So...on my way home Saturday night from watching football, as soon as I pull into my complex, I hear it. A slight knocking from under the hood. Seems anything over 2K rpm...it starts to rattle (sounds like a rod). The car DID not throw a CEL, nor did the the oil light come on (I just changed the oil & filter lastweek BTW)...so I don't know where that puts me. The car has 38,xxx miles & still currently under warranty. I removed the PC.com & Auto Source decals, but left my JA flag & Tein decals on. Hopefully, they don't give me the run around. Intake/Exhaust/Suspension/Wheels & Tires have nothing to do w/the bloody internals....I won't hear back from Mazda til around midday. Hopefully it's something small...but most importantly...I hope it's covered under the friggin' warranty. Wish me luck.

-Phil

 

No well wishers? lol...

 

g'luck!

 

Good luck.

I woulda taken off the intake and exhaust(in fact, I did), but hopefully they treat you right anyway.

My motor was replaced under warranty at about 28,000 mi. Reason? Weird knocking under the hood.
Do you drive the car hard, I mean do you hit corners fast, like really fast? The Protege has no baffles in the oilpan, so oil starvation is something to think about if you track your P5. I'm 99% sure that's what happened to me.

One night, after chasing a WRX and Miata up a a twisty, 15 mile long road, I heard the knock. It was UGLY sounding and I had an sinking feeling what it was, so I limped home, tailpipe smoking all the way. For the record, I NEVER redline my car. I'll come close, but I just don't do it.
The next day was spent bringing my P5 back to stock, then I went into my dealer to see what the dealio was.
They asked me for all my reciepts from my oil changes (I quit taking it to the dealer for oil after they wrecked my Miata...but that's another story), and lucky for me, I happened to have kept them all. The fact that I had complained about a mystery noise when the car had about 3k on it came back to me in spades. They figured that it was a problem from the beginning and hooked me up.

My motor was replaced, no problem. I hope they treat you the same way.

 

FYI, my engine was replaced at 10k...I went through an "oil consumption test" and apparently failed They really didn't hassle me too much, but they did insist that I bring in all of the stock intake pieces to put back on the car.

 

Knocking or clacking? Sporadic or rhythmic? I hope you don't have a screw loose (no pun intended), like mine.

 

Well,
Bad news...the car is still knocking
Good news...Seems I have a severe case of bad gas syndrome.
They did a compression, oil pressure & oil consumption test and found that I have no mechnaical problems at all. The service manager advised me that the on duty mechanic suggests I use Mid-grade...even though the manual doesn't call for it. Either way...I was told to go ahead and fill up w/Mid...I chose Premium...and I have to let the car run for about 20-30 minutes. Seems w/all this crap going on...I was suckered into buying crappy gass.

If the problem persists...I'll have to bring the car back in & they fix me up they said....no problems...they were very curtious & they actually complimented me on how tatsefully done the wagon was. Can you see a blossoming friendship here?

-Phil


I'll keep you guys posted.

 

hopefully all this will smooooth over

 

See above....lol.

 

Screw this...it'll be longer than that to run a 1/4 tank out..it's a 10 minute drive from the dealership to my office, plus it's running for about 45 minutes...it's only used an 1/8th if that...lol.

 

I'll also have to get some fuel injector cleaner for the next tank I get.

 

Good luck, hope it all works out for j00!

 

No doubt...I hope all works out too.

 

Been using premium since day one....hopes everything works out though.

 

Ok...my car has been running with the hood up from about 12:30 CST...I have JUST now gotten below the F...lol...I need to actually drive the car i suppose...man, what a waste...
It's now 4:01CST....