Questions about my 1992 Protege SE
 

Hi,

I just have a few questions about my 92 protege. It has 330,000KMS on it and it still runs well!!

But the check engine light has been on for some time now. I finally ran the jumper and retrieved the trouble codes for the car.

There are actually quite a few codes showing up, here they are: 3, 9, 17, and 41. This car is my winter beater and that's why I dont go crazy with maintenance, i do of course change the oil every 5k.

I was just wondering if someone may be able to tell me what things i should be checking or changing with the above codes showing up.

The only real noticeable problem with the car is when you are in city or stop and go traffic.

The car runs like a champ on the highway and any cruising speed but some times when you get into the city and start the stop and go driving the car will want to die when the engine nears the idle speed. the solution is too hold the revs above idle. if the car does stall i noticed that you can start it right away by flooring the gas pedal and then it will start followed by a nice cloud of black smoke. the car does have 330K on it so of course it burns a little bit of oil but nothing too crazy. the other better way to start it once it stalls is to turn the key right off and wait 5 seconds - it will start right up again with no gas pedal, but you do have to keep the revs up once started.

does any one have any suggestions on what to check first?

Thanks for your help!!

100% sure my 92 SE is a DOHC
 

Hi 90&00 Protege,

I can guarantee you that the engine in my 1992 Protege SE with the 1.8L is a DOHC - it says it right on the valve cover. plus it has the dual pulleys on the passenger side top of engine where the timing belt is. - to me dual pulleys mean dual cams

I do find it odd however that the car has a powermoon roof but roll up windows!

Considering that my car has the DOHC what components do you think would need to be changed to drop in the same DOHC with a 5 speed - the only difference would be the 5 spd tranny??


Anyway thanks for your help!

The car was purchased brand new by my wifes cousin in 1992 - my wife was given the car for $1 when her cousin bought a bmw -My wife has had it for about 6 years now and it still has the original engine in it. Since we have owned it the only major things that I have replaced have been the rad and timing belt (as well as exhaust, brake pads and regular maintenance items)

It is an SE model, it has the SE stickers on the front fenders.

It's odd how your brochures don't show the SE with DOHC ??

It was purchased in Toronto - i dont know if that would change anything?

Does it have black bumpers or color matched bumpers? same for the outside mirrors? dual tip exhaust or single?

Attention 90&00 Protege
 

Well - I guess I owe you a big apology, I decided to pop the hood today and discovered that I have been a stupid idiot!!

As I said, the car is my wife's, she has mentioned that it was a 16V DOHC and I never questioned it - I have only done general maintenance on it and have obviously never really paid attention to the engine itself - When I popped the hood today I noticed right away that it only says 16 Valve and there is only 1 pulley on the engine (oops) .

I used to drive an '86 300ZX Turbo which I followed a religious maintenance schedule with, then I got an 87 300ZX. Anyway I just sold the ‘87 in order to find a new toy - and the wife got a '90 240SX - with the SOHC :) - so now I’m driving the Protege daily for the winter - the plan is for me to find a new summer car - either another 300ZX T or a Supra T or an RX-7 TII (still kind of undecided on which car), but we plan on keeping the Protege till the current engine goes - then I’m pretty sure that I would like to drop in another engine (SOHC then :) but with a 5 speed.


I feel like a non car guy now for not knowing that the car had a SOHC, but let me defend my “car guy” knowledge and say that I have owned both an 86 300ZX Turbo and an 87 300ZX NA and I did all maintenance myself. Here’s the main items that I changed myself:

differential
clutch & tranny
timing belt
dropped gas tank to fix the fuel pump
front control arms
tie rod ends
ball joints
Struts
removed and fixed the taco needle on the dash (was doing circles for some reason)


Anyway thanks for your time,

Jason

Here’s a page that has a few pic’s of my old Z's and Gixxer…

www.picturetrail.com/gixxer