2003 protege opinion/help

[jayrad313]

my mom has a low mileage 03' protege that has just been sitting (started occasionally, driven once) for 2 years.
before being parked the following was done to it
-new brakes
-tires
-timing belt, water pump etc...
-plugs
-oil change
might be more but i know atleast the major things were done.
heres her reason for parking (mind you, shes a woman who knows zero about cars, wanted a new one also so i'm sure made it seem worse)
she says that driving around town, short trips the car is fine but once "warmed up" and on the freeway the car loses power and won't accelerate. she's convinced its a tranny problem, even took it to a shop (it's a small town and she's been ran through the ringer before) and they "think" it's tranny related as well. my thoughts are fuel pump/filter, possibly timing off, doesn't really seem tranny related to me. Grandpa drove it a while after being parked, it idled almost an hour, drove all over town and even took it 15 miles down the freeway and back no issues at all. i've also read some of the same symptoms on these cars with the EGR valve or coil packs being bad.
my main question is i'm looking for a commuter and she offered to just give this to me but i don't know anything about mazdas. Are these 2.0L reliable? Is it worth spending the $2-3k (hopefully much less) i was going to spend on a commuter to get this running since its got low miles and major work done? also, if anyone has any ideas to what this issue might be that'd be great.
any help would be much appreciated.
thanks
Jared

 

[concept]

It could be the gas. Whenever a car is left to sit for more than a month or so, some "Stabil" fuel stabilizer should be put in it to prevent the gas from changing, chemically (and removes gum/varnish and water. However, this stuff protects the gas for only 1 year, so the car would have to be driven enough to deplete the tank or the tank would need to be drained. I suggest you drain the tank and then add at least 4 galons of fresh fuel.

By the way, the Protege is one of the most reliable used cars (if maintained properly) on the planet. I would drain and refill all fluids, including the transmission fluid, as well.

 

[03protolx]

Like concept says, Proteges are some of the most reliable vehicles. I've owned 4 of them...that will tell you I'm obsessed.

If it runs fine around town, I doubt its a fuel pump issue.

I would replace the spark plugs and check for moisture on the coil packs/plugs. there have been multiple times that vehicles like the protege in which use coil packs have came in for the same issue (along with ford escorts, chevrolet cavaliers, etc.). Every time, I replaced the spark plugs and inspected the coil packs...and 95% of the time it fixed the issue.

any codes? even though your check engine light isn't on, there may still be codes. your computer will store recent issues without throwing a CEL. Go get those checked at autozone or oreilly auto parts...and report back to us.

Fuel filter wouldnt be a bad idea to replace since its only like $10.