1997 Protege 1.5L
Thought I had my low idle/hesitation problem conquered. But I don't.

Car still misses/bucks until completely warm. Driving on highway...if I put clutch in for like 10 seconds.....oil light will flicker like she wants to stall....but it doesn't actually stall.

Before I did idle/TPS adjustments (totally screwed up before), I would get Muliple cylinder misfires. I'm not getting them now.

Did the ohm test on wires yesterday. Wire four (~11") was 7.6Kohm...should be aroud 4.8Kohm. Haynes manual says also to check primary coil and secondary coil resistance on distributor. I'm not getting any readings at all.

Think I'm doing it right.....7 pin plug on Dist....for primary coil ....two pins closest to front. For 2ndary pin farthest from front and dist body.

no reading at all....tried two meters, that both check all other sensors OK.

Would this suggest the coils are weak, and giving less spark?

If I need new distributor, what could I look for as a replacement at scrapyard.....ie. what cars other than 97 1.5L protege, As local yard doestn't have any....think he has some 92's though and early 90 MPV's.

Again, have to be sure I'm doing it right before I order anything, as it appears I'm not getting it locally. If my spark is weak, I want to address it, as I'm thinking it'll get worse and I'll break down on highway....and I live 100km from work...so the tow wouldn't be cheap.

When car is warm...seems to work fine, except...slight shudder when it goes to idle....and it then levels up. I reset idle from 800 to 1000 yesterday...but havent driven on highway yet.

 

Bump

Can anyone confirm whether I'm testing coil properly?

 

sounds like you are testing it right, but the coil could just be weak. start with a new cap and rotor and go from there. any ford or mazda from the same generation and same motor size will have the same distributor set-up.

 

New cap, rotor, wires, plugs, fuel filter. Also had whole intake manifold off car....thoroughly cleaned Idle air valve, EGR, and all passages. No vacuum leaks that I can find.

All sensors do ohm test as per hanes manual. Car seems to run good when warm. Pig until then. If I don't let it warm up totally, it'll throw a P0304, cylinder 4 misfire. Once warmed up, car seems fine. It's a real pain, I'm in Newfoundland....and winter is starting.

I'm really unsure about coil in distributor......as no reading on primary or secondary coil test.....wouldn't that suggest an open circut....so how does the car even work.

I'm beginning to suspect the vacuum solenoid.... the one that's temperature controlled, and draws from the black cylinder cannister (charcoal).

I also plan on a compression check this weekend, but there are no signs of problems in oil or antifreeze.....pulls good when it's warm.
Also interesting to note that it's a 5 spd. standard. I'm logging my km's and Litres of fuel .....I'm getting about 30mpg (cdn) on highway. That being said, I usually drive 110-120km hour......don't have a tach, so I'm not sure what it rev's at those speeds. My 97 Honda Oddessey (4 cyl) is better on gas than this.

Spark plugs ( ngk G-power) look slightly wet......don't have that tan brown colour.

I've had 2 mechanics look at it, not sure. Sorta felt like it was a crap shoot, and that I could be throwing money at wrong parts, as they'd only be guessing.Haven't brought it to Mazda yet.