I need to replace the clutch in my Protege. I have done this on a previous car while in H.S.I am now evaluating if I should attempt in my garage.
Can any one tell me a few things
[ol][*]Estimated cost to have it done.The parts at Napa are about $175.00[*]Do I need to pull the engine? I did on my previous experience.[*]Somplace I can get a manual for this make and model.[*]What are some of the specialty tools I will need? Like pilot bearing tool torque wrench etc.[*]How long as a mechanically minded person that does not do this level of repair on a regular basis, but can, would this take?1 weekend? 1 week (nights and weekends?)[/ol]

 

There are 3 for sale at eBayMotors.

 

cost to have it done would be about 4-6 hours at whatever your local mechanics charge. my mechanics charge about $100 an hour and my local dealerships charge almost twice that, so do the math on that.

you either need to pull the engine or the tranny. it is a lot easier just to pull the tranny than the motor, but you have to pull the front tires, axles, and drop the tranny with a floor jack.

the tools to pull the tranny are pretty basic except for the tool that you will need to pull a ball joint. you may not even need one here, you should just be able to pull the spindle at the strut and swing it down far enough to pull the axles.

a shop will do it in about 4-6 hours, so i would say 3 days worth of nights or one day on the weekend would work.

 

Did this last year on a 99 DX 1.6 L engine - by myself. Was done in my garage with no special tools and took 2 evenings (10 hrs) total (no hurry). Engine can stay in place. I had the flywheel re-surfaced and replaced the outer CV joint boots/grease and front engine mount while I had it apart. Cleanliness is important, especially when you are putting the clutch assembly back together on the engine. Torque wrench is good to have when replacing the flywheel bolts (if you can hold the engine from turning while tightening them). As far as all other fasteners, I cleaned their threads and put a couple of drops of loc-tite on them and snugged them to factory specs.

Obviously, front of car has to be jacked up and supported properly at least2 to 2.5 feet to allow the tranny to be removed and replaced from underneath.

Tranny is cumbersome, but fairly light and you should have a helper if you're using a regular floor jack to pull and replace it.I didn't have to pull the strut from the knuckle, just the lower ball jointconnection (as well as disconnecting the lower sway bar mounts, I think) and pushing the control arms down enough to make room.Ball joint isretained into the knuckle with abolt that has a short knurled section below the head of it- no big deal to remove, just take the nut off of it and tap it out.

I had more trouble in pulling the driver's side axle out of the transmission than the passenger's side (don't know why, it was just more of a bitch to get it to break free from the that side). Be aware ofthe electrical hookups to the transmission case and be careful with the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder and lines and other associated bracketry.

Just to be safe, I did put anadditional jack under therear of the engine with a small piece of plywood (to spread the load)against the oil pan for insurance while I was removing the driver's side engine mount and jockeying the tranny off and onto the engine.

I also remember removing the air intake hose,air filter boxand battery to make sufficient room to get to all the upper tranny to enginebolts and to remove the starter.

Estimated cost withflywheel machine work (not including the other stuff mentioned): $150. I found that my original clutch was made by Exedy. Lasted about 140 K miles.

With other stuff mentioned: additional $ 100.

The pilot bearing came outwith no unusual effort or special tools needed (light taps with a small hammer). I think the bearing was lightly fitted into the flywheel - not sure.

Transverse mounting has it's drawbacks when it comes time to do something like this, but it's not too bad if you take your time and be methodical.

If you need torque specs or other info, I (or others on this forum) can provide themto you.

Good Luck and be careful-make sure the car chassis is supported properly. You can do it.

Jim

 

i need to do this same thing, due to a cracked pressure plate. hmmm mazda clutches kinda suck dont they? i was wondering:
A. What Tools do i need
B. what else i should change while im down there(pilot bearings, throw-outs, etc
C. on a scale of 1 - 10 how hard was it to do.

 

Roger:

A. Good set of jack stands, good floor jack, set of metric wrenches and sockets, torque wrench, drain pan (for transaxle fluid drain), prybars, screwdrivers, a helper and lots of patience.

B. Check at your engine mounts (especially front one near the radiator-replace if the rubber inner bushing is completely cracked/separated), change the pilot roller bearing and throw-out bearing (you get these in a good clutch kit), have the flywheel properly machined (it's a stepped surface flywheel), check your CV boots for cracks and replace as required. I suggest re-filling the transaxle with a good synthetic lubricant of proper viscosity (like Mobil-1, Amsoil, etc) when you're done.

c. 7.5378965 (would have been more like 6.2365745 if I had a helper and more beer).

Just curious how you identified a cracked pressure plate.....

Good Luck

Jim