I'm not dead yet!
 

Hey, long time, no speaketh... Sorry for my long absence, but car troubles have kept me underground for the most part. I don't know how far the history of my troubles go, but I guess I'll start from the beginning:

Last April/May, I got caught with my pants down and cracked a rod from oil starvation. I changed my oil regularly, but didn't check it in-between. Not good. I ended up getting the motor replaced with a direct swap 1.8L with 43k on the clock. Cost me $1,700 for that and then another $300 for a new water pump, clutch, etc.

Got it back, and 2 months later, that engine ingested the lower majority of the spark plug into the #4 cylander. Don't ask me how that happened, 'cause I just don't know. I took it back to the shop. They then told me that there was no damage to the interior of the engine and they just cleaned it out and replaced the head gasket. It sat for a while as I tried to sell the car, no takers. So I decided rather than let the thing sit and rot, enjoy it while I have it.

THEN, it was blowing all kinds of nasty smoke and burning oil at about a quart every 75-100 miles. Plus, it was running on only about 3 cylanders. I diagnosed the problem now, and it had good compression (a little low, but tolerable, in #4 cylander which has the problem) and oil pooled like mad in the engine when it sits. My original guess was that it was either the head gasket, which never re-sealed properly when the shop replaced it, OR that it was a bad valve-stem seal.

Anyways, I took it over to my friends house and I, along with him and his dad, took another look. His dad said that the problem was most likely a cracked crown on the head of the piston and that the oil was getting shot through this crack, behind the rings. In turn, this was fouling the plug in #4 and allowing the oil to pool. He recommended that I change the plugs and get a heat-range higher to help burn the oil before it fouls the plug. I did and the car has been running at full power and smoothly for the past week (knock on wood), but still is burning un-godly ammounts of oil.

Well, that's the story of my woe... I'm still driving the beast, but it's changed quite a bit. Got rid of the black hood, sold the CF mirror covers, and got a quieter muffler. She's past her glory, but will carry me until this summer when I buy my next car...

Good to hear from you. :)

That sucks you're having troubles with the Protege. Did you ever go back to the shop and let them know about the fouling plug/burning oil? Maybe they'll do the right thing and either refund your money or swap a GOOD engine into your car. Did you or the shop aquire the motor that's in your car now? If it was them, then you may have a good argument for a different motor. To me, it sounds as if the one in your car now has been a POS from the beginning.

Hey Jeff,
Sorry to hear about all the trouble--especially because I always thought it looked great.
Here's hoping you stay in the Mazda "Family-a" (Sorry, that's really bad).

dang that really sucks to hear, i also always like the car hope everything works out

Yeah, sorry to hear! I too liked your car!

My first engine drank oil and spewed out a spyhunter smokescreen...not a good thing :(

I kinda wish I would have snapped a shot of my P5 when the motor took a crap. It was billowing smoke and steam like an old train!

*knocks on wood*

Hoping to not have a repeat of that. These engines just seem like they are made out of egg shells or something. They can't even tolerate being driven normally (you know, by "normal" people - not like me) and that is the #1 reason why BOOST of any kind will never be installed on this car. :bt:

Yeah, as to taking it back to the shop, I did when the motor ate the plug in #4. Unfortunately, they were only willing to honor the 90 day warranty on the motor that they got from the junkyard and I was on day 93... so I was SOL on getting a refund/good motor.

The smoke screen does come in handy sometimes, especially when I'm running from the law... Once I get my memory card back, I'll take a picture or video of the smoke burn for your amusement... It is kinda funny.