Idling rough
 

K so my 01 Protege 2.0 has been starting to idle kinda rough. I tried 2 sets of spark plugs and it didnt change anything. I have an intake cone filter so not sure if thats that. What else can be wrong? I've run fuel cleaner thru it, I also ran Seafoam thru the brake booster hose and still nothing... Should I spray some carb cleaner thru the intake to clean the MAF??? Also, do the plug wires go bad on these cars? I know they are a dealer item so they're expensive I'm sure.
Thanks guys...

First guesses:

Have you cleaned your filter lately?
If it is an oiled filter it can soil your MAF over time. If you clean the MAF you need to be very careful. The sensors can be damaged easily. Use brake cleaner on a Q-tip.
It could also be your EGR valve.
There's a how-to either here or on msprotege for cleaning it...

vacuum leak ??

check all your lines

I'll check the EGR. Do you think its the fuel filter? is there one in the engine and the gas tank?
Thanks.

only in the tank...doubtful its that one...they are lifetime filters

You serious, theres only one filter and its in the tank?? None in the engine???? Wow. I wonder why they did that, I've never heard of that before....

It sounds like an EGR valve issue to me. Does the car attempt to stall when stopping? Do you have a check engine light on? I think that may be the issue.

No stalling or anything... The idling isnt very rough but I can feel it, its just not quite normal. No check engine lights...

I just removed, took apart, cleaned and greased my EGR valve yesterday and put it back on the car. My vehicle runs smoother and quieter than I can remember. It was very gummy inside and the valve was stuck open. Our car has a problem with the valve getting gummy. I would remove and clean yours as it would help you run more efficiently and smoother. You can find the step by step at www.msprotege.com in the forum section under "How To". Good luck.

Cool, thanks. So how do you take the MAF cover off? Looks like a pain.

Take off the inlet hose (not the cover). The leeetle wire is what you OH So Carefully Clean.

Ah ok, gotcha. I've sprayed carb cleaner down the inlet hose before, hopefully didnt damage anything. :) Thanks.

Ok so I cleaned the wire with a Qtip, its not as small as I thought, you guys kinda scared me. Its kinda a metal piece... and I sprayed some more carb cleaner in there and it seems to idle a loot better, so we'll see. If not then its on to cleaning the egr. Thanks.

Well ok so I tried getting to the EGR valve.... it looks like such a pain, I cant get to the two bolts to take it off, ughghgh.... how do you guys do it? I tried just taking the 4 screws off and stripped on, cant get enough room in there... :(

Removing the valve itself should only require you to unbolt 2 12mm bolts, which I know for a fact is a royal pain in the ass. What I ended up doing was removing my whole intake and the battery to get some extra room to work with, then gently hammered on the socket onto the bolt so it wouldn't slip off so easily. After that it's just a matter of patience until it breaks loose ... You also might wanna try spraying some WD-40 or somethin to get those bolts to loosen up a bit, mine were rusted pretty bad and definately didn't feel like budging at all.

Once the valve is off, make sure you remove the thin metal gasket also just to make sure it doesn't fall off by itself and get lost somewhere under the hood.

Now getting the valve separated can be just as bad depending on how rusted those bolts might be (should be 4 of them ... I believe 10 mm or so). I stripped mine after numerous attempts to get them to break loose, so I converted the bolt to a screw by dremmeling through the middle of it. Then I grabbed the biggest screwdriver I had, hammered it in there and secured the valve using vice grips. That got them loose much easier ... so if you end up stripping the bolts this might be your best bet.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.