After 171,000 miles.... It finally happened

[Mike R]

The car broke! Drivers side front hub bearing wore out. Cracked the outer race. Luckily I caught it before it damaged anything.

Pretty damn reliable. Only big thing that I had issues with was the oil starvation that forced a motor replacement at 30K (under warranty)

3 sets of brake pads (original rotors all around)
Assload of headlights....Not ONE other bulb has gone out!
The shifter was wearing and noisy, so I got the B&M....

Everthing else was mods for performance or from the wife wrecking it
springs, struts, header, intake manifold, radiator....few windshields from road hazards and improper installation.

 

[junya1985]

damn thats a good amount of miles

 

[joneb4evr]

not bad. what are your plans now?

 

[Mike R]

Drive it till the rest of the wheels fall off....then fix...drive some more...and so on.

Needs the timing belt and clutch done soon though. Should hit 200K this year.

 

[Katya4me]

Damn....you've got almost 100K miles on mine. Hopefully, I'll reach you in about 5 years. LOL

 

[RMinNJ]

very reliable but..

Congratulations on the miles. My wifes 2002 P5 has about 92K on it..
Currently we have a noise that sounds like a bearing..getting it fixed soon.

Our P5 has been very reliable.. This will be the second bearing but no major
repairs. Had the timing belt done at 76K.

The only problem I have with our P5 is rust. It currently has the following
rust spots:

a.) Both rear wheel wells..up top at 12 oclock.
b.) Both rear wheel wells at 3 oclock on top of rear bumber.
c.) Both rear wheel wells at 8 oclock where side body skirt has rubbed the paint away
d.) Rear left hatchback; paint bubbling right under the emlem Protege5.

At least the rust is symetrical. I think mechanically the car will last 200K easy but not the body

 

[aMaff]

Wow, that's not a bad record (except the blow motor... lol)

Yeah, get that hub fixed and you'll be good to go! At this point, it may be simpler to just get a new front upright lol

 

[Mike R]

I got the hub fixed tuesday. Cost 80 bucks for the bearing and install. (40 ea) No point in replacing anything else. All is good. The Tokico Illuminas have been doing great. 140K on em and working perfectly.

It's 4K shy of my 89 wagon....

 

[aMaff]

Cost 80 bucks for the bearing and install. (40 ea)

Is that including taking the spindles off of the car!? WOW! You got a freakin deal!

 

[Mike R]

I took the spindle off myself and took it to my old shop and had them swap the bearing. 40 bucks labor and 40 for the bearing. Can't beat that. Didn't take long to take the spindle off or put it back on.

 

[aMaff]

I took the spindle off myself and took it to my old shop and had them swap the bearing. 40 bucks labor and 40 for the bearing. Can't beat that. Didn't take long to take the spindle off or put it back on.

Ah, that makes more sense. Sorry about that, with all the 'how much would this cost at a shop' threads I see, it's easy to forget that some of us aren't afraid to get dirty and still work on our own stuff (thumb)

 

[Mike R]

I can't afford to take it to the shop. And if I could have found a inexpensive press, I would have bought it and done it myself.

And I don't trust any shops either. Except the one I know and trust. Too many horror stories. There is the fact that I like working on cars. So much more rewarding and fun than doing broadcast engineering.

 

[2000VRsex]

Have you changed the timing belt b4? or did it last that long?

 

[Mike R]

Nope. Still original. It's non interference, so I'm just running it until I feel like replacing it-like when it breaks.
What I listed is what's been done. Still got the factory clutch too...

 

[clicknext]

Nope. Still original. It's non interference, so I'm just running it until I feel like replacing it-like when it breaks.
What I listed is what's been done. Still got the factory clutch too...

Wow that's good. You never got bad clutch chatter in 171k?

 

[Mike R]

Wow that's good. You never got bad clutch chatter in 171k?

It's always had clutch chatter.... Dealer wouldn't replace it when they did the motor at 30K. I just deal. It's getting much worse though. Not gonna make it to 200K. Might do it this summer with the timing belt and WP.

 

[buttthrax]

Replacing the motor at 30k sounds like a reliable vehicle.

Thanks, Japan, you always do us well.

 

[P-Funk!]

Nope. Still original. It's non interference, so I'm just running it until I feel like replacing it-like when it breaks.
What I listed is what's been done. Still got the factory clutch too...

Yeah, but... it will leave you stranded and the tow job home to do the work will remove any savings from waiting. Do it now when you can control and schedule the maintenance.

 

[Katya4me]

Replacing the motor at 30k sounds like a reliable vehicle.

Thanks, Japan, you always do us well.

You may not be aware, but Mike R's P5 is a 2003.5. Which happened to be the only 3rd gen. Protege to get a recall. Unfortunately for him, his was one of the cars that caused Mazda to make that decision. But, as he noted, it was under warranty and in general, any P5 to make it past 36K miles isn't going to have any factory issues. And since you just trashed at least 6 companies who are producing more vehicles on more platforms than any domestic manufacturer, I congratulate you.

 

[Mike R]

Yeah, but... it will leave you stranded and the tow job home to do the work will remove any savings from waiting. Do it now when you can control and schedule the maintenance.

AAA FTW. And I have a spare car to drive...


As for the motor issue, many many people have had the issue. It's a crummy pickup design that only rears it's head if you really really push the car HARD-which I surely do.. I know lots of people with 3rd gen proteges and with close to the same milage that haven't had any issues. I even had some goofball with come in and get his first oil change- at 50,000 miles. Motor was still quiet and ran fine. They did at least top it off. And it's not like the motor blew into a buncha little pieces and left me stranded. It was noisy, I took it to the dealer and they supposedly replaced the motor.. My 94 civic only lasted to 140K, and had a bit more issues than the protege. Most of my cars have needed way more maintanence than this protege.