What have you done to your P5 today?

[reut1]

I went to pull the sub from my spare tire to transfer into my miata and found evidence of mice living in the car . Granted it has been parked since December and hasn't been driven. Sadly I will be scrapping it this summer after 13 years of ownership and 188k miles put on it by me (its at 262k now).
Very sad. Love the car to pieces, but has rusted away too much to keep putting any money into. I'll have a few pieces to likely sell. Gauge rings, TWM short throw shifter, and anything else that may be of OEM value to anyone.

 

[INYOURCHAIR]

I went to pull the sub from my spare tire to transfer into my miata and found evidence of mice living in the car . Granted it has been parked since December and hasn't been driven. Sadly I will be scrapping it this summer after 13 years of ownership and 188k miles put on it by me (its at 262k now).
Very sad. Love the car to pieces, but has rusted away too much to keep putting any money into. I'll have a few pieces to likely sell. Gauge rings, TWM short throw shifter, and anything else that may be of OEM value to anyone.

front lower grille would be of interest to me. and maybe headlights, don't care if they are hazed, my retainer on the left side is missing so it goes cross eyed when the bulb shifts and fog lights mine got deleted for some reason.... Money is a little tight for me RN so I will prob miss out on it though. the grille is what I actually need since this replacement one the PO used is a lil restrictive.

 

[reut1]

front lower grille would be of interest to me. and maybe headlights, don't care if they are hazed, my retainer on the left side is missing so it goes cross eyed when the bulb shifts and fog lights mine got deleted for some reason.... Money is a little tight for me RN so I will prob miss out on it though. the grille is what I actually need since this replacement one the PO used is a lil restrictive.

I lost the front lower grill years ago doing this. Worth it!

Mazda Protege5 into snowbank

just having some fun in the snow.No there was no chance of a curb being under the snow. This was a bank made in a mall parking lot between 2 rows of parking ...

youtu.be

For the headlights, they are a projector retrofit I did in protege headlights.
They looked great years ago, but have now hazed a lot and I cannot get them back to the original luster.

imgur.com

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Fog lights are cracked! This car has been used and abused, with much love!

 

[INYOURCHAIR]

Well I tried lol. Just took a longer drive today and sustaining 65-68 mph the coolant was around 204-208f I'm a little bothered as when I got to a few hills at the end it got to 213. I'm a little paranoid as any other car I've owned would all seem to sustain at or just above the thermostat temp. Mine swings from 188 up to 218 depending on traffic. It got better with a new stat and a debris cleaning on the rad. I saw 223 as the all time highest last summer. If I can't find a grille I'm going to try opening uppr removing that metal grille that's there. The rad is the last thing to replace if that don't work.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

I went to pull the sub from my spare tire to transfer into my miata and found evidence of mice living in the car . Granted it has been parked since December and hasn't been driven. Sadly I will be scrapping it this summer after 13 years of ownership and 188k miles put on it by me (its at 262k now).
Very sad. Love the car to pieces, but has rusted away too much to keep putting any money into. I'll have a few pieces to likely sell. Gauge rings, TWM short throw shifter, and anything else that may be of OEM value to anyone.

Awww sad
I would be interested in the TWM short shifter though. I've documented my numerous problems with my current and previous short shifters, and I'd love to switch to something that's a little higher quality. Please keep us posted. Maybe a partout thread in the marketplace is in order? Just a thought.

Edit - just saw your projector headlights. I have a set on my car with good lenses, but the projector retrofit was done poorly several years back by someone else and the bulbs are an absolute pain to get to. I don't really have the money to justify messing with them further, but might consider yours depending on price.

 

[reut1]

Awww sad
I would be interested in the TWM short shifter though. I've documented my numerous problems with my current and previous short shifters, and I'd love to switch to something that's a little higher quality. Please keep us posted. Maybe a partout thread in the marketplace is in order? Just a thought.

Edit - just saw your projector headlights. I have a set on my car with good lenses, but the projector retrofit was done poorly several years back by someone else and the bulbs are an absolute pain to get to. I don't really have the money to justify messing with them further, but might consider yours depending on price.

I love my projectors, took me a long time to get them in and sitting where I want. The lenses really are pretty rough looking though at this point and the ballasts are all corroded. But we will see when I finally scrap the car and make up a little part out thread of all that is still good.

The TWM was a game changer. Very much worth the money back when I got it in 2010.

 

[BenjiHoggi]

I love my projectors, took me a long time to get them in and sitting where I want. The lenses really are pretty rough looking though at this point and the ballasts are all corroded. But we will see when I finally scrap the car and make up a little part out thread of all that is still good.

The TWM was a game changer. Very much worth the money back when I got it in 2010.

Okay, well please keep me in mind for that stuff, especially the shifter.
Just replaced an HID bulb and it was a multi hour nightmare that's making me hate my current setup. I don't mind a project if they're rough.

 

[reut1]

Okay, well please keep me in mind for that stuff, especially the shifter.
Just replaced an HID bulb and it was a multi hour nightmare that's making me hate my current setup. I don't mind a project if they're rough.

I have had my projectors on since I think 2012 and somehow in all that time I did not need to change a bulb. I always dreaded it as I am sure I would need to open the lights back up in order to change it reliably.

 

[EVADE]

I drove the Pro5 today after sitting for 2 weeks LOL I’ve been really slacking on trying to get it back in it’s Prime

 

[RedPanda7]

AC compressor died followed by a leaking water pump.

Replaced Waterpump plus timing belt change at 208k and tires rotated and balanced.

Still needs to do the rust repair on the doors, but first old girl needs a wash...

 

[reut1]

Well, I talked to some scrapyards to get a price on having my p5 taken away. So now I need to take off what parts I can to spread that love to the community here. Projector headlights may make their way to someone on here (ill snap some pics), gauge rings will for sure be sold here.

I have a twm short shifter which I will try to get off, but it is rusty looking from the bottom side of the car. Not sure if it is going to be worth the trouble unless someone really wants it and the money is good!

It'll be bitter sweet to see the car go, but its been parked since december, rust, battery is flat, and mice made it a home for themselves over the winter. The time has come

 

[katapaltes]

I replaced my rear stabilizer (sway) bar bushings today, hoping that would help with my clicking. It didn't improve anything, and based on how good the 20-year-old bushings looked, I'm not surprised. I used OEM part GE4T-28-156 (fit perfectly, was the same part number as the original, and is half the cost of the other Mazda OEM part that fits the P5) and a little white lithium grease as I didn't have the rubber grease indicated in the service manual. White lithium isn't supposed to degrade rubber from what I've read. I had the car up on jack stands and it was level, so nothing was under tension and I didn't have to undo the end links. I got front OEM replacement bushings as well, but haven't attempted to put them on yet and might not based on today's [non-]results. (I got clicks coming from the front too.)

The clicking occurs equally on both sides. I may be overdue for some new strut mounts as I only replaced the struts themselves several years back and not the entire strut assembly. I replaced the end links recently, so I'll recheck the torque on them next.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Anybody wanna guess at what my front driver window just did?.....left from a drive-thru and was rolling it up and it made a loud pop at most of the way up and glass went back down in the door. Wouldn't roll up or down on it's own. Was enough above top of door to get ahold of and pull it back up into place so the glass must be in the tracks but the register must have some issue. I can hear the motor spinning when you push or pull the switch. At least it didn't shatter when it happened. Looks like door panel is coming off soon. Good thing it has a garage to hide out in, lol.

 

[INYOURCHAIR]

If you can't get a hold of a regulator soon, Looking at the pics on rock auto it is similar to one I had fail on a car when I was younger and wayy more broke lol. I took the track the window rides on the regulator and bent it with the window all the way up so that the holder couldn't come down. Mine didn't fall down like that though, the cable got bound up in the drum near the motor and it broke the drum, letting the window come down about an inch. that held for a few months for a replacement but I would say it could be a permanent fix.

You are doing better than my co worker though, last week he had his left window shatter in the semi when he lowered it. 98f without the heat index with four hours to ride home.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Mine is original oem. Never had any issues until now. Need to dive into manual and revisit how it's assembled and such

 

[Diamond_Dave]

I replaced my rear stabilizer (sway) bar bushings today, hoping that would help with my clicking.

Have you inspected/replaced the Lower Control Arms? I just did this job in my MSP - on which the suspension sounded like a bag of broken crutches rattling and clicking - and the noise is gone and ride much improved.

Check the inner bushing to see if it is torn like this:

I have to say, this job was a long time in the making. I wish I'd done it earlier as the suspension has been rattling like a bag of broken crutches since I bought it 18mos ago. The toughest part is getting the inner bushing lined up properly. Had to use a floor jack to lift up the hub assembly and even then, you can't see the alignment of the bushing and the hole so you can be sure you aren't cross-threading. Otherwise, a very straightforward job (well, only if you have an impact wrench) and it doesn't change the alignment.

 

[katapaltes]

Have you inspected/replaced the Lower Control Arms? I just did this job in my MSP - on which the suspension sounded like a bag of broken crutches rattling and clicking - and the noise is gone and ride much improved.

Check the inner bushing to see if it is torn like this:
View attachment 311317



I have to say, this job was a long time in the making. I wish I'd done it earlier as the suspension has been rattling like a bag of broken crutches since I bought it 18mos ago. The toughest part is getting the inner bushing lined up properly. Had to use a floor jack to lift up the hub assembly and even then, you can't see the alignment of the bushing and the hole so you can be sure you aren't cross-threading. Otherwise, a very straightforward job (well, only if you have an impact wrench) and it doesn't change the alignment.


View attachment 311316
View attachment 311318

Funny you should mention that... I've been sitting on a set of LCAs I got last year. My bushings are cracked, but they don't look nearly as bad as your old ones did. I came across the very good video below that, along with the advice I've received on this forum, will help me get this knocked out soon. I just need a day below 100 degrees here in TX.

How to replace a lower control arm

In this video i show you how to replace a lower control arm also known as a lower A frame on a 2003 Mazda Protege. This job can pretty much be applied to any...

www.youtube.com

Since I've never done this job, I have no clue about how one could cross-thread when installing that vertical bolt, but I've certainly heard a LOT about that one bolt and whatever it screws into and how much trouble it can be. Is there a nut above it that's not welded/captured that can just flop around or something? Is this only an issue with cars with rust problems?

Thank you for the extra motivation to do this. I'd love to get this car back to its original ride. It turns 20 this year, and I've had it since new.

 

[323]

@katapaltes, referencing the photo below, normally you would think the bolt would go straight through the bushing and start catching threads, but the bushing is cocked to one side requiring you to reposition the bolt while attempting screw it in. this is where the cross threading happens so you'll just need to be very careful. of course age and rust could have something to do with it. there is a welded nut for that bolt and i've also read sometimes it becomes unattached

View attachment 311318

 

[pcb]

@katapaltes, referencing the photo below, normally you would think the bolt would go straight through the bushing and start catching threads,..

The bolt does line up pretty good with the weight of the car pushing down on the control arm, but it twists out of alignment when it is dangling in the air.
That's why @Diamond_Dave and I had to lift up at the hub assembly with a floor jack.

This is how the alignment looks with the control arm hanging,..

 

[323]

that's good to know.