Protege5: Harder, not Smarter!

JayG1989 said:
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiick, glad to hear about the new parts. I'm not THAT mechanically inclined but I could definitely give you a hand with installing sometime. You have a garage or use someone else's around here?
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I usually just work in my driveway, but I have a 2 car garage that is half empty...or half full...;)

When I was chipping all my deadening up, I would push the car outside, work all day on it then push it back inside for the night.

Next project, waiting for a sunny day. Fiberglass hood and now I'm torn between trying to build fiberglass rear doors, or just trying to find some junker doors from Pull-A-part and slicing out all the excess metal inside. Lexan windows on the rears for sure though.
 
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Gutting out the door would be cheaper. Sucks no one never did a FB/CF hatch though
 
EVADE said:
Gutting out the door would be cheaper. Sucks no one never did a FB/CF hatch though
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I'm eventually gonna give it a try. :)

Really wish I could nab me a P5 junked donor. Still never seen a P5 at a pull-a-part...the first one I see, I'm taking that thing home!
 
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THE Phen said:
A lower RPM at cruising speed doesn't always help like people think. The cruising RPM at highway speed is typically set so that you're within the peak torque curve, therefore being more efficient. If you're lugging the engine around at a low rpm that it can't handle, you're sucking down more fuel.
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Yes, that's one of the factors engineers look at, but not the only one. In the case of the P5 engine, peak TQ is @ 4000, and peak HP is @ 6000. Gear too tall, and you lug the engine. Too short, and you increase interior noise and fuel consumption. This car is supposed to be "sporty," and it has a light curb weight and a weak engine - so it's geared short.

I'm definitely doing the 5th gear swap when I can find the time. From all the research I've been doing, the 5th gear swap from a gas-engined Mazda/Ford over the last ~15 years only gives us a .717 option. I found codes for every possible trans code over the last 20 years and save for the Diesel's 5th, .717 is all we get. It's not a very drastic change. But, it should still lower RPM's 200-300, and that's noticeable...I can hear in the engine note when I'm cruising @ 75rpm above my normal rpm - this is a really noisy engine. One of the complaints I saw in either R&T or C&D, too.
 







finalwithsilverrotas.png


Messing around with "concept" paint. Always fun stuff.

Ordered the fog light deletes and the roof rack filler clips (forgot to get them with the fillers order) today :)

Going to run ducts from the deletes mesh to the front brakes.
 
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Hmmm...Digging out my manual and code checker. But in the meantime, wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this.

About a month ago when I "hit" the gas, it seemed like the car had like a fuel cut or something, only lasted a split second and was fine for several weeks after. I did wonder about it, but nothing else happened so I never looked more into it besides noting that the sympton usually happened to turbo'd mazdaspeed proteges and it was being blamed on something from the turbo setup.

4 days ago I'm running constant speed of 60 on the highway, massive fuel cut, gas is still being pressed, but nothing is happening, car slows to about 50 before it resumes power. Lasted a good 2-3 seconds I'd imagine.

Yesterday the car "runs fine" but the entire time I'm driving something just doesn't quite feel right. When the throttle is pushed it almost seems to lag before the power comes on. Only someone who drives the car every day would even notice it, and I thought I was imagining it at the time, but now I don't think so. I also thought it was weird that my coastdowns seems to be slower...

Today the car was lagging in throttle response again, it almost felt like I was driving with the parking brake on. When I coasted down hills on my usual drive I had trouble gaining 5 mph when I usually can do 20+ no problem. The idle was erratic, sometimes it would be around 500 and nearly stalling, other times it was 1800 (boom06). Several times I would restart the engine and the idle would be at the normal 800sh operating range.

I'm thinking the problem is electrical in nature. I would almost say coil pack failure, or even spark plugs, but the coincidence of it happening around the time I pulled off my dashboard and added my smaller battery makes me wonder if something is getting shorted out.

Oh...and when I use the remote unlocker, unlocks fine, and about....15 seconds later car auto locks all doors. Happens every time now.

Anyways, off to investigate, but it never hurts for extra idea's on stuff to check for.

Oh, and I forgot to add, check engine light is always on for me. Many reasons why ofc. But today was the first time I have ever seen it FLASH!
 
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Your coilpacks are probably bad, the flashing CEL indicates (among other things) that you were misfiring. Get the codes read to be 100% sure. The door lock thing is a feature, if you accidentally hit the unlock button on your remote then after a short timeout the car will lock itself (provided you didn't open any door). If it's locking on its own even though you've opened a door then you probably cut a wire while removing while removing the dash (or your driver-side door switch is dead).
 
CheeseHelmet said:
Your coilpacks are probably bad, the flashing CEL indicates (among other things) that you were misfiring. Get the codes read to be 100% sure. The door lock thing is a feature, if you accidentally hit the unlock button on your remote then after a short timeout the car will lock itself (provided you didn't open any door). If it's locking on its own even though you've opened a door then you probably cut a wire while removing while removing the dash (or your driver-side door switch is dead).
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I assumed dead coil packs immediately, but I find the timing of their "failure" fishy considering they happened to go bad shortly after I did a lot of work.

Ah....a feature you say. I removed the door stops that would tell the car if the door was opened or not because I was tired of the buzzing when working with an open door.
That would explain that one :)
 
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Tamn said:
Ah....a feature you say. I removed the door stops that would tell the car if the door was opened or not because I was tired of the buzzing when working with an open door.
That would explain that one :)
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There's a way to get around that by pulling one wire on the back of the gauge cluster, search around if you're interested.
 
Ice88 said:
Your cat might be toast too if coilpacks have gone bad.
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I don't have a cat (whistle)

If it turns out to be the coils. (borrowing a code checker tomorrow)
Think I should mess around with the "1.8L coil mod"?

Still seems like it was undocumented and was just a rumor from what I can tell.
 
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Tamn said:
Think I should mess around with the "1.8L coil mod"?

Still seems like it was undocumented and was just a rumor from what I can tell.
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Nah, a bunch of people have done it. I don't really see the point, unless it's much cheaper I'd stick with the standard coilpacks.
 
Tamn said:
Think I should mess around with the "1.8L coil mod"?

Still seems like it was undocumented and was just a rumor from what I can tell.
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For what it's worth, I think the 1.8 coils were an improvement for me. I would read the thread. They're not that much more expensive, and they look much better in the bay.
 
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