My car died :(

[MSP818]

My MSP died on me last week About two weeks prior to the MSProtege dying on me, i had the clutch and the brakes replaced. While driving, I was goin about 65mph up an incline and hear a loud "POP" sound from the engine and immediately lose power. All the lights on the dash lit up including the oil light. Smoke came from EVERYWHERE. My oil was spilling all over the street, i'm pretty sure i threw a rod. I had a 100% stock 2003 MSprotege. Does anyone in the Los Angeles area know where i can get this looked at by a "mazdaspeed professional"? I want to see if i can bring it back to life. If not, I'll probably just sell it as is . The turbo seems to be fine and everything else seems to be in working order. I've had the car since it came out back in 02-03. Only has about 85k miles on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!

 

[thepope540]

Welcome to the club... I was initiated on my birthday in 2010. My best advice is to shop for an engine carefully and know what interchanges. There is a great thread on which engines are which and will make your life much easier and save you a ton of money. The short story is that all p5 engines are fine, protege 2.0 LX is a drop in, late model 626 engines also work. As you move toward older engines (pre-2000) you start having to make small sensor changes, you lose the oil squirters, then you lose the forged crank, and if you keep going back into the mid to late 90s, an engine out of a probe or mx6 is technically still an FS and will bolt right up, but it will be setup for a distributor and will take a lot of work. Good luck!

 

[KrayzieFox]

^Good advice up there. I'm sorry about your luck.. sounds like it was maybe due to oil starvation. I'm betting you were low on oil and when you started going up the incline the oil sloshed to the back of the pan, the pickup couldn't suck up any oil, and that lead to the kaboom.

I would suggest trying to replace the engine instead of selling the car as is. You won't get very much for it with a blown engine, maybe $2000-$3000 at most.. and then you'll still have to buy a new car. There are lots of used Protege engines out there (check car-part.com) that you could buy and have a reputable shop in your area install it for you. Make sure they swap over the main bearing support plate and oil cooler from your current engine (if they're still in good shape after the explosion) as those are the only differences between the MSP and regular Protege engines.

Good luck!

 

[Preferio]

I'm on my 3rd engine in 2 months...

 

[Cleverfrog]

I'm on my 3rd engine in 2 months...

but thats your fault for overboosting

 

[Preferio]

but thats your fault for overboosting

It's YOUR fault for not overboosting! ::Idon'tknowwhatthatmeans::

 

[Cleverfrog]

It's YOUR fault for not overboosting! ::Idon'tknowwhatthatmeans::

Lolz

 

[MSP818]

Thanks guys! Your advice has been very helpful and I'm looking as we speak!