Rough shifting and unstable steering wheel
 

hi all,

i own a 1990 mazda protege 1.8L sohc and have a few questions.

prob #1

my car always starts up nicely and downshifiting brings my car to a smooth stop, but only when the cars cooled down. As soon as the engine starts to run hot, it seems my down shifiting is not normal. When i downshift, the car is held back more and can't handle. My exhaust tends to starts to make sputting noises as well.

prob #2

whenever i reach 60 mph, my racing steering wheel starts to shake big time. The previous owner of this car had cut springs on it to lower it. That may be why. or maybe it's that awful tacking noise under the hood, prolly sign of the cam wearing down. I notice that noise on lots of other proteges.

oh ya and i dunno if you guys have experience this but
my car maxes out at 70-80 mph in 5th gear and can't go anymore. i dunno if my chip is bad or what.

if you can help thanks.

well ur car sure has a problem i can tell u that! fastest i drove was 90 in an automatic SOHC, and it reached up there with all 4 wheels locking up due to a bad master brake cylinder, which caused major shaking. yeh... ur car has been abused.

prob 1:

one way to solve the 'problem'-
instead of downshifting when coming to a stop, shift into into neutral and use your brakes to slow you down.

prob 2:

dunno but i could see cut springs causing that shake; or maybe your wheels need balancing and/or aligned; or maybe it has something to do with the steering wheel.

ur 5th gear mazes out at 80? that doesnt sound good it redlines at 80 mph?

Yeah on my 4-speed AUTO redline in 3rd is about 95mph.... haven't really gone any higher.

ive had mine up to 128... trying to keep up with a is300 and he ate me oh well turbo time :-)