1997 Proteg Clicking related to: Air Conditioner and Idle
Hi Everyone,
My Brother, Rmi, has been a member of various Mazda forums for years (he has a mazda 3, and moderates a few of these forums) and speaks volumes of them.
I have a 1997 Proteg and something is wrong with the engine when the A/C is running. I just moved to a new city (Philadelphia), don't know a good mechanic to trust, and need some help diagnosing the issue.
History:
The air conditioner stopped working a number of years ago. Apparently the power steering and A/C both went out as a result of the compressor failing. Rather than fix it, my now fiance had them simply disconnect the A/C compressor from the shared belt.
Years later (and in preparation to sell said car) we had the A/C compressor replaced. Everything worked perfectly for a few days until we took the car on a long (10+ hour) drive.
This long drive revealed that the drain tube had been clogged. The right side of the cabin (front and back) flooded *sighs*.
During this trip my fiance (I was in another car) complained that the engine was surging and doing strange things as she slowed down.
Sure enough, when the A/C is running (and, it seems, only when the A/C is running) not only are the shifts rough (I could describe it as surging), and the 'at rest' idle very erratic, there is an audible clicking sound (think popping your tongue on the roof of your mouth) at both shift points and with every idle surge. This issue seems to be exacerbated by turning the fan to a higher speed. (Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as I thought that just ran the fan faster, not the A/C system harder.)
I took it to a local mechanic who thought that it needed a tune-up (see above - I can't find someone to trust yet). I did the tune up myself today. Yes, it did need a tune-up (corrosion abounded), but that did not fix the problem.
We have been having nondescript 'check engine' lights off and on for the past year. Our mechanic back in Connecticut said that the majority of them were a vague 'evap' error message. Our second to most recent one was a generic 'dealer service' message, and the most recent one (when we took it in to be inspected for PA registration) had something to do with a 'vacuum' error.
I have my little Haynes manual for the car, but the A/C section gets too complicated for me too quickly to be helpful!
If this sounds familiar to anyone, please reply to this! Any thoughts or requests to refine this description would be most welcome.
All best,
Ian
Hi Everyone,
My Brother, Rmi, has been a member of various Mazda forums for years (he has a mazda 3, and moderates a few of these forums) and speaks volumes of them.
I have a 1997 Proteg and something is wrong with the engine when the A/C is running. I just moved to a new city (Philadelphia), don't know a good mechanic to trust, and need some help diagnosing the issue.
History:
The air conditioner stopped working a number of years ago. Apparently the power steering and A/C both went out as a result of the compressor failing. Rather than fix it, my now fiance had them simply disconnect the A/C compressor from the shared belt.
Years later (and in preparation to sell said car) we had the A/C compressor replaced. Everything worked perfectly for a few days until we took the car on a long (10+ hour) drive.
This long drive revealed that the drain tube had been clogged. The right side of the cabin (front and back) flooded *sighs*.
During this trip my fiance (I was in another car) complained that the engine was surging and doing strange things as she slowed down.
Sure enough, when the A/C is running (and, it seems, only when the A/C is running) not only are the shifts rough (I could describe it as surging), and the 'at rest' idle very erratic, there is an audible clicking sound (think popping your tongue on the roof of your mouth) at both shift points and with every idle surge. This issue seems to be exacerbated by turning the fan to a higher speed. (Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as I thought that just ran the fan faster, not the A/C system harder.)
I took it to a local mechanic who thought that it needed a tune-up (see above - I can't find someone to trust yet). I did the tune up myself today. Yes, it did need a tune-up (corrosion abounded), but that did not fix the problem.
We have been having nondescript 'check engine' lights off and on for the past year. Our mechanic back in Connecticut said that the majority of them were a vague 'evap' error message. Our second to most recent one was a generic 'dealer service' message, and the most recent one (when we took it in to be inspected for PA registration) had something to do with a 'vacuum' error.
I have my little Haynes manual for the car, but the A/C section gets too complicated for me too quickly to be helpful!
If this sounds familiar to anyone, please reply to this! Any thoughts or requests to refine this description would be most welcome.
All best,
Ian
