Broken down AT.
 

I have an 1995 Protégé with an 1.8 engine (BP) and automatic transmission. The transmission broke down last week while on a trip in Germany. It didn’t withstand 5 hours of German “autobahns” with cruising speed of 130 km/h (80 mph) – rather slow by their standards. The transmission overheated and broke down in such a way that in all selector positions apart from P it behaves like in N – no movement whatsoever. It looks then that it is severely damaged.

Having towed the car to a place where it can safely be parked for a week or so I’m now considering my options. The first one would be repairing the transmission but when I asked at an specialist AT service they quoted a minimal price of 800 – 900 Euro for that. Since the value of the car would be around 3600 Euro this might not be a sensible thing to do.

I also considered switching to manual. I have to say that this is what I would really like to do, since it would be cheaper and probably will not lead to further trouble in the future. However, as far as I understand just putting a matching manual gearbox and a clutch (together with the additional pedal) won’t be enough, since there are some differences in the way the computer which controls the engine’s operation works. Is it really so?

Last thing I considered was selling the car “as is” in Germany, provided of course that someone would be willing to pay at least 2500 Euro for it.

So my questions are:
- what type of transmission (symbol) was fitted in Proteges in that model-year? This I need to find possible repair kits or parts.
- what type of manual (symbol) was fitted in Proteges with that engine in that m/y?
- is it possible to switch to manual by just changing the gearbox and adding a clutch? Or is it more complex? What you generally think of the idea?

Just so you won’t think I’m totally stupid – two days before that fatal trip I took the car to an authorized Mazda service here for an inspection. I told them that I think the transmission got a little “gummy”. They changed the fluid (oil) in it and told me it is OK. As it turns out they were not right. They probably don’t have much experience with automatics, because in Europe they are still a rarity.

Regards,
Andy

Hey, Emin. There could be a few things that you can do. First, check to see that the right transmission fliud was put it. Like you said, automatics are rare in Europe, I know because I was born there (Ukraine). Therefore, the mechanic could have put in a tranny fliud for a manual transmission. But if that is not the case, I would suggest either selling the car as is. It would be really hard for you to find a used automatic tranny that works. And like you said, fixing the current one is too expensive. Goodluck.

Aleksey.

I'd say sell it.
Unless you really want to keep it and switch to manual.
I'm probably going to forget to list something here but you need:

Tranny

clutch

THe flywheel from the corresponding manual tranny as there are differences between them

The correct axles for your tranny

The correct tranny mounts

I'm not 100% sure but I think you might need to change an engine mount as well

clutch slave cylinder.

Hydraulic clutch lines (steel)

Clutch Master cylinder

The small rubber line running from the clutch master cylinder to the brake master cylinder.

Possibly a brake master cylinder from a manual tranny car.
Make sure you get the right cylinder as well, for example, if you have rear discs make sure you don't get a master cylinder from one that has rear drums.

The clutch pedal

Unless you want to cut your brake pedal (the automatic brake pedal is too wide)
you need a new brake pedal.

Shifter,

Shift linkage

ECU from a manual tranny equipped car.

Thats about all I can think of.

I'm not sure if the harmess will plug right into the manual trans ECU or not because of the lack of a few wires controling the now non-existant ATX
Your best bet is to hit up a junkyard and find car identical to yours but manual. and then jack it for parts. You can compare the ECU plugs, they should be the same but who knows .




Oh yeah check this out.
http://web2.airmail.net/theman/protegefaq/
It should give you some more info on what tranny you want to be looking for.