Had the same problem (97 Protege) Had to put it in neutral at stops just to keep it from dying. My problem was the large ribbed hose coming from the air filter box was cracked. Temp wrapped in duct tape cleared up immediatly. Runs perfect Now !

 

Its a new battery, The car will start out fine no problems with the first couple of stops then when I go to come to a stop and push in the clutch
the car starts to idle very low and acts like it wants to die. A couple of times the car has died in the middle of traffic. Also when this starts the oil light on
the dash starts fluttering off and on.

 

I have a99 protege which is a completely redesigned next generation protege from you guys. But I did had the similar problem a few months ago, and the engine check light turn on me. My battery, spark plugs and stuff were just replaced then too. So I check the fuse, nothing is bad, but the engine check light somehow miraculously went away. A week later, it came back on again. So I got no patience and got some money around and was on the verge of trading it in for a new Mzd3,but decidedtake it straight to the car dealer mechanics. I decided that if cost less than $1k to fix, I will fix it and keep the car cuz the car is still mainly in good running condition.

Well, the problem fixed and since then no problem. Cost me around $260 if I remember correctly, but hopefully that amount of money I spend did not go to wasteif I canhelpsome of youto solve the problem. Like what protegedonsugguested a few post above me, it was the "mass air flow sensor". This sensor alone is pretty pricy, can cost up to $200 easily from the mazda dealer, and is really hard to find from the local autopart stores. Yea I did a little research on that. To replace is not that hard, just kind of plug on and is right on top of where the air flow coming out the hose from your car air filter.

From what I learned, a failing mass air florw sensor can provide bad air flow into your car engine to provide goodinternal engine combustion, and gasoline need both heat andair to combust properly, if the air is not enough, it will struggle to burn. Especially when your car is at complete stop, that is when the right amount of air flow into the engine is the most critical cuz it need to be even more exactly or else it will start stalling and about to die or give up due to not enough combustion. Not so much the case when the car is in motion cuz by then you already let in a lot of air into the engine for combustion by pressing the gas pedal. Well, I hope this late post can still help some of you.

 

How do you test the mass airflow sensor and the (I believe) the airflow temp sensoron a 97 1.5 DOHCprotege?My sister-in-laws car isdoing the same thing at a stop. I noticed that the top half of the air filter cover has two broken plasticclips where it fastens at the back side of the housing. Would this be the problem like the previous post regarding the mass airflow tube? Thanks a lot for the help!

 

I am not familiar with 97 Protege, is a different design from mine. But as for the mass airflow sensor, it was the car dealer mechanics that diagnosed for me from the computer code, so I have no clue how to test it, sorry. I do know that it is possible to clean the old mass air flow sensor if it is not completely dead. The mechanic from the dealer attempted it on mine but wasn't able to and end up replacing it. Also not sure about the plastic clip. Here is pic of how the mass air flow sensor of her 97 protege should look like and is expensive.

http://www.autozone.com/R,247024/veh...ductDetail.htm

Try to see if you know any mechanic friend you can trust or a friend that knows how to diagnose for her 1st. You should be able to replace it easy yourself if it is. Going to mechanics to do all that if it is might cost you $300-$400..who knows

 

I had the same problem on my mazda! After i replaced broken intake hose cleaned the throttle body, replaced the air filter and the box that it sits in, the problem was gone.
P.S check all that and then adjust a screw under the accelerating mechanism.
Email me if you need any pics!!! osavchuk@cfl.rr.com

 

check your pcv vaccum HOSE not the valve, the hose will go from your intake manifold just below your throttle body its about 1/4 inch hose and it will go around your engine to your pcv valve in your exhaust manifold, if the hose feels weak or has a spot where it has collapsed thats the problem because when the pcv valve opens and there is no air going throught that hose to the valve its sufficating your engine.

 

Ok boys...I have a 97' Protege' as well with a 1.5 engine. It has had a very similar idle issue since the car was new. After repeated service calls to fix the problem (both during and post-warranty), I eventually gave up trying to resolve and just lived with it. No one was ever able to find the cause/remedy and of course, it never seemed to present itself at its worst when I would take it to the Mazda service center for evaluation. They made several idle adjustments but no matter what they did, it never seemed to solve the problem. It also never kicked off a check engine code either. The car now has 170K miles on it and the problem continues.

The car idles fine much of the time at about 700-800 rpm and is better in cooler weather as some of you have also described as well. In summer however, the low idle/trying to die issue is much, much worse....especially with the A/C on. It has a 5-speed manual transmission and sometimes I have to hold the rpm's up at a stop light to keep it from attempting to die. I've noticed that anything over 900-1000 rpm and the idle remains very stable. In normal idle range though, the tach seems to be bouncing up and down like the computer is constantly "searching" for proper idle speed. It may stablize for a few seconds, then the rpm's drop and the computer attempts to recover to proper idle...over and over.

Recently, the problem presented itself in cooler weather. After sitting all day in a parking garage, my wife left work and tried to start it. It kept dying and would not hold an increased idle on its own as cars normally do at start-up until they warm up a couple minutes or so. She called saying the car would not remain running. My first thoughts were that it might be a fuel pump or fuel filter issue, althought the fuel filter was recently changed out. The fuel pump is original (so is the clutch by the way @ 170K miles).

After arrival to see what the issue might be, I started it and it died a couple of times. I started it again, but this time kept the idle up to around 2000-2500 rpm until it warmed up a little. After that, it stayed idling, but at a very low rpm 300-400 rpm and was bouncing. By the time I got home, the idle was relatively stable again at about 700 rpm. Even so, the tach showed movement up and down like it was still searching for proper idle speed as it even does on its good days.

After getting it home, I was looking at the throttle body and finally discovered something by accident that may potentially be the cause. The round assembly (not sure what you officially call it) where the throttle cable connects up has a spring on it that is designed to return the throttle to idle position when the foot pedal is released. Looking closer, I happened to notice that by playing with it (with the engine running) and with it sitting in idle position, I can easily move the assembly slightly further back than the spring normally pulls it and can manually cause the idle to begin its bouncing routine and attempts to die. I also found a small idle stop set screw on the underneath side of the assembly that keeps it from traveling too far back. I adjusted it inward to take up the small difference in slack on the range of travel so the throttle assembly now cannot move any further back when I attempt to manually push on it. The idle appears stable now at about 800-900 rpm. Another adjustment can be made on the throttle cable itself if needed as well to get the idle speed at the correct level. I did not want to touch the idle/air adjustment screw on the throttle body itself.

So far, so good. We'll see how it does when the weather warms up.

This is something I discovered and wanted to share with other Protege' owners in this forum who also have seemingly common problem with idle issues.

DB - Fort Worth, TX.

 

if your protege idle is "wobbly" , check vacuum hoses, listen for air leaks , check the air intake for "age" cracks. make sure filter box is one piece. these are all easy visual checks anyone can accomplish. I had idle prob descibed above with 2001 protege 2.0L
defroster(and a/c) will up the idle and mask the prob. If you get CEL find out the code, thatb will give you direction to prob solution. do not be afraid to ask dealer mechanic qestions. a part guy helped me after explaining, no car.......no work with info from part guy at dealer I was able to solve prob. don't forget retrace your steps when repairing cars, copiers..... anything
good luck and keep at it

 

Update: 3/18/09:

The throttle adjustment I made seems to have helped the idle some. I also increased the rpm from about 700-800 to around 900. I can no longer manually move the throttle assembly back further than the spring normally pulls it at idle after adjusting the idle stop set screw, but the car is still constantly "searching" for the correct idle rate.

Most of the time it idles pretty stable at around 900 rpm (the tach needle still constantly moving up and down). But if lights or other assessories are turned on, the rpm's may suddenly drop to 200 or less and it attempts to recover. The tach may bounce once as the electrical device initially draws power or it may continue for a while. The A/C makes the biggest impact on this phenomenon. It's almost like the car hasn't enough power to run everything electrical and keep the car's idle stable at the same time.

The alternator was recently replaced to see if that would do anything. It had no effect. The car has also had 6 five-year batteries since it was new in 97'. I find that a little odd in itself as it seems to eat up batteries pretty fast. They just die after a year or two for no apparent reason.

To date, no one has found why the car constantly hunts for a stable rpm or why turning on electrical assessories makes it worse. Note...this has been happening pretty well since the car was new and was never really fixed during the warranty period although it was looked at by Mazda a number of times. It kicks off no codes.

Any suggestions or other things to look at would be appreciated.