Atlanta Protoge Guy (97.80.140.157) - Sat Apr 19 05:51:32 2008

I own a 2003 Protoge LX - bought brand new

MAINTENANCE HISTORY:

Car has 103, 000 miles

Coolant flush 18 months ago.

Oil changed per owner's manual- at 90, 000 miles I started using Mobil One Hi-Mileage.

At 95, 000 miles had the major service done, which included: adjusting timing belt, valves and replacing water pump.

Have always put 87 octane gasoline in car.

THE PROBLEMS:

1. About three months ago I noticed a rattle in the engine when I depress the accelerator. Like a marble rolling around in the engine. I filled gas tank with 93 octane and bought a bottle of STP Fuel System Treatment. The noise went away- but now its back.

2. While idling at a stop, e.g. traffic light, the engine starts to sputter, almost die.

3. The "check engine" light came on steady a month ago, several days later it went out...few days later came back on steady, few days later went out.

I am in college and need this car to last me 5 more years, but don't want to break the bank keeping it running.

Reply #1 Atlanta Protoge Guy (97.80.140.157) - Sat Apr 19 05:53:45 2008

FORGOT TO LIST THIS PROBLEM:

4. When car is stopped and I give it gas to get going, there is a very noticeable hesitation before the car begins to accelerate from the stop...but after that its fine.

Reply #2 El papa (76.66.187.161) - Mon May 12 09:58:25 2008

It seems like it’s the EGR valve: t’is a common and recurrent problem. There seem to have been a recall about it - should call a dealer to make shure. I read somewhere they replace it with a better part these days.

2 years ago, I had just bought mine when it happened to me (prot 2002): At times, idle was so terrible it would turn the engine off, but over 1500 rpm everyting was perfect. Check engine light kept coming and going.

After a week, dealer replaced it for free since they had sold me the car.

FYI, try to avoid hight octane with that car, you are throwing away money and impairing the performance of your engine. Higher octane is for engines that have different timing and compression specs. it makes the gas less prone to ignition so that with a higher compression you can control the explosion more precisely. In your car, it might in fact burn more gas than regular since it might have to run richer in fuel to get proper ingnition…

Reply #3 TINY (70.241.199.233) - Thu Jun 19 11:20:25 2008

MY 1995 MAZDA MILLENIA DRIVE FINE UNTILL I MAKE A STOP AT THE INTERSECTION AND SHE HESITANT WHEN I TRY TO PULL OFF.IT LIKE THE GAS IS 2-5 SEC SLOW WHEN COMING TO THE ACCELERATOR.WHAT IS THAT PLEASE HELP

Reply #4 kathy (68.43.93.185) - Sun Jun 29 11:45:30 2008

We lost our manual and now a warning light that looks like a spark plug has come on to the left of the steering wheel saying check.Do you know what that is if you have a manual? Thanks.Other problem is a squeak when you back up but rarely when you put the brakes on going forward...

Reply #5 Brooke (68.213.82.226) - Thu Aug 28 11:59:00 2008

I have a 2000 Mazda Protege ES, i have many of the same problems as you all do. Idles poorly, window strip falls off, check engine light is constantly coming on and off, rip in the driver side floor board, but my most recent problem is my engine. Something is rattling, when i get to 40 MPH and 60 MPH it skips. Almost like it doens't want to change gears. i just a used transmission put in the car this past February (the sad part is that it was only a wire that had went bad, but i still had to pay for the transmission). I am not sure what it could be this time, nor do i have the money to take it and have it looked at. If ANYONE knows what this could be, please e-mail me and let me know.

Reply #6 Luke Windle (74.228.29.213) - Wed Oct 29 13:40:08 2008

It's your bearings. Get your car checked out ASAP.

I have a 2001 Mazda MP3 and got a rattle around 2500 RPMs with the hesitant starts and idling issues. Eventually my car died and I couldn't get it to start. The bearings blew and the cylinder rod broke and jacked up my crank shaft.

You need to get this looked at. Had I replaced the bearings I would not need a new engine. Bearings are about $50 bucks and engines are over $1000 plus another grand for parts and labor.

Reply #7 Luke Rehmann (75.134.209.200) - Sun Nov 16 20:20:54 2008

I think that those are the bearings for you, you might want to double check though. That's the best deal i could find.

• Mazda Protégé Wheel Bearings

Reply #8 Lisa Zemo (24.235.160.93) - Mon Nov 24 23:37:41 2008

I have a '95 Mazda Protege, It was driving fine on my way to

class, then on my way home I noticed the care begin to shake a

little. When I got home I looked under the hood and noticed that

there was a blue spark coming from a wire. I am defanitly not a

car girl so I can't tell you exactly where the spark came from.

But if you have any ideas on what it may be I would be happy to

hear it. Thanks!

Reply #9 chelsea26 (202.175.205.213) - Tue Nov 25 22:09:47 2008

is the sound coming from the front of the engine? it it's coming from the front of an engine, chances are you have a loose timing chain.

Reply #10 Sean (192.251.125.85) - Tue Mar 3 08:30:45 2009

I've noticed about a month ago that my car was making a knocking noise. It was really noticeable when I would rev up my engine just before shifting. But once into the higher gear, it would go away until I had to shift again. Now, it seems that it makes a louder knocking noise and even at idle. It sounds horrible. What could this possibly be? I don't have a RPM gauge.

Reply #11 Loric (69.181.248.237) - Mon Apr 27 07:32:41 2009

My 1999 Protege engine light has been on the better part of the car's life. As long as I've kept it oiled up, it's run. Stopped a while back due to computer breakdown ($1700 repair job). That was when engine really started running rough, as if almost flooding out. The rattle is loose sheet metal underneath--noticeable but doesn't affect performance...just distracting. This car has been worth it's price and the repairs over 10 years, minimal. And cheap in the scheme of things.

Reply #12 Erik (67.214.225.82) - Fri May 8 16:26:41 2009

My girl has the same car and the same problems I replaced the spark plugs and wires and ran seafoam through the vacume hose and it works great.

Reply #13 Roger (69.142.25.172) - Sat May 16 06:19:19 2009

My mazda has no power and I have black stuff all over the back of my car that came from the ex.pipe. please help what can it be

Reply #14 Dr T (71.59.33.231) - Sat May 23 17:54:15 2009

Hi,

I have 2000 Protege which has been running well until now. Recently, I have noticed that once in a while it makes a knocking (more like running over a coke can) sound when going from reverse to a gear while turing the streeing wheel. Anyone has any idea???

Thank you.

Reply #15 suad (74.79.208.239) - Thu Jun 4 23:58:06 2009

The marble rattling that you hear from your mazdas is 99% the catalatyc converter which is the fist can after the exhaust manifold. I had the same problem on my 02 protege lx 155000K heard the rattling when accelerating what i did is took off the catalatyc converter and beat everything from inside of it out because it was burnt out kind of made it a straight pipe yes i know the check engine light did come on but when i put back together no rattling noise then i bought a new cat replaced it and im happy now. And as far as mazdas go all i did on my is replaced the battery and alternator at 120k great car. Good luck all.

Reply #16 R. Craig (70.77.39.4) - Wed Jun 10 20:14:01 2009

I have a 2001 Mazda Protoge ES 2.0 There is a lot fo hesitation when the car is in gear from the stop and then it eventually kicks and goes and when it is in neutral you can rev it up and it runs fine. This also goes away sometimes. Lately the check engine light is blinking and on permanately. I had it checked out and the mechanic said that he thought maybe plugs and wires or rear or front oxygen sensors. Does not seem like a fuel problem. Can it be transmission or egr valve that you recommended to another person..?

Thank You

Reply #17 Christine (130.189.10.64) - Sun Oct 11 11:10:46 2009

I have recently bought an 97 Ford Taurus SHO and I just started hearing a rattling noise coming from the front end of my car or maybe the engine. I am a girl and have no clue what is going on lol. Can someone help me and let me know what it is.

Reply #18 carlos (99.235.46.246) - Mon Oct 19 18:01:32 2009

hi i have a mazda protege lx 2001 the probelem is the engine light is on all the time the idle is poor below the 1000 and when i get to a stop the car feel like is gonna turn off and one of this day going to work in the highway when i get up to 120 or 110 i would start to loose power in my engine from a 120 it started going down to o and the engine just died i tried to started again it took me like 3 5 minutes till i starte again and i was fine can you tell me what u thin it is if any idea tanks carlos

Reply #19 DBC (70.51.125.186) - Sat Oct 24 15:03:51 2009

I recently encountered this rattle noise in my 2003 protege 5. Luckily I had researched known problems when I first purchased the car used 4yrs ago. Mazda had issued a recall notice for this problem but my car didn't fall within the VIN range.

Here's what happen to me: Parked car to run into the store. I returned and started car, a very noticable noise was coming for the engine. It sounded like a metal screw being shaken in a metal can. I turned off and restarted the car three or four times and the noise slowly went away. The car was drivable but idled very low and would almost cut out. It was also felt underpowered when driving and appeared to have a misfire.

I took it to Mazda dealership for estimate and they told me $1400CAD plus tax to replace intake manifold, plugs, wires, coils and fuel rail.

Cause of the problem was a screw from inside the throttle body had fallen off and sucked into cyl #4 and damaged the spark plug(This was the Mazda recall). I picked up my car and decided to change the damaged spark plugs myself before anything else. PROBLEM SOLVED: Engine is now running normal. rough idle has gone away and RPM are around 800. "Check engine light" turned off after driving a little while. All has been normal for the last week. Now I just need to find out the purpose of the missing screw.

This little DIY cost me $5 to replace the damaged spark plug and saved me $1500. Be wary of what the garage tells you.

• www.protegefaq.net/tsb/3005C.pdf

Reply #20 Johan (81.25.188.127) - Mon Oct 26 16:31:59 2009

My car a Mazda 323 from 2003: A warning light start to show up. When the engine is running it sometimes loose the power and the light is blinking.2 sensor have been replaced, but the problem i still. Is there someone who have such a problem and a solution.

Last time when the sensor was replaced, they informed me that it has something with then air filter and this time it was the right sensor that was replaced, men after a day the problem started again. Please help, if somebody know about the problem?

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