Manifold/header/muffler/tail Pipe Problems of Mazda Protege 5

The car suffered a failure of the intake manifold whereby the screws inside the intake had come loose and caused damage to the engine. It is unclear at this time if my car is covered under the current recall 3005 c.

See all problems of the 2003 Mazda Protege 5 🔎.

The tightening torque of the screws used for mounting the intake manifold shutter valve loosened and fell out (1 into the spark plugs and caused damage to plugs and coils). Caused misfiring, affecting the exhaust emissions. There was a recall in 2006 but not for my car's VIN - but my car had the exact problem from that recall. Waiting to see if Mazda will honor this recall and pay for repairs/parts.

My son bought a 2003 Mazda Protege 5, back in late July 2010. Shortly thereafter, on August 3rd, 2010 in fact, he knowing of an open recall, had the car serviced at the local Mazda dealership. Apparently they performed part a of recall 3005c and did a compression check and slapped a "recall completed" sticker under the hood. Come late August, my son takes the car away to school. On November 1st, 2010, he calls complaining of a "'loud engine noise". 2 days later, we had the car towed to a nearby performance shop. They investigated and noticed the recall 3005c sticker under the hood. Knowing this, the performance shop recommended we take the car to the local Mazda dealership nearby my sons' school. This second dealership verified with a borescope that there was damage in cylinders 1 and 3. After much disagreement, this second Mazda dealership eventually opened the intake manifold and found 7 of the 8 screws and all 4 butterfly valves laying in the bottom of the intake. The second dealership then replaced the intake manifold but upon starting the engine found that the engine noise still exists. Now they claim the engine noise is due to "engine bearing failure" and not related to the 3005c recall. After forcing the issue with Mazda they claimed no further assistance can be offered. I was then forced to tow the car back to the performance shop. There they removed the cylinder head and found the missing screw embedded in the top of cylinder #2. Bearing failure has not been verified by anyone yet. I maintain that the screw being embedded in cylinder #2 plus other metal filings related to the 3005c recall, must have caused the alleged "bearing failure". Mazda claims the so called "bearing failure" must have existed previously. Apparently, they think I was driving the car around with the bearing problem. Looks like legal action will be the next step. All of this could have been avoided had the first Mazda dealership replaced the intake manifold in the first place.

The contact owns a 2003 Mazda Protege 5. While idling the engine, it misfired and two of the cylinders did not make a connection. An authorized technician removed a screw from the cylinder within the engine at his own expense. The technician also stated that the intake manifold was losing screws and affecting the cylinders. The manufacturer offered no assistance. The current mileage was 83,000 and the failure mileage was approximately 79,000.

My 2002 Protege 5 (built December 2002) had a catastrophic engine failure, due to loose vics screws from the intake manifold coming loose and being sucked into the combustion chamber. These screws sheared off the top of my spark plug, and destroyed my piston and valves. The outward symptoms was a loud 'coin in the washing machine' sound coming from my engine, followed by a sudden loss of power and stalling. After the engine was opened, 3 of 8 vics screws were off completely, and the remaining 5 were loose. This is clearly the identical defect to a recall for Protege 5's built shortly after my vehicle (emissions recall 3005c), but my vehicle was not covered in the recall. Reading online boards for protege owners, it is clear that this is a frequent defect effecting both owners in and out of recall range, and that this vics recall should be widened to include additional owners. Quotes from Mazda for repair are ~$5000 for a new intake manifold, valves and pistons, and labor to repair.

While driving to work my car began to shudder and hiccup. Then the engine light cam on so I pulled off the highway. I started it back up and the car had a more serious shudder. I got it to a local service station and they ran a computer diagnostic and said it was a misfire in the #4 cylinder. The sparkplug was smashed. Nothing was found in the cylinder so the sparkplug was replaced and temporarily fixed the problem. Two weeks later the same shudder problem and again the engine light came on. This time the #1 cylinder was the problem and again with the same smashed sparkplug. My mechanic thought it was a very odd occurrence and checked and found the recall #3005c. My local Mazda dealer then said my VIN# did not fall within the range of the recall and yet there seems to be many people with this problem. It looks like Mazda is trying to avoid this problem.

2003 Mazda Protege 5 with rough idling and other engine issues. Consumer states the vehicle had a rough idle and that it would have trouble starting. When the mechanic inspected the engine, he found the screws had passed through the engine and were found in the catalytic converter. The consumer discovered there was an intake manifold shutter and variable tumble control valve emission recall for Mazda protege's, however the consumers vehicle identification number did not fall within the range.

The contact owns a 2003 Mazda Protege 5. The contact stated that when driving approximately 45 mph, he noticed a loud rumbling sound coming from the engine motor. He turned off the vehicle and pulled over. The vehicle was towed to a dealership and the dealer replaced the intake manifold shutter because the valve broke off and fell into the engine. He called the manufacturer and was told that they could not assist him. He had no problems with his vehicle since the repair. The current mileage was approximately 214,000. The failure mileage was approximately 114,000.

: the contact stated the check engine light illuminated and the vehicle began hesitating. The vehicle was taken to an independent repair shop, who determined the computer gave a code stating a misfire in the first cylinder. The spark plug was taken off and the gap was closed. The air intake manifold was then taken off and the screw had come off, this closed the gap on the spark plug. The intake manifold was being replaced.