If its not one thing, its another!
 

Well, I'm still having a few problems with my g/f's 95 protege that I haven't been able to rectify. I'm at the point now of just giving up. Here is a small list of the problems I'm experiencing:

1) Hard to start - When the car has been off for a period of time or when its cold out, the car will not start with the turn of the key. I actually need to press on the gas while turning the key to start the engine. When this is done, I get that unburned gas smell in the car.

What could the problem be? Electrical, Ignition, Fuel, Sensors?


2) Sometime when the car is started, it idles at a low rpm and it almost wants to stall. If I rev the engine a little, it's very rough and the engine sort of sputters. Usually, once the engine has had a chance to warm up, the rpms increase and I have no more problems.

Any suggestions on the problem?


3) The damn heat vents on the front passenger side. I can't seem to locate the vent. My g/f has been complaining that she can't feel any heat and that it blows cold air when the fan is on high. Don't get me wrong, there is heat but it seems to dissapear when I put the controls to the floor heat icon.

I was thinking something may be blocking it but why would cold air be blowing thru there? Any suggestions?

Hi. I hava a few suggestions. For starting and idling, you would have to check many things: sparks, distributor, battery, fuel filter, and for heating problem I would suggest a coolant flush, as they renew your heating power, so your g/f might feel a difference. Good luck.

Well, I took the car in for an oil change and a tune-up. Things to look at on top of the tune-up is if the throttle body butterfly valve is all gummed up.

I'll let you know how I make out and if my problems have been corrected.

Starting up... I would check spark plugs, battery. If battery isn't fully charged check the alternator.

Stalling... I'm seeing a lot of people are having that problem. I had that problem and I didn't realize when it went away but it could be attributed to the battery or sparks. If there isn't enough current/spark the gas won't ignight.

Heat... I dunno I never use the heat here in Puerto Rico

Here are the results of my tune-up:

Replaced spark plugs, dist. cap, dist. rotor, pvc valve
Cleaned throttle body butterfly valve
Added fuel injector cleaner

Since then, I've noticed the car start up much better, even cold temperatures. I have yet to experience the stalling problem as I had mentioned before.

Well, the problem with the heat is a real problem. Supposedly, the little vent door on the side of the heater box is not functioning. It could be a broken linkage of some sort. To fix this, they need to remove most of the dash and the entire heater box. For $400, I think I'll buy a few lap blankets instead.

A variety of things thaT can do to timing. battery, alternator, good luck !

definetly new spark plugs, put fuel injector cleaner in a full tank of gas, it could be that they are plugged . and the car not wanting to start, in the cold weather my 93 pro takes a bit to kick over, not cuz the starters goin or i have a crappy battery, its just the cold weather gets to cars like ours,