Protege 1.5 dohc carbon fouling problem solved

sch72

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1997 Mazda Protege SE
1997 Protege 1500, 9100 km on the clock.

OK, it took over a year but my wife's car is finally running properly. Originally it came home with the check engine light on and reeking of gasoline. Borrowed a friends code reader and it showed a p1170 code. Replaced the timing belt and drive belts ( 12 pages of notes on this - the big break came when I found the complete engine manual on-line This car is a 1997, manual is 1996 but its the same engine with a chain linking the intake and exhaust cams plus a timing belt.) Also replaced the front O2 sensor - the first thing the manual recommends. Got the crank bolt off and on with help from a (retired HD mechanic) neighbor with an impact wrench and 200 feet of air hose between his garage and mine.

Thought it was fixed then the problem recurred after a week. Zounds! Did some web browsing and found the story of another Mazda with the same problem where the guy had been charged $800.00 for 2 new sensors and a new battery then still had the same problem. He checked the fuel pump pressure which turned out to be way too high then replaced the fuel pressure regulator (Page two on the list of P1170 code possibilities) and that solved the problem.

I bought a new pressure regulator from a mail order outfit plus new EFI hose and EFI clamps, installed the stuff outdoors in the drive way following all of the precautions in the manual and the car is running fine now.

The wife is much happier since she can now run errands and we don't have to depend on the Supercrew for all of our transportation now. She's scared to drive the truck since it can make some waves when parking.

FWIW we are in Western Canada where its very cold just now and the block heater on the Mazda stopped working and is in a tough place to get at. 5-20 synthetic oil seems to work just as well in the Protege as in the truck and neither of them has an oil consumption problem.
 
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