Tons of smoke, misfires…Fixed! 2003 Protege5

n2stox

Jeff
:
2003 MP5, 2000 Audi S4, 67 Mustang (hers)
i don't want to write a novel on this but I could.

bottom line...car (180k miles) was smoking a ton on start up...like spy vs. spy.....total smoke screen....and we had the CEL which was randome misfires but mostly on cylinder 3...


took it to the dealer....no ideas except "get a new motor." after they charged $126 for a pcv valve....that was 3 years ago...i learned if I change the plugs every 3 months, things are ok, but the car still smokes a TON!

was burning a quart of oil a month...

took it to a local guy and he says "gee, there is a ton of gunk in your engine." at this point I want to spend like $4k on a new engine install...he quotes me $6800. no way.

so I buy the lubrimoly engine cleaner and run it before an oil change....whoa!....smoke is down about 90%...i do the same 3 weeks later...smoke is gone....totally gone...but we still have really bad misfires...

a friend asks "you change the plugs, do you change the wires?".....hmmm...I did like, 7 years ago...so I google the solution...and yes, it appears wire can last 30k miles or 120k miles, it is all about resistance...but there is no way to see if the wires still maintain proper resistance (well there is, but that is a few levels higher, and one would need to still buy a new pair!)...so I spurge the $26 on new wires (Amazon).

car runs perfect now....i was effing stunned....

so, the smokey thing was cleared up with about $22 worth of engine cleaner, and another $26 has the car running better than it has the last 7 years...

and by the way... this was all done about 4 weeks ago...thus far all is as reported....


love this car...
 
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