2002 Protege DX Clutch job.

[Brcobrem]

Hi Mazda Forum Members,

I have 78,000 carefully driven miles on this 2002 DX. The clutch is slipping and my boss says it's sometimes difficult to get in gears. I didn't verify the "difficult" part because I asked her to part it until I get some advice.

My parts house says they have a clutch kit that includes a Pressure Plate, Disc, Release Bearing, Pilot Bearing, & Alignment Tool for ~ $140. I just took a look at the Mechanics Service manual. This looks like like quite a procedure, even requiring some kind of special tool that straddles the top of the engine compartment to hold up the engine. As a comparison, I did my timing belt and that took me two days in the driveway.

Is this something that can be done in the driveway or single bay garage without much pain, or would I be better to have it done by someone else?

Also, any idea what this kind of job costs these days at the local service center?

I appreciate your experience, comments and suggestions.

Regards,
Brcobrem

 

[Tiajaunatoad]

Imo, it would all depend on the amount of experience and mechanical ability you have as this is a pretty large undertaking. The tranny has to come out and the engine has to be supported with a hanger or a jack. If it took you 2 days to do a t-belt, you might want to take it to a shop you trust. They will probably charge you 5 or 6 hours labor at whatever their labor rate is plus parts. If they'll let you, you can probably save some money by providing your own parts. Hope this helps

 

[tweety2300]

I was quoted around 400 bucks for labor. But a clutch isn't a huge complicated job its mostly just bolts but I would advise getting someone to help that know what they're doing

 

[Brcobrem]

Thanks very much for your replies. I've pulled manual tranny's before on in-line engines and rebuilt them. However, these transverse engine jobs require more effort and time as you know (and as I'm reading in the docs). So, from a tech standpoint, I suppose that could get the job done (eventually), but I'm going with your suggestions to have someone more qualified (and with the proper SST tools) perform this. I'll get some prices tomorrow and post back just to let you and other know what kind of $$$ to expect these days.

I appreciate your sincerity.

Regards,
Brcobrem

 

[Brcobrem]

Another observation if I may . . .

My neighbor came over and I told him about the forum recommendations (that I agree with). He offered to be the clutch pedal man so I could at least make a visual inspection to make sure nothing was falling off.

When he pushed down slowly on the clutch pedal, I could hear a loud squeaking coming from the clutch release cylinder. Sounded like a squeaky house door from a haunted house. I could see that the ball that sticks out of the rubber boot was a little rusty. Btw, that ball contacts the clutch release collar and makes the clutch release. Additionally, while the shaft was moving out and squeaking, I could hear two very notable "clicks" coming from that assembly. I used a hose to my ear to make sure of the location.

Next I used a can of white lithium grease with an applicator tube on it and carefully put a small amount of grease into the ball and socket area. He then depressed the pedal about ten more times, but the squeaking and double clicking did not stop. It's as if the squeaking and clicks were coming from inside the clutch release cylinder.

Out of curiosity, does this offer any more clues?

The plot thickens . . .

 

[tweety2300]

It could be the slave cylinder going which could cause the shifting issues and clutch slipping which makes way more sense than a clutch going with only 78k. I have 145k original clutch and bad slave cyinder but mine doesn't slip.

 

[Brcobrem]

Hi tweety2300 ET al,

I parked the Protege back in July when the clutch began to slip and it had problems getting into gears. Five months later, now that the oppressive FL summer heat has died down, I took your advice and put a $37 Advance Auto Parts clutch slave cylinder on it.

Only "improvement" (?) I made in the install procedure was: 1) Leave the reservoir cap on at first, 2) make a female cap-plug using a piece of 1/4 rubber tubing with a bolt (wrapped in Teflon tape) shoved in one end of the tube, and 3) then unscrew the fluid line from the cylinder (with a little cloth underneath to catch a couple drops of fluid) and quickly put the plug over the fluid line. No mess no fuss. Note the line still needs bled to spec in the finals steps.

Another "improvement" (?) was to 1) install only the two bolts that hold the cylinder to the block and tighten, and then 2) loosen the cylinder's fitting that the fluid line screws into only slightly (it has a hex on the end with some copper washers under). Now that the fitting will pivot, it is easy to (pull off the homemade rubber plug and) get the fluid line male fitting into the female cylinder fitting with little fluid leakage, and re-tighten the fitting. Now put the fluid line mounting bracket on an do the bleed job per specs to get old fluid and air bubbles out.

While I was under there I noticed that the rubber in the front motor mount was broken. Get this: Autozone wanted $125 for one on the shelf, Advance Auto Parts was $77 in one day or $43 on-line, and my final source: Rockauto for $34.15 delivered. I called Autozone about their price being way out of line and they asked me to come to the store and they'd match it. I printed out the Rockauto page. When I drove all the way to Autozone, the store manager said no way they'd match that price, and proceeded to anonymously call a high-priced parts house in the area. She said the other place wanted $77 also. She also said she'd bought one for herself this summer for $135. I told her she paid $100 to much. Ha! Autozone had wasted over an hour of my weekend time, and gas, and mileage. So I came home and ordered the part from Rockauto. It arrived in perfect condition only three days later and is the exact same Beck/Arney 104-1606 motor mount that everyone was selling. I'd like to be the guy that is supplying motor mounts to Autozone. Ha! Since I already had the car up on jackstands for the slave cylinder job, with the parking brake on and the wheels blocked, I loosened all three front mount nuts (with P B Blaster solvent too), unscrewed the lower two nuts about 1/8", put the floor jack under the oil pan with a block of wood, and lifted the motor slightly until I saw the 1/8" space start to close up a little. I shoved a piece of wood between the motor and the frame just in case the jack tried to lower. The mount came right out no problem. Total time on the mount was about 15 minutes. Btw, only 50Ft Lbs on the 3 nuts or you'll strip them. Here's the how-to and advice I followed from the Toranto Protege Club's forum: http://www.toprotege.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50998

I then lowered the Protege back on to the ground for the moment of truth . . .

Dead battery after 5 months . . .so put the charger on it . . . a couple hours later . . .and the 75amp starter button . . .
It starts and . . .

Instant gratification! I've got clutch and it hasn't shifted this good since I bought it.

Whoopee ! No $800 clutch job for me !!!

Thanks again to everyone. This is an awesome forum !

Regards . . .
Brcobrem

 

[fshrpff1]

Clutch Replacement and Starter

I am going to replace the clutch in my 2001 Protege LX 5 spd. I noticed the starter on engine side. Do I need to remove it before unbolting the tranny? Thanks

 

[tweety2300]

Yes either way it bolts to the trans

 

[03protolx]

I was about to say. My '99 dx had the original clutch at 155k miles.