Hi Protege-heads out there.
I am hunting down a misfire that keeps evading all of my best efforts over the last 6 months but It has reached, gotta deal with it proportions because now my wife hates to drive the car. I have a 1997, 323 Protege BA 1.6L. The only car I have ever owned, and although I know that sentimentality can only get me so far I hope the old girl has a few more years in her.

In the period that I have been dealing with the misfire I have tried the following.
1. Replaced the spark plugs
2. Replaced the ignition leads and packs
3. Replaced the fuel pump (because it died )
4. Replaced the fuel filter
5. Changed oil & filter every 5,000km-10,000km
6. Had a mechanic replace the valve cover seal gasket.

As I am starting to head toward more expensive repairs I am looking for assistance on what I should look at next?
Please help me protege protectors,
Thanks in advance for your tips and tricks.

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Perform a heath check of the engine.

Basic compression test both dry and wet and compare the results between all the cylinders.
A cylinder leak-down test would also be a good idea ,if there is a problem it will indicate head or lower block.

 

From memory that model was basic EFI not OBD2 and they did have problems with the MAF sensor getting dirty. 2 screws from memory and it's out and a spray with a good cleaner may help.

 

That interesting because OBDII started in 1995 and was mandatory in the USA that all vehicles manufactured and sold in the USA from 1995 have that operating system. The exception was grey market vehicles of the same year. And even that changed at some point but I would have to cheat and look that up?

However easy enough you look for the OBD diagnostic connector.
As for OBDI those are probably the only vehicles I will not work on because they were troublesome and no easy way to diagnosis when the PCM was the problem. Thank fully it was only a couple of years before OBDII and CANbus operating systems. I would rather work on a British pre 1980's electrical system anyday . Some of you will understand and get the pun..

 

Nothing quite like a Lucas electrical system.

 

Prince of Darkness.....

and the reason Britts drink warm beer.... LOL

 

Australia didn't go OBD2 till 2006 and before that car makers had all sorts of systems some did go OBD2 earlier many did not but some also used the same diagnostic plug with different wiring than OBD2. It was a bit chaotic from around around 1980 til 2006 where scantool dealers sold kit's for around $20,000 with a wide range of plugs to cover the wide range and tech's needed to be familiar with the variety of cars. Those in the know got codes by bridging diagnostic plus with a paper clip and most cars had no data streaming which made diagnosis difficult. You had to look at what the car was doing and use common logic (your brain) to diagnose problems.

 

Unfortunately it is OBD-1, silly Australia being late to the emissions regulation programme in general. I'll be compression testing tomorrow with a friend's compression kit. Any thoughts on the likelihood of it being worthwhile replacing the distributor cap and rotor since I've already done the spark plug and ignition leads?

 

Here's a link to get ODB-1 codes.

https://erwinsalarda.com/how-to-read...t-obd-scanner/

Perhaps it will point you in the right direction.

If you haven't already , you should certainly check the rotor and cap. Look for corrosion, pitting, arcing. Replace if any damage is evident.