Niles
08-18-2009, 12:54 PM
Hi All! This is my first post. Hopefully i'm in the right forum and the mods don't mind a few general repair/maintenance questions from a pretty green car guy (me). This seems to be THE place for Mazda owners.
First off, my car:
'02 Protege 5
2.0 Automatic
Black (w/ rust starting to come through on rear fenders)
98,000 miles
Michigan car
After reading through the forums and online, and having the car troubleshot at the dealership for a rattle from the front driver side tire, I took the car in to a small shop for some work. Actually, $1,200 worth of work.
I had them put in new front struts and sway bar bushings (monroe), a new timing belt (Dayco brand, I didn't specify a preferred brand) and 2 new aux. belts, new water pump, new ngk plugs (per the forum), and new wires.
The Issue: I noticed a day or two later that the a/c was not very cold. My thought was maybe the shop disconnected or damaged something, so I tried to call but they were closed. The next day I was 400 miles into a vacation when, after the car cooled for a couple hours, I went to start it and got a terrible screech from the engine. I turned it off and waited a few, and restarted with no problem. The screech now occurs intermitently every 2 or 3 startups, sometimes I shut if off and sometimes it isn't so loud and it slowly goes away.
The Questions: Any thought on why the screeching is occuring? Think it's caused by overtight or undertight or non-oem belts? Any permanent damage or danger in driving? Lord knows when i'll be able to take it in again.
Second, when replacing all the plugs, water pump, and belts, it looks like the shop would have to disconnect the a/c lines. What are the odds they damaged or maybe missed a connection or even let some freon out? The two small light blue caps that look to be part of the a/c lines have clean spots where it looks like fingers recently unscrewed them. Also, the plastic zip lines on top of the engine that hold some wires were cut off and not re-attached (left a hole in the top of the engine block), and a small plastic 'bushing' on a silver ac line going into the fire wall is not pushed into place (finger snugged). I realize you get what you pay for to some degree, so i'm not mentioning to come down on the shop, just to help paint a picture. They were honest one other time with a car I had taken in.
Thanks for in advance for any guidance and help!
First off, my car:
'02 Protege 5
2.0 Automatic
Black (w/ rust starting to come through on rear fenders)
98,000 miles
Michigan car
After reading through the forums and online, and having the car troubleshot at the dealership for a rattle from the front driver side tire, I took the car in to a small shop for some work. Actually, $1,200 worth of work.
I had them put in new front struts and sway bar bushings (monroe), a new timing belt (Dayco brand, I didn't specify a preferred brand) and 2 new aux. belts, new water pump, new ngk plugs (per the forum), and new wires.
The Issue: I noticed a day or two later that the a/c was not very cold. My thought was maybe the shop disconnected or damaged something, so I tried to call but they were closed. The next day I was 400 miles into a vacation when, after the car cooled for a couple hours, I went to start it and got a terrible screech from the engine. I turned it off and waited a few, and restarted with no problem. The screech now occurs intermitently every 2 or 3 startups, sometimes I shut if off and sometimes it isn't so loud and it slowly goes away.
The Questions: Any thought on why the screeching is occuring? Think it's caused by overtight or undertight or non-oem belts? Any permanent damage or danger in driving? Lord knows when i'll be able to take it in again.
Second, when replacing all the plugs, water pump, and belts, it looks like the shop would have to disconnect the a/c lines. What are the odds they damaged or maybe missed a connection or even let some freon out? The two small light blue caps that look to be part of the a/c lines have clean spots where it looks like fingers recently unscrewed them. Also, the plastic zip lines on top of the engine that hold some wires were cut off and not re-attached (left a hole in the top of the engine block), and a small plastic 'bushing' on a silver ac line going into the fire wall is not pushed into place (finger snugged). I realize you get what you pay for to some degree, so i'm not mentioning to come down on the shop, just to help paint a picture. They were honest one other time with a car I had taken in.
Thanks for in advance for any guidance and help!