idling rpms (650-700). Don't know the technical details, just know that's how it normally behaves.

Usually I drive off after the initial 2000 rpm has dropped to 1500, and don't rev the engine hard until the temp gauge rise to normal operating temp, takes about 2-3 minutes. After that, zoom-zoom

mbs7 · July 2001

Well I took my car in to the dealer today. It turned out that the mass air flow sensor had gone bad. Happily, they replaced it free since it is still under warranty :-)

Apparently, this was the cause of the "check engine" light and of the crackling noise I was hearing. The dealership confirmed that the engine was pinging.

I picked up the car just a little while ago and it is definitely better than it was. The pinging noise is all but gone! So if anyone else has a sound like that, have them check out the air flow sensor!

hp9000 · July 2001

Hi,

Yesterday I bought a 98 Protege LX Touring Edition, the horn only worked once, now when I press the button all I hear are "clicks", where should I start looking? Thanks!

nikecar · July 2001

check the fuse... the location should be in the manual or fuse cover

kaiserhead · July 2001

Yeah, I realise that this may have been addressed already, but I have a 2000 Protege SE with the 1.6l engine and I've noticed that over the last few months there has been a rattle coming from the engine when the RPMs get up around 4000 or more. Has anyone figured out what this is?

This is the only problem I've had (its hardly a problem considering my last car was a Ford Taurus!!)

newcar31 · July 2001

I just back from a long trip to northern Minnesota. It is about 4 hours away from Minneapolis. My 2001 ES performed flawlessly on the way up. On the way back, about an hour away from Minneapolis, the blower motor decided to stop working. I had the A/C on the whole trip set to level 1 and it worked fine. All of the sudden, it got really hot in the car. There was still cool air coming from the vents, but I think it was because I was going about 70 mph with the system set to fresh air. I turned the fan to level 4 but it barely blew any air, there was definetely something wrong. I set the system to recirculate and it didn't make any difference. The fan was making noise like it was working but it didn't blow hardly any air. I stopped to get gas and when I started it up again the blower worked fine. I am worried that when I take it in to the dealer they are going to say: "Well, it works fine now so there is nothing we can do about it" Any ideas?

vocus · July 2001

My 2001 Protege ES would not start on Saturday morning. I was driving Friday evening with the radio blasting and the windows and sunroof open, and the music all of a sudden stopped. I was a little worried, thinking I blew something out. When I went back to the car on Saturday morning, it did not start! I called roadside assistance, and they said it would be about an hour. But some nice person at the hotel I was staying in (company affair) gave me a jumpstart. I drove it right to my dealer after that and left it. They turned it off and restarted it like 3 times, and it turned right back over. They will call tomorrow and tell me if there is anything wrong with it.

What gets me is that I bought a second Protege (I had a 1999 DX model) because the first was so reliable. This one seems to be a little troublesome (alignment issues, steering wheel was installed crooked but fixed under TSB, and brake rotors warped). I am starting to think I could have got my second choice, the Jetta, and had the same or less problems with it. I still do like the car, but am just a little disappointed with it, especially since I only have 9800 miles.

maltb · July 2001

Sounds like the blower intake was clogged. Did you run it on both fresh and recirculate? I'm thinking that when you stopped, whatever was blocking the intake just fell away.

newcar31 · July 2001

Yeah, I tried both because it was getting really hot in the car. Wouldn't it have to be an really big object to clog the blower intake? Isn't the blower intake below the windshield? I was thinking it had something to do with the vacuum mechanisms behind the dash that open and close the vents when you select the head/feet/head & feet/defrost/defrost & feet on the climate controls. I am taking it in to the dealer tommorow, I hope they don't have to tear the whole dashboard apart.

maltb · July 2001

So you switched the mode between foot/face/defrost? If it was a vacuum problem, that most likely wouldn't have worked either. Sounds pretty strange.

BTW, was it running in fresh or recirc when it first happened?

newcar31 · July 2001

It was running in fresh when it first happened. I switched it to level 4 of recirculate and it moved almost no air at all. I switched between all modes and none worked any better. I hope it was just the intake clogged up with a really big bug or something.

maltb · July 2001

I doubt you folks have bugs that big in MN, but I'm thinking along the lines of a plastic grocery bag or something similar. Wait and see what Mr. Dealer says...

vocus · July 2001

They checked my car from stem to stern today at the dealership, and found no problems at all with it. I was really mad, considering I missed a day of work and got stranded in a car that's only 4.5 months old. So I am just wondering how long it will be before my car strands me again and not start.

nikecar · July 2001

let me be the first...

I told ya so... shoulda gotten a 2000 ES.. *grin* only problem is an intermittent rattle coming somewhere in the dash of the driver side, which annoys the Mrs... other than that, that's it..

newcar31 · July 2001

I knew it. The dealer did exactly what I thought it would. I thought that maybe there was a TSB or something on my problem. Nope. They said "We couldn't duplicate the problem (I told them they probably wouldn't be able to anyways), if it happens again, just bang on the dashboard because one of the connections may be loose" What? Bang on the dash? This car is brand new and I need to bang on the dashboard? I told them my car isn't a 1978 model Zenith TV with bad reception, and I don't think I need to bang on the dash to get the blower motor to work. They told to just bring it in again when if it happens again. OK. Whatever.

vocus · July 2001

Know how you feel. My radio keeps cutting off, but they told me they have to prove it before it can be fixed. I wish I would have never bought this car. I should have kept the 1999 DX, but it was a helluva lot more reliable than this thing is. I can't really say it's unreliable (just some bugs), but Mazda's customer service sucks and so does their attitude. Perhaps if I was taken care of better, I wouldn't regret my purchase.

kaiserhead · July 2001

Anyone know is there's a web site that lists all the technical service bullitens for a car?

vocus · July 2001

You have to go to the DOT website, which is http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov and put "technical service bulletins" in the search engine.

nikecar · July 2001

and it won't tell you the solutions though, in case you start wondering...

AllData I think does the same.

gti2001 · July 2001

HI. I just traded my 2000 Protege ES for a 2001 VW GTI 1.8T. There is a huge difference in power and refinement. I must say, that for less than 2,000 dollars, I got a much better car.

newcar31 · July 2001

Good luck.

protegextwo · July 2001

A V-Dub, well? I'm sure you will "refine" your relationship with your new best friend (your Volkswagen service advisor). Too bad the back seat is so cramped, I guess for a little more money, you got little smaller car?

-Larry

Mazda Protege Maintenance and Repair

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