Wipers

M

mrxonix

Member
Well, first I have just became an owner of a new (well, its 03 model year made in 2002 but it is a "new" car) Protege5. Got a lot of options i don't really need (but thats what was available and the price was good, so what the hell)

One thing that surprised me - "intermittent" mode on wipers seems to have only one setting - "intermittent". Never seen that in any car before - they have a lot of advanced options all over, yet there is no way to regulate the frequency of wipers? What gives?

BTW, someone was looking for the manual P5 with a sunroof - they had at least 2 at the same dealer (with all sorts of other things like subwoofer and roof rack thrown in for a good measure:) just standing around...
 
Actually, there is a mod to fix that. Do a search for the wiper stalk mod off of a '00-present MPV. It's a straight swap and includes variable intermittent. I don't know the part # offhand, but it is mentioned in 1 or 2 other posts in the P5 board.
edit: Here's the MPV part #GE6V-66-128.The European 626 wiper stalk from '99-present also works. The US 626 doesn't work because it doesn't have a rear wiper. I'm planning to do the mod shortly myself.

Did you get an '03 or a '03.5? If you got a subwoofer in the spare, it's an '03.5. Oh, and welcome to the boards and enjoy your new Protege5. :D

Katya
 
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Hey, welcome to the forum.

Don't worry, the wipers won't distract you from the fun of driving this car. But, if you do want a true intermittent stalk then you can get one from mazdastuff.com for $84
 
Yeah I saw someone that took the intermittent wiper of a totaled MPV. It is probably not that hard to do. I dont really care about the speed of the wipers because I usually only need mine full speed or off.
 
wait... is this "intermittent" setting a variable intermittent that is controlled by speed? (i don't have my protege yet, will in 2 days).
 
yeah..stock one sucks..
I have mpv one's and I love it :) you can order one from mazdastuff.com
two.jpg
 
Everyone needs to do this mod! It took me all of 20 minutes to do. I did it halfway through a 4-day rain storm. I had been fighting the light rain for two days with intermittent being too slow and Speed 1 being too fast. I added the MPV wiper stalk and enjoyed the heck outta adjusting the speed the next day in the rain. I never knew how much I'd miss having variable intermittent wipers until I bought this one without them.

Oh, I bought the part from mazdastuff.com for $84 plus shipping also.
 
It's not speed sensitive...I thought so too, but it's just one setting -- kinda cheap IMO, so I dropped the $94 (shipping included) at mazdastuff. Took me a bit longer cause I couldn't figure out how to pull off the top cover without breaking s***, but it was cake to do.

The first thing I recommend all new owners do. Mazdastuff is great, so throw them some business! No I don't work for them...just love awesome customer service!
 
mcstark said:
It's not speed sensitive...I thought so too, but it's just one setting -- kinda cheap IMO, so I dropped the $94 (shipping included) at mazdastuff. Took me a bit longer cause I couldn't figure out how to pull off the top cover without breaking s***, but it was cake to do.

The first thing I recommend all new owners do. Mazdastuff is great, so throw them some business! No I don't work for them...just love awesome customer service!
Click to expand...
Oh god, only one speed. I feel like i'm downgrading from my 1994 pickup truck lol. it has like 15 different intermittent settings.. well i'm gonna check a local junkyard to see if they have any mpvs, maybe i'll check modern motors mazda for laughs, and if i can't find anything i'll go for the 94 dollar mazdastuff one. I guess they had to skimp somewhere to sell such a great car (i'll make this assumption, i don't know yet) for such a low price. What would you rather have:

a) sweet looking steering wheel and only 1 intermittent setting

or

b) big squarish 4 spoke wheel with 10 intermittent settings.
 
yeah, that whole 1 speed intermittent wiper thing really got me the first time i used the intermittent wiper. heck... my '85 omni has variable intermittent wipers! thanks for the tips on how to convert it!
 
I drove a 2001 Honda Civic as a company car and it only had the one speed intermittent wiper..and of course my miata does too.
 
Yeah...every car I've owned has had variable wipers, so I assumed the P5 would. I didn't mind spending the $94...just wish they would have included it. I would have paid $100 more for the car to get it.
 
katya4me said:
Actually, there is a mod to fix that. Do a search for the wiper stalk mod off of a '00-present MPV. It's a straight swap and includes variable intermittent. I don't know the part # offhand, but it is mentioned in 1 or 2 other posts in the P5 board.
edit: Here's the MPV part #GE6V-66-128.The European 626 wiper stalk from '99-present also works. The US 626 doesn't work because it doesn't have a rear wiper. I'm planning to do the mod shortly myself.

Did you get an '03 or a '03.5? If you got a subwoofer in the spare, it's an '03.5. Oh, and welcome to the boards and enjoy your new Protege5. :D

Katya
Click to expand...

It has a subwoofer and a roofrack standard (one of them was free, but i forget which:) - but it is made in Dec. 2002 (so it is really a 2002 car, though officially a 2003 model and sold now, confusing:)

Anyway, I am thinking of doing it - but won't this sort of thing invalidate warranty? I'd hate to have a breakdown and have dealer deny me service for this...
 
mrxonix said:
Anyway, I am thinking of doing it - but won't this sort of thing invalidate warranty? I'd hate to have a breakdown and have dealer deny me service for this...
Click to expand...
Warranty answers:

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21034

If there's something wrong with you steering wheel and you take it in for warranty then maybe it'll be invalid. If you take your car in to replace a clutch under warranty then you will be fine.
 
mrxonix said:
Anyway, I am thinking of doing it - but won't this sort of thing invalidate warranty? I'd hate to have a breakdown and have dealer deny me service for this...
Click to expand...
I'd bet my house that no one would even notice. The part looks exactly the same except for the ring around the wiper stalk.
 
There's no way they could legally void your warranty. You're not splicing wires or altering anything mechanical. The MPV unit plugs into the factory harness, not modifications needed.

Here's the entire process:
1) unscrew three screws on the bottom of the lower steering wheel cover.
2) push in on top cover until it pops apart from the bottom, and remove.
3) unscrew two screws holding the current wiper stalk in place and unplug the harness.
4) put MPV stalk in place and reverse above instructions.

The only thing they could tag you with is if (for some ungodly reason) one of your wiper motors burnt out because of the variable intermittent feature. Is this possible: yes. Is it likely to happen: hell no!

To give you some perspective: I bought this car because of the features and the four year warranty; I would not do anything to put that warranty at jeopardy. So don't worry about it...and if something breaks, then just swap the old stalk back in. But nothing will happen.

And if a Mazda corporate troll is reading this: you should have put variable intermittent wipers in a $19,000 car anyway!!! Check your competition, they all have it -- so don't be cheap next time!
 
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