Hello,

I currently own a '02 Mazda Protege ES w/ the 2.0 and 137,000 miles. My car has an issue in first gear where it's sluggish and skips back and forth and then only sluggish for a split second in second gear then fine throughout the rest of the gears. My mileage still seems to be ok and idle seems alright but it does seem to fall on it's face often when the electric fan maybe is kicking in?

Now I took the car into a mechanic last week and he thought that it maybe my flywheel needs to be resurfaced. Well, I drove the car much more than usual today with a lot of stop and go driving and it threw a P0171 engine code. The code on obd-codes.com points to a faulty MAF sensor.

My question is, what is causing my problems? Will the repair of the P0171 code fix my mechanical issue or does my car have a second injury? If these are not related, what is the common cause of the P0171 engine code on the Protege? Where is the MAF sensor located if equiped and how is it properly cleaned with brake cleaner, is there any common vacuum leaks, are the intake gaskets common to fail or any 02 sensors I should suspect?

-Thanks in adavnce

 

look at your intake boot first and make sure its not ripped open

 

The idle falling could be when the aircon compressor kicks in.

Maff code doesnt necessarily mean the maff is the fault - could be anything from a faulty air filter to the air idle valve. Good call from Big Money they chaeck for anything perished or split on the intake system