New to my daughter 03 p5....Need to bring it up to snuff....

mcompton1973

Member
:
2003 Protege5
Purchased my daughter her first car.
2003 Mazda Protege 5
135k miles
5 speed

seems to drive good...everything seems to work. There is a little vibration at speed...No apparent leaks.


We know NOTHING about the car or its history....but we paid appropriately...
Daughter will get her license in 6 months...Wanted this sooner to learn to drive stick, and get used to HER car before test time.
Also wanted time to get it to where I was comfortable with its reliability on the road.

She will have a 22 mile commute each way to school (we live in the boonies)
So now I need to make a good to-do list of things to take care of.

I know it needs shocks (struts?)
I figure it needs plugs and wires
I figure coolant flush and oil change.
timing belt probably???

I would like help with what order I should tackle things....
and cost estimates (plan to do most if not all myself...I am a decent wrench with a howto write up...haha)
Anything else I need to know/fix/preventatively fix etc.
 
...
Daughter will get her license in 6 months...Wanted this sooner to learn to drive stick, and get used to HER car before test time.

Get her to read this thread.
I could use to read it again myself, I still stall my car a few times a year. lol

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123661588-How-To-Drive-Stick-Shift-A-12-step-program

Anything else I need to know/fix/preventatively fix etc.

Here's a big list of things to inspect.



 
I just did the exact same thing for my daughter. Get your struts from Amazon the best prices are there. Leave the timing belt but if you do it, do the water pump as well. Spark plugs and coil packs replace them all. Add Seafoam to the oil, and fuel. If you change the coolant, pull the radiator hose and change the thermostat and Radiator cap.
 
I just did the exact same thing for my daughter. Get your struts from Amazon the best prices are there. Leave the timing belt but if you do it, do the water pump as well. Spark plugs and coil packs replace them all. Add Seafoam to the oil, and fuel. If you change the coolant, pull the radiator hose and change the thermostat and Radiator cap.

2 questions.....

1....Leave the timing belt? Are these non-interfearence engines? I have always been told (not on THIS car) to change anytime you buy a high mile car because if it wasnt done and it breaks....new engine time.

2...any specific brand of struts that you had good luck with off Amazon?

3...same question on coils and wires?
 
On very rare occasions, there has been engine damage (bent valves) when a timing belt breaks.

Almost everybody simply replaces the belt and keeps driving.

Munroe offers "quick struts" which include the spring are are a lot easier to install.
They offer original ride quality.

Apparently, Hitachi coils are good coils.
Some cheap coils have been known to fail brand new out of the box.

NGK wires are probably a good bet as well as NGK regular V-Power copper plugs.
 
2 questions.....

1....Leave the timing belt? Are these non-interfearence engines? I have always been told (not on THIS car) to change anytime you buy a high mile car because if it wasnt done and it breaks....new engine time.
my timing belt "spun" around 180k, original belt and waterpump.
not saying I recommend waiting that long as the belt should be changed before 100k... it is my fault as I bought the car at 124k and trusted the guy I got it from when he said he changed it... so personally, Id recommend changing it just to be safe.
that said, my timing belt spun and ripped off a good 6" on teeth on the belt when it did, I had it replaced along with WP and it cranked right up and ran perfectly fine. Ive read numerous times these are interference engines, and Ive read numerous time they are non-interference engines... so I honestly dont know. but from personal experience I can say with a slight degree of confidence mine is not, especially since a spun belt tends to be worse than a broken belt, even with non-inter engines.
struts are kind of a personal choice, most people on these forums are looking to upgrade their suspension for better cornering. if your looking for stock ride quality and ride height, then Id recommend looking into anything OEM rated, then buying based on the company's reputation (monroe would be my personal recommendation)
NGK plugs are great, but steer clear of the "iridium" as the cost vs gain isnt warranted and Ive read some people had issues.
PCB is correct in the coil's, stay away from cheap ones as Ive read that quite a few of them fail right out of the box, stick with known high end brands, the cost difference will pay for itself in the headache avoidance dept.. :)
that service list is a godsend, print it out.
 
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My 2003 P5 went over 200,000 before the belt broke. I do not know the history. I was driving when it broke. I called several shops that wanted what I thought was too much to change it. Went to Youtube University to learn how to do it myself. After that, it was an easy repair. The motor was fine. The computer took about 5 minutes of driving to get used to the new belt and it went another 30,000 miles before being rear ended by a Mercedes Benz at about 30 MPH. RIP my yellow friend...
 
Purchased my daughter her first car.
2003 Mazda Protege 5
135k miles
5 speed

seems to drive good...everything seems to work. There is a little vibration at speed...No apparent leaks.


We know NOTHING about the car or its history....but we paid appropriately...
Daughter will get her license in 6 months...Wanted this sooner to learn to drive stick, and get used to HER car before test time.
Also wanted time to get it to where I was comfortable with its reliability on the road.

She will have a 22 mile commute each way to school (we live in the boonies)
So now I need to make a good to-do list of things to take care of.

I know it needs shocks (struts?) My daughter's Protg had 135,000 miles on it when I sold it and the struts were fine. Are you sure they are shot?
I figure it needs plugs and wires. Our wires were fine. Check the condition of the plugs.
I figure coolant flush and oil change. How about the gear lube for the transmission?
timing belt probably??? It should've been changed a while back at 60 - 90K miles.
I assumed you checked the air filter, but have you looked at the intake air snorkel? It will crack on the underside from periodic flexing to change the air filter. Once it cracks, the engine will not run well enough to do highway speeds. I used duct tape as a temporary measure to drive the car home from a store parking lot.

By the way, I do not recommend having a new driver take the DMV test with a manual transmission car. He or she really needs to focus on all the other driving aspects. Both of our kids drove small, light cars with auto transmissions to take their driving tests.
I would like help with what order I should tackle things....
and cost estimates (plan to do most if not all myself...I am a decent wrench with a howto write up...haha)
Anything else I need to know/fix/preventatively fix etc
 
2 questions.....

1....Leave the timing belt? Are these non-interfearence engines? I have always been told (not on THIS car) to change anytime you buy a high mile car because if it wasnt done and it breaks....new engine time.

2...any specific brand of struts that you had good luck with off Amazon?

3...same question on coils and wires?

Yes, they are non-interference engine. My last one went 225k.
I just did KYB's, she doesn't need performance just stability. I did Megan lowering springs at the same time to give it a better look. If you do this cut the bump stops in half.
Coil packs I actually got off of Rockauto. Didn't get the cheapest nor the most expensive but in the middle.
 
I personally would do timing belt/waterpump as then you'll know that they wont leave her stranded anywhere.
 
I personally would do timing belt/waterpump as then you'll know that they wont leave her stranded anywhere.

What he said. My timing belt has broken twice. Both times slapped a new belt on it and runs like new again. Only downside is that it will leave her stranded, so it's better to replace new preventative before turning a teenager loose with it.

Also check motor mounts, they're probably shot. Some folks here seem to have problems with ignition coils, but i've never had to replace one on mine. They are all original to the car (the spark plug wires will have a date on them, if they say 2002 or 2003 they are original to the car). So not necessarily a NEED to replace, but if you get a misfire code somewhere down the line, it's something to keep in mind.

And I always do a compression test on anything I buy when I get it home. Gives a much better indicator of exactly what the health of the engine is. My car has around 270k miles on it now, and compression is 200-210psi across all 4 cylinders. Still on my original clutch too :) Check the engine oil level now, and every 1000 miles for the first few oil changes too. Some of these tend to have sticky rings and will burn oil like no tomorrow.
 
If you run a carfax it may show maintenance, particularly the timing belt.

If you don't have an OBDII scanner, get one. These cars tend to have various emissions issues. The most common ones are easy to fix and easy to figure out what is wrong if you know the code that is causing the CEL.

If you do get a CEL scan it right away and get it fixed as soon as you can. It is much easier to diagnose and fix a car with one or two related codes rather than a 3 or 4 codes caused by 2 or more issues.

Rust - check for rust at the jack points and rear fenders. Also pull up the carpet in the rear hatch and check the side areas where the jack is stored and the opposite side. Water tends to leak in here.
 
Rust - check for rust at the jack points and rear fenders...

^^^ What he said.
My jack points squashed right through the frame rail so I supported the car where the trailing arms connect to the frame.
Then I punched right through the frame and had to get a piece of metal welded in so my trailing links don't break right off.

...Also pull up the carpet in the rear hatch and check the side areas where the jack is stored and the opposite side. Water tends to leak in here.

Both my sides rotted out.



That's sunlight shining through the hole.
 
If you run a carfax it may show maintenance, particularly the timing belt.

If you don't have an OBDII scanner, get one. These cars tend to have various emissions issues. The most common ones are easy to fix and easy to figure out what is wrong if you know the code that is causing the CEL.

If you do get a CEL scan it right away and get it fixed as soon as you can. It is much easier to diagnose and fix a car with one or two related codes rather than a 3 or 4 codes caused by 2 or more issues.

Rust - check for rust at the jack points and rear fenders. Also pull up the carpet in the rear hatch and check the side areas where the jack is stored and the opposite side. Water tends to leak in here.


I don't trust carfax. They miss so many things most people never know. Entire accidents, maintenance, etc. I trust my own eyes. It only takes a few minutes to pull off the valve cover and look at the belt, and pretty easy to tell if it's been replaced or not. The car is 16-17 years old. If the belt is 16-17 years old it would be pretty obvious.
 
I don't trust carfax. They miss so many things most people never know. Entire accidents, maintenance, etc...

Carfax def doesn't show everything. But... if it does show a T-Belt change then you can be reasonably sure that it was done at the indicated time. Plus, it can show where the car was serviced and you can call them and find out more info.
Just one of the tools you can use.
 
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