Hi all! New here with a few questions

dyang1

Member
So I been lurking in this forum for few weeks now. I just bought my first car, a 2002 Mazda Protege5 with 80k miles on it, I just added 1k on it :) Maybe I paid too much for it but it seems to run pretty well besides what I'm about to describe. My first car and it's a Mazda so I'm a newbie, been a Toyota driver all my life cause my dad likes them and so does my father in law. Anyways, on with the run ons and chunks of paragraphs.

I have done a few search for things but when it comes to car, I'm as dumb as a brick. My little yellow protege when starting it up in the morning or just whenever it's been sitting for a long time, it idles at around 1000 - 2000rpm, usually inbetween there, is that normal? After running it around town and my long 30 miles or so communte, when I put it into park, it stays quite a bit below the 1000rpm mark.

Then the other problem, I have with my car is on cruise. Let's say I lock it at 70 mph and I then cancel it to around 60 or so, right when I click to resume, it sometimes, goes into a berserk rage and the rpm spikes to 4500rpm for a second or 2 before falling back to 3000rpm. I'm pretty sure people driving around me thinks I'm trying to do something special but nothing happens :p This happens randomly, sometimes it goes up normally and sometimes it's trying it's hardest to gain just a few mph to what it's locked at. It happens even when it's only a few mph below what I set it at.

Ok, I'm sorry it's all just mumble jumble into this one post, it's late and I have to wake up for my morning commute down to Appleton from Green Bay :s
 
Welcome to the familia.

The idle rpms sounds pretty normal. I believe that's exactly how mine are.

The cruise control is crazy as hell sometimes. I've had it go into berserk mode to go from 79 to 80 mph and then drop back down. It does its job, but sometimes it seems possessed.

Good luck and let us know if we can help you with anything!
 
all of that is normal.

our engines are set to idle high on a cold(engine has been off for a good while) start up, once temps are warm the idle will go back to around 700(normal idle)

as for the cruise, thats how the car is made. most cars also do this. when in cruise, if your speed drops, then you press resume(when cruise is set at 65), the car will need to get it self back to speed, and in fact would drop a gear(making the rpms go higher) for the car to have enough power to reach its desired speed. Once at the desired speed it will change into the next gear(lowering the rpms) and maintain that speed.

post pics of the beast!!!!!
 
How much did you pay for your car? (out of curiousity)

And tell us what state you live in. A 'routine maintenance' cleaning of the EGR and IAC are something you should learn to do. And If a board member lives near you I'm sure they'd be happy to help you.

And both of those things are normal on your car.
 
Whew, its' good to hear that it's normal. On the '97-'00 Toyota Camrys, when I do the same with cruise, you can hear the engine working to get up there but never as hard sounding as my Protege5.

I will post pictures when I can take some, weather's been bad here. I live in Wisconsin, I'm afraid of the winter seasons and what it'll do to my car. :(

Whoever owned the car before me repainted the hood and the bumper a little bit because you can clearly tell it was repainted. There are little circle or indent marks where the original paint use to sit. I don't know how much a paint job is, but I'll just keep driving it like that. My money is really tight at the moment. Oh yeah and SocialStealth, it went for about $8495 and I got it down to $7700. Isn't that high? Bought it from a dealership and I have no negotiation skills.
Someone in Fond du Lac, WI was also selling a yellow 2003 Protege with 107k miles on it for $6k but I don't know how to drive manual and my wife didn't want to learn as I have suggested. :p
 
Yeah that is pretty high!

If you want to return your p5, I can sell you my car for way less :) And Its probably in better condition.


But anyways, Mazda's are known for their engine noise.

And as far as your automatic goes, If you see the RPMs jumping it may be the car downshifting and shifting gears. This is normal. As an automatic transmission cannot predict if you are speeding up to try to pass someone, or simply trying to catch up to the speed limit.
 
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