Isn't the A/C always on even if you turn it off? Like I read if you have the **** on Vent, Vent/Floor, or just Floor, the A/C is still on.

 

The A/C compressor runs in the heater/defroster modes too, regardless of the A/C button position. Maybe he turned the climate control from "Floor" to "Vent(dash)" with the warmer weather coming these days? I dunno.

 

I'm having the same problem w/ mine. Embarassingly, one of the 'bad' driving days ended up being the night I ran it at the track and got a horrible time. No one else understands that the car seems to go through moods or something; my boyfriend thinks I'm crazy but I'm glad you guys seem to know what it's like. I don't know why it would run better out of the blue, but mine is an automatic and has been shifting like crap. I found out that since it just turned 30,000 it needs a tranny flush. I would say to get that done and see if there's a difference, but the person who posted first has 24,000 miles and their's is getting better instead of worse...so I have no idea. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

Dude, probably just your injectors were dirty, and a chuck of crap came off

 

The most obvious reason for this happening is Weather related. When the air outside is cooler, and especially when its cool and moist the engine will perform better because the oxygen is more dense in cooler air. Therefore there is more oxygen getting into the engine. Also these cars are very sensitive to how much fuel is in the tank, it is more "spirited" with an almost empty tank, I have been tempted to leave it that empty all the time. Hope this sheds some light, and yes it happens to my car all the time.

 

its possible, but if he had a fault in a piston thats possible. I remember I had this old Corsica, and the dumb thing had a one piston that would always fire a few minutes after driving. so I swear hahah thecar would be driving and then all of a sudden it would rabbit kick as if I just hit a NoS switch or something hahha it was funny.

cool but funny.

but personally I think its the injectors, how long has it been since you used something to clean them...

 

It was difficult but I managed to slow down to 60mph and check out the RPMs with and without O/D. With O/D I was at 2700RPM, without - 3700RPM. Big difference, so most likely this was not the case. Unless, what felt like 500rpm was actually 1000rpm. However, it does sound like your torque convertor was not locking and all of a sudden it's working properly.

 

loose is fast

 

Thanks for all the info. and I beleive that this is most likely weather related. I just completed a cross country drive LA to DC, (3400miles), full details to come, and now that I am in a cooler, damper environment, the car is driving much better on a consistant basis. I am having the 30,000mile service done shortly, and will do some casual testing after all the fluid flushes and lube work.

Thanks.

 

FWIW on the AC theories... ALL new cars will cut off airconditioning at WOT, so unless it's half-gassed attempts *L* it should not make a difference. If the auto-climate **** annoys you and you're fairly mod-friendly, a member of protege5.com has just posted a very well-written how-to for disabling this "feature"

 

In some cars (not sure about Mazdas), that causes the fuel pump to overheat and fail prematurely. It also sucks up more crap that would normally be diluted by more gas.

 

It's the weather... The protege has a breathing problem. That's how mazda squeezed an extra 10hp out of the MP3--just by increasing the airflow. On days that are cool and you can keep moving, the car hauls; when it's sweltering and/or you're stuck in traffic, it's slow. I've been looking into ways to do this other than cold air intake, anyone have any suggestions?

 

I used a 3/8th drill bit (maybe one size smaller) and bored through the grille where the honeycombs are blocked off directly in front of the intake snorkle. Be sure not to drill the ones where the braces are molded, but I think I ended up with about eleven holes. You can't see any difference from the outside.

I then disconnected the battery to reset any MAF info (don't know if that was necessary, or if it really does anything at all but what the hell).

Just be steady with the drill and use low speed so you don't scuff your grille up.

It used to bog a little when I really wanted to slam second gear, now it really hops up when I dump the clutch.

Some people have gutted more plastic than that to get air from underneath that blocked off area, but this did the trick for me.

I don't have any idea why Mazda blocked the grille. Their design has it sucking warm air from that hole in the hood's underbody. That's all I can see that is in the suction area. If you look at the weather stripping, that's all there is. You people in super-cold environs may want to block the holes in the dead of winter. Y'all will have to decide on that, but my P5 loves a chilly 55 degree day!