a little late im sure but here you go.
had a bad alternator. took it to firestone. gave them a lot of money. they put in some piece of s***. (i saw it later... it was spray painted black) car ran like s***. the transmission (sportauto) went into safe mode, meaning it would only run in 3rd. battery light would come on when that happened. popped both headlights. they wouldnt replace it because they didnt think anything was wrong, since transmission and bad alternator don't usually do things related to each other.
went to the dealership. they actually charged me less than firestone (fuckers) and after some tests, we figured out the alternator firestone put in was over and then under charging. (my guess was the alternator they put in had a built in regulator, and the protege alternator is regulated by the ecu, so they were fighting with each other) this was the reason the bulb popped and the transmission was going into safe mode.
so, they replaced it with a mazda alternator and all is well.
went back to firestone, showed them their guarantee and the note i got from the dealership, and they gave me my money back.
so yeah, **** firestone and the ***** they rode in on.