Mine is 01 1.6L protege and have had the very low RPM, all the way to first line on meter which is???? Anyways, already cleared the engine light and batery light flickers at a slowdown /stop. I get a stumbling feeling in power like its going to stall, but nothing happens. Is the EGR valve easy to fix. I seen the discription above but....... I can do my own oil and filter, coolant changes, spark plugs but....... Just want soem honest opinoins if most here do belive its the EGR valve 1.6L automatic. Engine sounds great and tranny sounds great at higher rpm. This occurs after warm up and at a slow down and stop. Also I have ~210000kms. We love this car and its been by far the most reliable car we have owned and am proud to own a pro and hope its not the EGR valve as my fellow canadian who is also from Ottawa has paid over 500 for the replace. Any ideas of if its the EGR valve and is there a cleaner or something that can be sprayed if its sticking...... How hard do you think it is to replace? Could it still be the altenator? Battery was replaced 3 years ago. Lights don't seem to dim when all accessories are on and rpm diving but I will confirm. Thanks in advance!

 

From what you describe and your capability - i would recommend buying a EGR valve (from Ken?) and taking it to a garage for installation. It will fix a known problem with the EGR (no harm done - it will need to be done anyway) and should solve the 'stalling' problem you have described.
I removed and cleaned mine - but i would not recommend it for the entry level mechanic.

 

I swapped out the plugs to throw some parts at it and still loww idle stumble at stop with battery light flicker, then idle slowly creeps up again. Engine runs great, tranny sounds great. Can anaybody help with this. SDoes it sound like the EGR valve. Engine light was reset by me after spak plugs were replaced and engine light has not come back on in over 100kms. Any ideas?

Is there any codes that they can pull even though engine light has been reset and does not come back on?

 

I drove my car hard as in up to 6000 plus rpm many times to see if I could make the issues either worse or better. And well.... they went away. New plugs did not help and injector cleaner and ~160kms later of hard driving THat must have been really bad gas, dirty injectors or my problem is just intermittent. Anyways, engine does sound better with my new NGks in there I'll repost if things change.

 

I had the exact same thing. Blown EGR was pricey, but that and new plugs was the fixup I was needing.

 

Mine was all fixed but..... my wife wanted a new car, so now that my baby was running perfectly, I bought a Yaris for my wife and I for commutiing to work. I feel so bad, the best most reliable car I have ever owned was the Japanese protege . Oh well, at least , unlike the coralla and camry, the Yaris is still japanese Did I get a fair trade in. 1.6L 2001 with ~213000kms auto, air tilt, no power group SE model $3500. Hope to own a Mazda again when they decide to japanese again instead of Ford as I have owned my share of ford cars. I'll stick with the "J" VINS I guess. So far wiith the japanese cars at least I can say I am 1 for 1 as my protege only needed a headlight bulb and had door weatherstripping and rad leak replaced under waranty for 213K miles. Best most reliable car I have owned Proteges rule or at least mine did. Hope the student that gets mine is appreciative of a great car.

As for the original post, car is fine bad gas and a little time was al it took, Car drove great after soem fuel injector fluid and some hard driving for a tank of gas. Also gassed up at Petro Canada, cleaner gas the ultrimar. Ultrimar is responsible for 2 engine lights so far.

 

Lucky it was an easy fix. I had tried injector cleaner and high qual gas for 3 tank before giving up that idea.

Mine would have trouble starts, low idle problems at stop lights and terrible fuel milage. Too bad I had to shell out $250 for an EGR... ah well.