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Mazda Protege Maintenance and Repair

3738 messages,  Last post on Apr 23, 2013 at 10:59 AM

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What is this discussion about? Mazda Protege, Sedan

Messages Page 197 of 375

#1953 of 3738 i blame mazda..100 perrrrcent! by swtwilliam

Jan 30, 2004 (8:16 am)

live in mn. very very cold recently. like -25 to -30 below with wind chills. just bought a 2003 protege es,and experienced very iffy cold starting performance. called dealer, and brought car in. they checked battery and said it was low on cranking amps (about 150?). soooooooooooo..they replaced the battery, under warranty, with a mazda replacemnt - 550 amps i am told.
well guess what happened today?? yep. no start. cranks as slow or slower than it did before. i know, your thinking charging system right? they say they checked that. so.......i call the mazda dealer today (again, me and service mgr are on first name basis now) and i say "well, i was right. you were wrong. car wont start. mazda roadside assistance is towing it in today".
then, the *!#% service manager has the balls to shake me down about cold weather starting procedure. "did you crank the engine until it fired?" my reply, "i could crank the engine for about 35 seconds and then my battery would be dead". "well, if you stop cranking too early, you will flood the engine. its in the owners manual". bastard, you think this is the first car i have had to start in a mn winter?? "im telling you this new battery you just installed, doesnt crank any harder/faster than the one you replaced".
service manager also gave me some song and dance about how the engine is tight. so it will crank harder. soooooo...with that reasoning then most new car owners aren't able to start their cars in the winter. pffffffttt!!
i am very p.o'd about this (as i watch my neighbors in blazers, grand prixs, navigators start their cars and drive away). i am calling mazda usa.

#1954 of 3738 Cold starts by protege_fan

Jan 30, 2004 (9:26 am)

Are you guys using block heaters? We had -32C weather up here (-45C w/ the windchill) and although it takes a bit to start, my '03 ES hasn't had any trouble starting.

#1955 of 3738 They should've checked the replacement battery. by mazdafun

Jan 30, 2004 (9:27 am)

They go bad with age. Goes for any make of lead-acid batteries. The one in yours may have drained due to any number of reasons (probably because the car hadn't been run in a while...think of it: assuming they put a fresh battery in at the factory, it is shipped over the ocean, which can take a week or more, depending on the port, then it is processed through the port and then trucked or rail-freighted, which can take weeks, then it may sit around a dealer lot for days to months after a brief run to park the car, which probably drains its battery more than charges it). If I got a 2003 model car now, I'd plan on replacing the battery before a real winter hit. When I got an '89 323LX back in late '89, the battery was close to dead; the dealer put in a fresh battery. I got my '99 ProLX in Jan '99, so its battery lasted 4 years fine; I replaced it before this winter, just in case.
 
The replacement battery they gave you may have been sitting around uncharged for a while. Retailers of car batteries should charge them every now and then, but I bet most don't
 
Like all rechargeables, they drain (even w/o a load) in a matter of weeks to months. Once a lead-acid battery is dead, it stays dead. It won't hold a charge for long and it won't have nearly the CCA it's supposed to have.
 
The occasional bad one gets in too. If it's a "service-free" type, there may be a crack in the casing, allowing the water in the cell to evaporate, causing premature death of the cell. There are many ways for car batteries to fail.
 
So, if you've ever drained your battery (by leaving a light on etc.), then you should really replace it.
 
Even the best of car batteries don't last beyond 5 years. I'd say most go between 3 and 4 years of use before needing replacement, especially up north. I replace mine every 4, and I garage my car, so it has at least one "warm" start during winter days.

#1956 of 3738 no start by dinu01

Jan 30, 2004 (3:06 pm)

Our PRO is usually outside and even with the cold weather (routinely -20C to -30C for the last 2 wks) the car started w/no problem w/out a block heater.
 
If you bought it recently, if the car sits on the lot for too long, maybe (just speculation) the car will have a hard time to start???
 
Dinu

#1957 of 3738 Cold Start by kaiserhead

Jan 30, 2004 (5:46 pm)

My 2000 Protege has the original battery and sits in a cold a windy parking lot five days a week. It starts (slowly) everytime within three seconds. I'd have the battery checked, maybe even by a place other than Mazda.

#1958 of 3738 battery check by swtwilliam

Jan 30, 2004 (9:58 pm)

yeah,i had the battery load tested at batteries plus. it read about 308 cca there (its a 525 cca mazda batter). then i went to dealership and it read 408. is 408 on 525 battery acceptable?
seems the battery is fine. put car in the garage tointe and girlfriends van is on the driveway. we will see but if you ask me this is rediculous. i have roadside assitance, though it took them 6 hours to show up today.

#1959 of 3738 Weak battery/cold winter by elavertu

Jan 31, 2004 (12:21 am)

As I said, the car is new so that is what annoyed me the most. We (gf and I) love the car, we were just pissed that it would not start during cold days since the sales rep told us we would never need a block heater on the protegé.
 
Unfortunately, it was the first time I listened to a sales rep and it was a mistake. I should have pushed harder for the block heater during the negotiation.
 
Now we got one installed for $160 cnd and the car always starts even at -35. It was the last time I follow the advice of a sales rep, I learned the hard way waiting for the tow truck for 7 hours.

#1960 of 3738 01 ES Problems by hboyd

Jan 31, 2004 (1:57 pm)

My '01 ES Pro AT (41K miles) has had the following problems:
Anyone have similar ones?
 
1) Faulty CD-player (skipped over tiny road bumps);
 
2) Morning/cold-start engine "rumbling/buzzing" (sounds like a diesel) at low RPMs during start-up and low-speed driving; [dealer replaced engine delay valve and catalytic convertor and reprogrammed PCM]; problem has returned! (Any ideas or new fixes?);
 
3) Rear, center seatbelt retracted sluggishly;
 
4) driver-door weather-stripping loose at top;
 
5) 3 strut cartridges are leaking a little oil above spring seat; dealer states it is normal;
 
6) windshield wipers flutter/lift at speeds above 75MPH; (Any ideas/fixes?)
 
7) Engine whines between about 65-75 MPH cruising; (Any ideas/fixes?);
 
My warranty runs out in a couple weeks. Still a VERY GREAT car... all faulty parts were replaced by my dealer... but some issues they couldn't quite reproduce/pinpoint.
 
Thanks, Martin

#1961 of 3738 Hboyd by protege_fan

Jan 31, 2004 (3:25 pm)

Item 2 on your list is a known issue. There is a TSB fix for it. Try www.nhtsa.dot.gov and search for it.

#1962 of 3738 Martin by dinu01

Feb 01, 2004 (8:45 am)

#1 - Known issue on 2001s - I'm on my 3rd Cd player now - ate one CD, skipped and lost radio reception. If your was built in June/July 2001 you're not alone.
 
#2- Yes, check for a TSB - mention engine pinging on a cold start (reprogram ECU)to your dealer
 
#3-#6 - no clue
 
#7 - Ask dealer to check for weatherstripping around the windshiled - at that speed a whine/whistle-type noise sometimes appeared on 01 PROs - quick dealer fix - however this is NOT coming from the engine as far as I know. Maybe you have a different issue???
 
Dinu

Messages Page 197 of 375

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