Please help soon: I have my 2002 Mazda Protege Manual 5 speed 2.0 DOHC engine at my mechanic who, says it's interference engine and the timing belt broke and therefore engine damage. Yet, 99% of what I find on the net says it's a non interference engine. Why the discrepancy for crying out loud and can someone give me a definitive answer please. Thanks as it means the difference between buying another car or just replacing timing stuff. His manual says interference, others abound saying otherwise. And secondly, is the only way besides taking off the head, to ascertain whether there is damage to the valves or pistons etc is to just replace the belt, tensioner etc and see if that works. He says no compression in any of the cylinders. I'm confused as I thought that was just the indicator that the belt has broken. Thanks.

 

Find another mechanic.

Replace the timing belt, carry out a compression test & leakdown test. This will indicate if the valves are damaged.

Also a bore scope can let you see impact damage on the pistons.

 

Thanks GR, almost did pull my 2002 Protege out of there because my mechanic couldn't get any spark after I finally decided to go against his advice and let him replace the timing belt, tensioner, water pump etc after mine had broken at speed. He thought more than likely the valves would be bent because his manual said it was an interference engine. I say it's a non interference engine and so does the majority of the net and forums. After replacing the belt, the compression was perfect across the four cylinders but no spark. Here's the kicker: I went here to this very site after he told me he couldn't get spark, and found a thread about a sometimes forgotten 10amp engine fuse below and left of the steering wheel which cured one of your posters non spark issue. My mechanic wouldn't answer the phone after repeated attempts to recommend checking that particular fuse and a couple of other things, he doesn't text and his phone messages were full and he was busy but he knew it was me and probably didn't want to be bothered. I gave up trying to contact him and the next morning he called as I was thinking about pulling my car out of there and said come get it, it's running perfect. I said "was the culprit a 10 amp engine fuse below and left of the steering wheel that I yesterday tried to call you about but you didn't answer?". Silence for a moment, then "Yeah, it was, how did you know? Had to laugh, but if he had answered the phone earlier, I would have saved him some frustration, time and some of that extra $100 he charged me to determine that the no spark issue was because of that very fuse. Have to replace both covers too as they were disintegrating badly and luckily didn't foul the cogs and jump time. The $400 he quoted me turned into a $750 job and that hurts but my car is good to go, runs great sans timing belt covers and that is still a good price for what he did. BTW, everything I have read says the aftermarket timing belt covers by Dorman don't fit well and I don't see any other options. Got an opinion on that GR? Wouldn't mind hearing it. Thanks. JB