I have a 1998 Mazda Protege LX with the 1,5L engine and I noticed a small crack going across the Exhaust Manifold. I was told by the previous owner that because of that crack the car burns oil (even though the engine seems greasy and dirty), sounds loud like it is missing part of the exhaust(even though it has the entire exhaust), The entire car shakes whenever the car is idling (either at a red light or whenever the car is stopped) and it feels like the car feels like it is going to stall at any minute. Also it throws a flashing check engine light. I wanted to know if those are the actual symptoms of this car with a cracked exhaust manifold? What other damage do I anticipate?
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Ok from what I know the engine looks dirty and grimy I originally thought it is leaking from the valve cover gasket and being burned off, the crack is pretty much right before you get from the manifold to the flexpipe toward the bottom, I only said burning oil because when you start the car you can smell the burnt oil along with exhaust fumes from the crack in the manifold. They seller originally told me that they replaced the entire exhaust from the catalytic converter to the muffler. The flex pipe looks somewhat rusty but I can't see if there is a hole in that. I know that the exhaust manifold cracking was a common issue with the 2G protege (1995-1998) especially the 1.5L engine. When you accelerate the car sounds very loud and when you are pressing the brakes or idling in park mode you feel the entire car shake and the entire exhaust shakes too. I didn't go to autozone or to a mechanic to get the check engine light read yet, and I plan to do that soon. I also thought it was a misfire but I won't know that until I guess after the exhaust manifold is replaced. -
I would Definately replace that manifold, Rough Idle, Stalling, CEL flashing, your ECU will get misinformation as the exhaust leaks through the crack and the O2 sensors will read lean or rich wich then translates that back to the ECU which in turn tells the Injectors to run rich or lean, in this case you are running lean and causing a rough idle, They are only 50-100 bucks on any web site, its a cheap fix, dont forget to buy a new exhaust manifold gasket and a torch to heat up the O2 sensor and the EGR pipe that goes from the exhaust manifold to the EGR valve, Use extreme Caution when using a torch, I personaly use a little butane hand held portable torch to heat up the threads :-) and stay away from the O2 sensor and wires. PS please buy or "Modify" a deepwell socket to extract that O2 sensor, It will have a sidewall cut out of the socket to make room for the wires. Hopefuly you won't have as many problems as ive had with mine, It started with the Exhaust Manifold and just spider webbed through the whole elctrical system.Comment
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