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Mazda Protege Maintenance and Repair

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

You are in the Mazda Protege Forum.

What is this discussion about? Mazda Protege, Sedan

Messages Page 314 of 375

#3124 of 3738 2001 Protege by mirde98

Mar 13, 2007 (11:08 am)

Hello everybody. A co-worker of mine is moving and im interested in acquiring her 2001 Protege. The car is 61K and she's never been a maintenece fan of car's, the car looks good and i drove it around town, drives good, it is dirty (hasn't seen a wash in more than 6 months) but that i can fix with a good wash and full detailing. I never had a Mazda before, so i was just wondering what should i look for in this Protege. Is a DX with AUTO trans. Manual windows and locks. Has A/C and CD radio. Silver on gray interior.

#3125 of 3738 Re: 2001 Protege [mirde98] by 11b33t

Mar 13, 2007 (12:08 pm)

Replying to: mirde98 (Mar 13, 2007 11:08 am)
Does she have any records showing any type of maintenance or service being performed on said vehicle? Mazda Protege' is a great vehicle (I'm still driving my 92 LX) that will last for a good while but you have to perform preventive maintenance on it to keep it working.

#3126 of 3738 FREE 2000 Protoge stuff by junglejet

Mar 14, 2007 (1:33 pm)

Hello All, I previously owned a 2000 protoge LX. It was totaled a couple of years ago. I still have haynes manual 1993 - 2000, Parts list from factory manual and set of Spark plug wires from Pepboys which i only used for a couple of weeks. I am looking to get rid of these if anyone is intrested Please E-mail me at junglejet2yahoo.com. I will gladly send them to you for FREE providing you pay shipping cost.

#3127 of 3738 2000 Mazda Protege "Belt Issues"- Squealing Belt by acletner

Mar 16, 2007 (10:53 am)

Hello All:
I purchase a 00 Protege brand new about 7 years ago. I had no real issues with it until I hit about 135K miles. I have gone through 7 belts in the past 6 months. It's not the same belt though. Once it was my serpentine belt and then once I changed that my water pump belt would go. I took it to a mechanic about 2 weeks ago to have him check it and he said that he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He said that all my pulley's are okay and nothing looked wrong. I still have a squealing belt (normally only when the heater is on). I can't figure it out nor can my father, father-in-law. Does anyone have any idea what would be causing the squeal?

#3128 of 3738 98 with some electrical.... quirks by dstrongchicago

Mar 20, 2007 (12:31 pm)

I have a 98 Protege with 112000 mi. Within the last year, I've been having some electrical issues. I have one headlamp that dims, then after a few weeks it goes out, followed shortly thereafter by the other going completely out. I replace them both and they both work fine for a few weeks, then the cycle starts again. In addition, I was pulled over (on New Years Eve, of all times) because my brakelights apparently stopped working when my headlights were on. The brakelight problem has not happened again since then, but I'm assuming it's only a matter of time. I'm also spending a small fortune in headlamps that need replacing every two months or so. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do short of replacing pieces of my entire electrical system one-by-one until the problem stops?? Please help me! I like my car, but I'm going broke!!!

#3129 of 3738 wierd rubbing noise? by 2002pro2

Mar 21, 2007 (12:13 am)

I have a 2002 Pro 2.0 LX, and recently i was driving in a snow storm and gently slid off the road i hit a small pile of snow thinking nothing of it i kept driving home, then i realized my steering wheel was not straight when the wheels were and i could hear a rubbing noise from the passenger side wheel..next day i put it on the lift, saw nothing broken or damaged at all, then i reved it up and saw nothing wrong but i still hear something rubbing..maybe wheel bearing?...please help!!!

#3130 of 3738 Re: wierd rubbing noise? [2002pro2] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Mar 21, 2007 (8:24 am)

Replying to: 2002pro2 (Mar 21, 2007 12:13 am)
best go to an alignment shop (not a chain store). You could have bent a tie rod but perhaps it's nothing more than a quick alignment. The rubbing might be a dislodged piece of plastic liner under there.

#3131 of 3738 Re: 2000 Mazda Protege "Belt Issues"- Squealing Belt [acletner] by kajun58

Mar 23, 2007 (6:09 am)

Replying to: acletner (Mar 16, 2007 10:53 am)
I've experienced similar issues ... (2002 Mazda Protege ES)
 
I've changed my belts twice in a week. I've had the belts retensioned three times!
 
I have a terrible squealing noise ... not sure if it's the actual belt(s) or the alternator.
 
I priced alternators for this vehicle and went into shock!
$179 to $300 +
 
Have you had any success in resolving your issues ...?

#3132 of 3738 Re: 2000 Mazda Protege "Belt Issues"- Squealing Belt [kajun58] by jrdwyer

Mar 27, 2007 (5:46 am)

Replying to: kajun58 (Mar 23, 2007 6:09 am)
The classic belt squeal/slip occurs when the belt is wet like after driving through a big puddle on heavy rain days.
 
The belts do stretch over time, but you shouldn't have to re-tighten them more than once a year tops. I think Gates belts are better than most.
 
The alternators on the Protege are generally good, but if it does go bad you could have a local alternator/starter shop rebuild it for probably $50-$100. This would require the car to be down for a few days.

#3133 of 3738 98 protege ES problems and diagnostics by slavuta

Mar 29, 2007 (8:09 am)

My car is 1998 Protégé ES, 1.8, 5spd. Recently I started to experience 2 problems simultaneously, which I didn’t want to relate one to another.
Firstly, my car’s fuel efficiency declined. Normally, I would get 29.5-30.5 miles per gallon. These days it is always below 28mpg. So, I decided to check the engine. I removed spark plugs and noticed black soot on them, which tells you that too much gas goes into the cylinders. I started from checking fuel pressure regulator but it does work good as test showed. Second thing I’ve checked – the Oxygen Sensor. I ran test on it and it is definitely working. My check engine light is not ON either.
  
This is time to jump to my second issue.
When I drive, I noticed that my tachometer jumps up and then back down. For example, if I drive consistently with engine speed 3000 RPM. Looking at tachometer I would notice that the arrow would suddenly jump up to 3500 and immediately go down back to 3000. This happens sometimes every 5 seconds, sometimes just a few times on 20 miles trip. The engine sound doesn’t change, nothing hesitates, nothing else is happening besides the tachometer readings.
So, at first I didn’t want to tie these two issues together and now, after I checked engine parts for operability, I think may be this is tied together. May be a central computer (if there is one) is malfunctioning and causing a few issues at once.
Curious if anyone else got something like this?

Messages Page 314 of 375

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