4wdguy

Mine's a '90, dark blue with 174k. I'm the third owner of it (I think). I bought it from my pal in Wisconsin, after it was traded into the dealership he works at. Before that it was down in Florida with it's first (?) owner. It''s my workhorse for getting back and forth to work and keeping the miles off my GTi. It's also great for getting into the woods with my MTB, especially this year after I got my studded snow/mud tires. I'm sure Mazda never engineered this car to be a mini-mudder, but that's the way I treat it sometimes...

I've heard of others out there but I have yet to see another one. How many were built? I used to see 323's and 626's that were AWD, but never the Protege.

topfile

Yeah, great car for snow too. Mine is a 90' 4WD, with a five speed, with
135,000 and Black. Is yours a 5 speed?.. I heard they are even more rare.

Gotta story fro ya...

A couple of weeks ago I took it into to have the Oil Changed. Ya know,
the full service, check everything. The guy tells me 2 hour wait.
No big deal I'll leave it. Come back and noticed they didn't check
off the rear differential fluid check on my receipt. So I say..to the manager
how about checking that for me. What? he says...rear differential??
He ask the mechanic who yells with laugh "MAZDA protege doesn't
have a rear differential!" So, just for fun I ask " then what is that big
round thing in the rear next to the tank?" They both come out to the parking
lot to look expecting more laughs and... bam,.... rear differential.

You should have seen their faces.

kmaalfiisa

damn a awd 5 speed protege.. thats like a legend out here (not acura,, more like a myth)

4wdguy

I love my car in the snow! I finally shod her with the tires she so richly deserves: studded Goodyear Ultra Grip HP's. They're plenty loud, but worth it when I'm crawling up overgrown logging roads covered with 6 inches of snow. Now if I could just get an inch or two more ground clearance...
Mine's a 5 speed, too. I couldn't imagine neutering an already slow car with an automatic.

Classic! I get that all the time too. My favorite is this: Where I work, there's limited parking. So you can either park way out in the sticks with the other cars, or park in the steep and sloppy ditches with the trucks. I love hearing guys tell me I'll never be able to get out of spot I'm in, only so I can hop in and just drive out without even spinning a wheel!

The downside of a 4wd is that some of the parts are rare, and flippin' expensive! My rear muffler cost like $250 because nobody but Mazda or Bosal made one, and nothing universal would fit up there without major labor!

m81mclaren

Hi there, my mom has a 1991 4wd 5 speed 4 door sedan. Nice light blue metallic with perfect blue clothand runs perfect. It is a really nice easy car to drive. She's looking @ a new Mazda 3 and they want her to trade it in for $1,200. I told her no way as I'm sure it's worth much more to someone who lives in the snow. Question for you, one time I drove it I put it in 4wd . It drove weird, meaning the steering was hard and the tires made odd wear noises. Almost like it had way too much traction. I think it would work great in mud or snow, but I cant see driving it the rain this way. Is this normal on dry concrete? My wife's all wheel drive Yukon does nothing of the sort and I have no problem with her driving in the rain since you can't tell it's even in 4wd. I may buy the Mazda from her if she doesn't want to deal with selling it and could use any tips or advice!
CHeers, DH

topfile

My guess is, if she trades it, she's giving
it away. I doubt they are really giving
her any money for it.

Take the last offer your mom made for the
new car and substract $1200. Bet they take it.
Oh yeah, they'll hew and haw, but you get
to keep the 4wd and sell it yourself. If they
say they wont take it, walk out the door.
They will either call you later or stop ya at the
door.

As for the 4wd button. Leave it off. It is
always engaged anyway. The button locks
the differential. It is only intended use is
if your stuck. Look through the manual,
I think they tell ya that activating the Diff.
lock and driving on the road could damage
it.

sirfei

I used to own a 4wd Protege, but I sold it a while back. That car had to be the best car I ever owned. I lived in Alaska before moving to my current location, but even in Alask that 4wd car would go anywhere!

I once took it to be checked out, all fluids replaced. When it was done, they showed me the invoice and I noticed only 1 differential had been checked. I told them to pull it back in and check the other two. They were amazed to see a center and rear differential on this car.

Anyhow, Rock on to the 4wd cars!

itzkcatz

If anyone you guys are looking for extra parts for a 4wd protege let me know i have almost any part you can imagine for it. I also have the car which i would like 500 for and needs work

m81mclaren

Thanks Topfile for the info. Sounds to me like the car runs on 4wd at all times and the button just locks it then? That then makes sense that it drove funny on the street! I won't do that again. I'll check the manual and also make sure she gets all 3 diffs checked!
Cheers, Dh

itzkcatz

Yup its full time 4wd. with a locking differential ( button) . I have alot of parts for sale if anyone is interested. Or even a parts 4wd for 500$

Things i have

Full rear differential with 80k
driveshaft 80k
transmission that worked fine 150k
all the electronics of the car plus a 4wd ecu
2 bins of random extra parts for the car
Gastank and filler nozzle
Most of an exhaust in great shape
Flywheel
Steering column with wheel
Shifter mechanism with shift cables
2 front seats out of my lx protege great shape
2 rear garnishes
2 front headlights
2 corner lights
2 taillights 92-94 style

Im sure the list will keep going if i actually go look thuogh it. Just thought i would let you guys know since parts are so hard to find and very expensive. I live in Waterbury Ct

4wdguy

Too bad I didn't know you this time last year for that exhaust!

I don't know about anyone else, but my headlights suck!! I suspect it's because the plastic lens looks like it's been sandblasted. How do you your's look? Also, do you have the front shocks?

mspeed323awd

Mines a red/tan 90 great car. Got it last year with 46K miles on it. I'm the 2nd owner. The sticker price on mine was 2600.00 in Indiana and the Mazda dealer offered me 4K here in Missouri. Told him if he could get me a 323 Familia GT-R then we'd talk. I'm gonna have to try out the service trick at one of the local places. I've only had the dealership in town service it around here. Took my other car to Jiffy Lube for an oil change and they cross threaded the drain plug. Wasn't gonna risk my baby at the hands of those morons. No clue what a new pan would cost but if it's like the rear struts I'd have to mortgage the house.

My light lenses are bad too got some plastic polish from Auto Zone for the wifes HD windshield (cleared out almost all the scratches) gonna try it on my lights this week.

*Xx~Zeppelin~xX*

i used some softscrub with bleach and a washcloth on my ex's 91 suby's head lights and i worked great. befor it looked like they were an orangeish greyish brown color, now just clear. but if you do this go slow and use very little pressure cause the softscrub has abrasives in it and will scratch if your'e not careful

just a cheap fix with stuff that was lying around the house, but if you REALLY care about your car mabey try some polish, again it is my ex's car so i didn't really care what happened

4wdguy

Mine's for sale now, check out this thread:

https://www.mazda3club.com/mazdas-sale-wanted-50/fs-1990-protege-4wd-%241500-ca-43328/