97 Mazda Protege 1.5 Trans JERK

[97protoLX]

I have searched many forums, including club protege, and have yet to find anybody with the same problem as myself. I recently picked up a '97 Protege 1.5L Auto LX and noticed the shifting is quite harsh on heavier accelleration. My O/D light IS NOT blinking nor does it turn on at anytime unless the O/D button is pushed. It shifts normal under light accelleration, but merging onto the highway is a different story.

My friends DX with 111k miles does NOT do this, same motor same tranny.

My car just turned 108k miles. all motor mounts are fine, and fluid is still red. Just seems like the transmission is going to break loose from the engine.

no check engine light...

BTW again...I SEARCHED!!!!!!

[Pox]

Same problem as all other BH Proteges...


Its a BH protege. =[

[funktional]

How's your gas mileage? Does the car idle okay? Does this happen on a specific gear change (ie. 1st to 2nd gear, etc) The more information the better.......

[irishkev90]

Mine shifts real hard from first to second when near the top of the rev limit, maybe 5,000 rpm. Not sure if it does it on other upshifts since I've never had the proper stretch of road to go that fast, nor would I do that on public roads.

Probably just the way the transmission is tuned, and Mazda probably never expected anyone to rev that high in these cars. They may have been more worried about the shift smoothness at normal speeds.

Just my opinion, as I've never found an outside reason why it would do that.

[97protoLX]

funktional, the gas mileage is better than my 99 dx 5 speed 1.6 somehow, but after finally going through my first tank of gas, 60% Highway its getting me 385 miles.
It happens on the 1---->2 shift and shifting into overdrive at 65+ mph I have to let off the gas somewhat to make it shift, but is smooth.

The 97 dx i had a year ago that I sold to a friend does not do that, and that has the original transmission with 111k miles currently. The car idles rough as I need to clean out my EGR, but I took my TB off and cleaned the inside the intake, replaced the pcv valve on the valve cover, and inspected the air intake hose to find no cracks. It idles better than I got it, which at that time at 106k miles I pulled one of the spark plug wires off and it was drenched in oil...so I replaced the valve cover gasket.

For it being a 90 horse engine, I'm having to give it extra gas so I dont Pi*s the people off behind me from taking off slowly. I'm 25 years old and strictly drive the speed limits, obey all road signs, etc. It has it days and even replaced the TPS. It seems to shift a little better after replacing, but still suspect a jerk.

would speed detection vs rpm rate have an effect? I just bought the car and currently has tires which are way too big (195/70/14) so at "65 mph" i'm actually doing 73 mph as registered by the GPS. It upshifts fine to a lower gear but when shifting back its a little rough.

I had jeeps for years and there was a Transmission Valve Adjustment cable (tv cable) that was attached to the throttle body that can adjust when the transmission shifts. I didnt take that close of a look but I'm curious if there was a similar cable adjustment I can do to make it shift a (little) smoother

[97protoLX]

I read somewhere on the internet that there was a valve body spring you can buy for the actuator that "fixes" that transmission jerk. Anybody know about this? apparently its a TSB.