New protege owner maintenance questions
 

Hello everyone....I have been reading through the posts for a few weeks now. Just bought a 2001 protege ES on Saturday....she is gorgoues and I am very happy....She was a lease and has 35,000 miles on her....so, not knowing how well she was cared for....I have a ton of questions....First, I would like to do a tune up and replace the spark plugs and wires....would anyone happen to know the part number for these items and which online store is good to purchase from? I did some searching and found that there are short wires and long wires...I am very confused as to which ones my car needs. Also, the coils....I would like to replace them...anyone know what the stock ones are and where I can buy them online? Also, I heard that the EGR valve in my car can be problematic so I would like to head that off and replace it now as a prevenative maintenance.....Read that the K&N air filter is wonderful so I will be buying that. Would like to stick with stock parts as she is my daily driver...will not be racing or modifying her....Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this as I just finished reading tons of posts on the spark plugs and I am still confused.....I know nothing about cars....:-)

i wonder if the dealer has any documentation that those things are replaced. the spark plugs should have been and under lease, it should have been documented. as far as spark plugs, just get the stock replacements. i went to iridium plugs and noticed no difference. as for wires and coils, you still have a while to go before you need to replace those. just look at the wires to make sure that they aren't cracked. as for length of wires, look at your wires now, i guess. i'm not sure when the change over to a DIS system was made as compared to the traditional coil pack. no clue from here about the EGR valve. never had a problem with mine.

www.apexr1.com has some cheap spark plugs for you. as for wires and coils and such, they are a dealer specific part. check these sites:

www.mazdastuff.com
www.mazdaformance.com

the sites are easy to navigate, so i'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.

Thank you for the links and info....have another question now about Mobile 1 oil
 

Ok, in my owner's manual....it says that I need to use different viscocity oil for cold weather and hot weather. If I switch to Mobile 1 synthetc...I should only change it every what, 7,000 to 8,000 miles right? Here is the problem....I only drive about 8,000 miles per year....so that would have me changing my oil much sooner than recommended. I just read some articles...and it seems that you get much less engine wear if you leave it in for the average 8,000 mile range. If I change it every spring and fall for the temp. differences....(upstate NY)....then apparently I could end up getting more engine wear changing Mobile 1 every 3,500 miles instead of 8,000. Is this true and what is everyone else doing using Moble 1 and living where there is a big temp change every 6 months?
Thank you......

Well the rule of thumb with regular oil is to change it every 3-5,000 miles or every 3 months. I stick with the same type of oil year round and don't see any difference in performance due to engine wear. I'd say save your money and stick with regular oil and change it every 3-5k or 3 months.

On a side note, I used to have a K&N air filter in my stock intake system. I have since switched to a Ram-Air intake system and still have the K&N; it only has about 7-9,000 miles on it (about 3 oil changes) and has been cleaned once. When I first put it in, I saw about a 2-5 mpg increase in my fuel economy. Anyone who'll tell you that it'll give you horsepower or better throttle response in addition to better economy really doesn't know what they're talking about. I didn't notice any difference, and if there IS one, it's not perceptable during normal driving. Anyway, I still have that filter, which is supposed to last the "lifetime of your car" and if you're interested in buying it, I'm sure we could make a good deal.

BTW, welcome to the community. What color is the ES?