Hello all,
I am joining this site as the owner of a 94 Mazda protege DX 1.8 SOHC W/ manual trans.
I got this car in 2006 for free as payment for fixing a guys window. It sat for 2 years in his backyard before he bought the battery for me to drive it off. At this time it had around 138k on the odometer, and needed a little exhaust work.....well...Now she is at 240k.
She has a broken rear trailing arm, leaking struts, and erratic idle at stops, and at the moment she has her head off, getting some much needed TLC.
I was amazed to find how easy this car was to work on over the last few years, even for a shop manager for many years. I was even more surprised to find a car with 240k and the exhaust manifold shield bolts broke loose and turned out clean as a whistle.....
Anyhoo....I'm here as a long time lurker and finally decided to join as a member and see if i can learn anything or help anybody. As I said, I have been a mechanic for about 10 years, and have been in management for about 4 years. This is my first Mazda and i am in love with this car for life.

 

Hi Fish94, welcome to the forum. Honestly, I am not surprised you fell in love with the Protege. It is a gem and a well kept secret at that.

I am glad you are willing to help out! the forum needs new blood. (or bloody knuckles).

 

Bloody knuckles i have to share!! LOL....

Putting the head on my protege now, replacing head gasket w/ full head service (valve job,milled, cleaned), timing belt and components, water pump, crank and cam seals, oil sending unit, thermostat, and all around cleaning and degrease.

She had an oil leak at the valve cover gaskets, distributor O-Ring, and the Valves were shot, so she smoked for until she got warm and quit. I also have the notorious idle issue while stopped at red light. I am hoping all of this work will alleviate the smoking and oil leaks, and the EGR solenoid may be the culprit for the idle, from what i have read on here

I have Pictures of this process i will make a thread for and title it PROTEGE CYLINDER HEAD GASKET SERVICE.....Hope it helps someone doing this job in the future.