After two months she's finally back! Now what?

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Mazda Protege5
My P5 is at home where she belongs after being in my driveway for a while. She's driving fine but still has that low idle going on. The shifter linkage shakes a lot! I mean when I have the gas pedal down nothing but as soon as I let up it shoots upwards. I tried tightening the bolt and nut with no luck as that rubber piece just above the shielding for the exhaust system is already getting worn out. Next set of business is I believe trailing arms or I've seen them called suspension links. What do these do and with a car this old would it be a good idea to upgrade or stay with stock form? i also read they were labeled as rear rearward and rear frontward which make sense but again, what benefits will I get with this?
 
By my rare parts that's what. And check rear engine mount, that plays a role in the shifter if engine is bouncing so is the shifter.

Also there should be a locking pin (U shaped) that keeps the shifter from coming-out
 
IF the shifter moves quite a bit when you press or release the throttle, you've got very worn motor mounts. Check them and replace them before messing with anything else.

Mine were so worn it actually would prevent me from shifting to 1st or 3rd gear. When the motor mounts wear, the engine shifts around causing misalignment of the shift linkages.
 
IF the shifter moves quite a bit when you press or release the throttle, you've got very worn motor mounts. Check them and replace them before messing with anything else.

I did take a look and the front motor mount is busted so ill be changing that this weekend. Anything I should know before tackling this project? Torque specs and such? Once that one is taking care of ill be upgrading the rear and transmission mount.
 
Change at least the one on the passenger fender, and I'll bet the lower one in the front center support is bad too. That one going bad is what causes the one on the passenger fender to rip.

As for torque specs, I just go with the german torque spec "gudentite". When the impact gun clicks a few times, it's good and tight.

Replacement is easy. All you need is a jack and a piece of 2x4 under the oil pan. JAck the motor up so the tension is off of the motor mount, unbolt it, remove and replace. Same goes for the one in the front at the bottom. unless you have serious rust issues, it shouldn't take more than about 20 minutes to replace both of them.

Make sure you get the right one. Auto trans and Manual trans motor mounts are different.
 
I believe the pass side one is still good but I'll double check.

I took care of the front one this weekend and the movement isn't as bad as before.

On another note, does anyone know what comes out of the rubber hose that has an H cap on it? both ends have like aluminium ends and are bolted. It started leaking on me and I figured I might be able to replace it if I know what it's called and what may happen if i loosen the bolts. Basically the smaller hose under the one that has an "L" cap on it where you measure the freon level of your car.
 
you are probably referring to the high pressure AC refrigerant line. This is the line that runs from the compressor to the evaporator in the dash.

Where is it leaking from? under the cap? if so, a new schraeder valve is probably in order and you can recharge it. If it's from somewhere else, you'll probably have to replace the line. If it's leaking from where it's bolted to the compressor or somewhere else, ther's O rings where they attach. Make sure to use the nitrile (Green) O rings, regular rubber black ones won't cut it.
 
I think it's the actual hose because the ends are completely dry. I looked it up and it's the discharge line.
 
that's the high pressure line. Should come out of the AC compressor and run to a fitting somewhere near the firewall. It will run from that fitting into the evaporator.

You will have to evacuate all of the refrigerant out of the system to replace it. If you just crack the bolt loose it's going to blow out everywhere, its somewhere between 150-250psi depending on how long it has been since the car and the AC was running.

Since you are opening the system, I would also recommend replacing the dryer. It's good practice to replace the dryer any time any component of the AC system is replaced, any moisture in the system will cause problems. then pull the system into a nice deep vacuum for 20 minutes or so to make sure it's all good and there's no leaks, and charge it.

AC work is tricky for the DIY'er. Even though it's simply replacing a line that's not difficult in itself, the equipment to properly discharge/vacuum/recharge the system is very expensive and it really should be done by a professional. You can rent vacuum pumps and stuff at the auto parts store, but they simply just don't work as well and you want to do this right, or it can cause bigger, much more expensive problems down the road if done incorrectly. I don't even do my own AC work because I don't have the equipment. I'll fix anything else on my car, and I know very well HOW to do the work but since I don't have the correct equipment, I'll pay a shop if I need my AC serviced.
 
I'm going to wait a little bit for that project. Hoping the people here will let me evacuate the system, go home install the hose then comeback to fill without it costing me two transactions instead of one.

Another note, I think the cable for the hood is starting to loosen up.
 
that's the high pressure line. Should come out of the AC compressor and run to a fitting somewhere near the firewall. It will run from that fitting into the evaporator.

You will have to evacuate all of the refrigerant out of the system to replace it. If you just crack the bolt loose it's going to blow out everywhere, its somewhere between 150-250psi depending on how long it has been since the car and the AC was running.

Since you are opening the system, I would also recommend replacing the dryer. It's good practice to replace the dryer any time any component of the AC system is replaced, any moisture in the system will cause problems. then pull the system into a nice deep vacuum for 20 minutes or so to make sure it's all good and there's no leaks, and charge it.

AC work is tricky for the DIY'er. Even though it's simply replacing a line that's not difficult in itself, the equipment to properly discharge/vacuum/recharge the system is very expensive and it really should be done by a professional. You can rent vacuum pumps and stuff at the auto parts store, but they simply just don't work as well and you want to do this right, or it can cause bigger, much more expensive problems down the road if done incorrectly. I don't even do my own AC work because I don't have the equipment. I'll fix anything else on my car, and I know very well HOW to do the work but since I don't have the correct equipment, I'll pay a shop if I need my AC serviced.

The high side (compressor outlet) runs to the condenser.

I managed to pinch that line somehow during my engine swap. Easy fix with a junkyard line.

If it's visibly leaking, the system is likely empty. Replace the line and dryer, then have a shop vacuum and charge it. You'll have to add oil to the new dryer, the quantity is in the FSM.
 
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The high side (compressor outlet) runs to the condenser.

You are correct. It's been a while since I've done AC work since I haven't worked at a dealership in a decade (rlaugh)

You *could* evacuate the system with a pocket screwdriver. Remove the cap and there's a "magic button" underneath that will evacuate it for you. Just like deflating a car tire.

Technically, it's not moral nor legal. but if you're putting it off, and it's visibly leaking, then it's going to end up in the atmosphere anyway... And like Mr. Giggles said, there's probably not a lot of refrigerant left.
 
You *could* evacuate the system with a pocket screwdriver.

Technically, it's not moral nor legal.

Yea, that's what I did. (I broke the law 😈 )

But I needed to evacuate my system (which was barely working, so there wasn't much in there) so I could measure exactly how much refrigerant to put in.

I used the Duracool kit.



Along with a can of quick seal.



I remember phoning the company to ask how much refrigerant was in the quick seal.

Duracool is made out of specially treated propane (or maybe it's butane) that raises the ignition point so any leaks won't catch fire.

You use slightly more or less than R-134A so I did the math and knew exactly how much to put in.



The good thing about Durocool is that it is environmently friendly with no CFC's.

So any leak is no worse than farting outside.
 
That's great for charging it, or if you have a small leak in one of the o rings it may help to seal it and make it blow cold. but for a real repair of a hard part, that does nothing for pulling the system into a vacuum. He needs to replace a line, so the system needs to be opened up.

General rule of thumb, ANY time the AC system is opened to the environment whether it's for minutes or hours or days, the dryer/desiccant bag needs to be replaced, and the system needs to be pulled into a good vacuum for a while to make sure all the moisture is out of the system before charging it back up. Moisture in the system leads to much more expensive failures...
 
Ah.. OK.

I didn't really open my sytem, I just vented the pressure.

It's still working good by the way.
It's been more than 5 years.
 
Ah.. OK.

I didn't really open my sytem, I just vented the pressure.

It's still working good by the way.
It's been more than 5 years.

Funny, years ago I had an old 4runner I brought back from the dead. I think I paid $600 for it. It ran but not well at all. It was only running on 4 of the 6 cylinders due to valve issues, so I rebuilt the top half of the motor (everything in the bottom end was perfectly fine). I lived in FL at the time, and AC was not a luxury, but a requirement in my book. I vac and charged it, worked great a few days and stopped. Vac and charged it, it all must have leaked because there was nothing to evacuate, it worked great for about a month and started blowing warm again. So I did it one more time, evac, vac, charge and blew cold. I ended up daily driving that truck for about 2 years after that and it never blew warm again. Guessing the seals were just dried out and needed some lubrication, which they got when the refrigerant leaked through them LOL. I miss that truck, but at the time I couldn't keep it. I was commuting ~80 miles per day to/from work and it was lucky to get 13-14mpg. that was about 10 years ago when gas was up to that $5/gallon mark.
 
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