2002 Protege Poor Gas miles solved

hygieene351

Member
:
2002 protege
Ok this car has several problems. mine has 119,000. I did the "tune up". I took the car to Reynolds Mazda in Norman Oklahoma they told me the cold air intake had cracks in the rubber. It had cracks in it. But if you take a can of eather based carb cleaner and spray it on the outside of the rubber cold air intake the car should rev up - it didn't. I replaced the cold air intake just for s**** and giggles, next they wanted to replace the ignition coils... I said no paid the diagnostic 100$ fee. Took the car to Edmond Mazda. This dealer wanted to replace the fuel pump. I did it for 960$ did not fix the poor gas problem or spark plugs problem as you show in the picture. the car would stall at idle. I pulled off the EGR valve off and it was stuck open with lots of carbon inside and around the valve. I replaced the valve for 160$. The car ran smooth after that and had no emission codes on dash. Oh and I replaced the spark plug using the "best" Bosh factory plugs and replaced the coils. I still got poor fuel results shown here at 19 mpg city and 22 Hwy as long as you NEVER exceed 60 mph. I figured out why the poor gas mileage. The car runs at 1,950 rpm in 5 gear at 62 miles per hour----or 1,600 in 5 gear at 30 miles per hour. The car needs a 6 gear to bring the RPM down, so not to wast gas or such as Overdrive like on my friends 5.0 Liter V8 Mercury Cougar. His car has the engine running at 1,400 RPM at 70 MPH getting around 33 on the Hwy and that's a V8 Big Block.There is nothing wrong with this car it just doesn't have a Overdrive Gear inside the transmission. Simple problem fixed. Buy a new car like my Toyota Corolla that gets 32 city 39 hwy with 240,000 miles on it... buy buy Mazda!!!!! never again.
 
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Sorry about your poor mileage and all the money you spent on your car. BTW, this is a Mazda5 forum. The folks in the Protg forum may have better answers for you.
 
14,000 to 19,500 rpm? Where are those figures from? Sounds like speeds a router motor turns. :D
 
I was thinking he's getting pretty GOOD mileage given the speed the engine is turning. Whenever I get my 5 to spin at 19,500 RPM, the gas mileage goes straight to hell :p
 
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