Ok I bought my 2002 Mazda Protege 5 second hand six months ago. It has about 140,000 km's on it (give or take). Sometime in August, the engine would suddenly start running very roughly (growwwwllllll) while I was driving around, with a definite loss of power. I learned to overcome this by putting it in neutral (while still moving - ack!), taking my foot off the gas pedal so the revs dropped, and pumping the gas pedal a few times whereby the car would magically come to its senses and rev properly again. Back into gear and off I'd go. Ultimately the engine light came on (and stayed on), so I took it to a garage. They read the code and assured me a tune-up would do the trick. They changed the spark plugs and the wires, did an oil change to boot, and off I went.
The problem disappeared and I naively assumed it was fixed. Not so. About 3 weeks later it returned - same problem - and became more and more frequent, to the point where it would occur when I was idling at stop signs to the point of almost stalling, as well as when in motion. Got harder to bring it back to its senses by pumping the gas pedal. Took it to another garage, they read the code, and changed the 2 spark plug coils.
Ok, so that MUST have fixed it, right? Well ...maybe. The "old" problem hasn't recurred, but now it seems to have a new (but similar) one. It's been about 6 weeks since that last repair and today I start up the engine, back it up a few feet, put it in 1st gear and before I even bring the clutch in it starts revving in a very peculiar way; sounds different from before, but same basic idea - throaty growl with loss of power. Pumping the gas pedal did nothing to solve my problem. Turned it off, started it again => same problem. I think you can imagine the expletives emanating from my mouth as I re-parked the car and took the bus for the day.
I checked my car this evening => turned ignition expecting same throaty unhappy grumble => purrs in sweetness at me.
So, wtf is going on?? I have read about those "EGM control valve" problems, but is there a Protege 5 expert out there who can help to diagnose this? If it is the EGM valve, then I don't understand why changing the spark plugs, wires + coils would have solved the problem so definitively in the past, yet on such a temporary basis, given that I don't think any mechanic has ever touched my EGM valve.
Thanks for any advice you can provide. I have resigned myself to yet another trip to the garage, but I would rather point the mechanic in the right direction as opposed to having the grease monkey plug it in to the computer and tell me with confidence the the error code will solve all my problems. They did that twice already and it hasn't helpled me much. Clearly they don't want to work too hard at solving my problem. Thanks for listening to my rant!
The problem disappeared and I naively assumed it was fixed. Not so. About 3 weeks later it returned - same problem - and became more and more frequent, to the point where it would occur when I was idling at stop signs to the point of almost stalling, as well as when in motion. Got harder to bring it back to its senses by pumping the gas pedal. Took it to another garage, they read the code, and changed the 2 spark plug coils.
Ok, so that MUST have fixed it, right? Well ...maybe. The "old" problem hasn't recurred, but now it seems to have a new (but similar) one. It's been about 6 weeks since that last repair and today I start up the engine, back it up a few feet, put it in 1st gear and before I even bring the clutch in it starts revving in a very peculiar way; sounds different from before, but same basic idea - throaty growl with loss of power. Pumping the gas pedal did nothing to solve my problem. Turned it off, started it again => same problem. I think you can imagine the expletives emanating from my mouth as I re-parked the car and took the bus for the day.
I checked my car this evening => turned ignition expecting same throaty unhappy grumble => purrs in sweetness at me.
So, wtf is going on?? I have read about those "EGM control valve" problems, but is there a Protege 5 expert out there who can help to diagnose this? If it is the EGM valve, then I don't understand why changing the spark plugs, wires + coils would have solved the problem so definitively in the past, yet on such a temporary basis, given that I don't think any mechanic has ever touched my EGM valve.
Thanks for any advice you can provide. I have resigned myself to yet another trip to the garage, but I would rather point the mechanic in the right direction as opposed to having the grease monkey plug it in to the computer and tell me with confidence the the error code will solve all my problems. They did that twice already and it hasn't helpled me much. Clearly they don't want to work too hard at solving my problem. Thanks for listening to my rant!