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Belt breaking on Mazda Protege

Sent to Car Experts February 07, 2005 11:46 a.m.

I have a 2000 Mazda Protege LX. Belt for water pump and altenator keeps breaking. I have had car into Mazda and local garage numerous times to fix problem. All they keep doing is replacing belt and then soon after screeching starts and belt ultimately breaks. Altenator was replaced and didn’t help. All obvious things have been looked at. I am not a mechanic but I think there is a blockage in the cooling system causing excessive pressure making it tough for water pump to rotate. System has been drained and flushed. Seems to occur more when outdoor temperatures are very low. Occurs when accelerating especially at low speeds. Since Mazda belt was installed, screeching has subsided, but outdoor temperature is also been high so I don’t trust the repair. I don’t know for sure, but I think the gas mileage has been poor and it seems to me that RPM’s drop to fast when I take my foot of the gas. As if, there is an unusual strain on the motor.

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Status: Closed Value: $10

Answer
February 07, 2005 3:58 p.m. (4 hours and 11 minutes later)

REPLIED

Sounds to me like a serious pain in the but. I once had a tow-truck that came in once a week, because everytime a driver would turn on the pto, it would cause the truck to throw the belt. Well after so many times of the same problem re-acurring, it was obvious it wasn't the belt, and after careful inspection, we found out that one of the pulleys was bent. The weird thing was it took time for the belt to act-up. Your car is still new enough to check for re-calls. Unfortunately, one of the pulleys, could have too much resistence, or it could be a combination of both. Personaly, I would begin the quest there.

Ron Blunt -- Auto body, upolstery, and mechanic -- Expert's Profile
15 years auto body and paint, 5 years as a mechanics helper, 2 years in upolstery work.

Reply to Ron Blunt
Sent February 07, 2005 4:20 p.m. (22 minutes and 15 seconds later)

I have brought the car to a reliable mechanic and also to a Mazda service station. Both places have looked for pulley resistance, checked alignment of pulleys, looked for any excessive movement in pulleys, etc. Nothing was noticed. Mazda also stated that the problem could have been from not installing the belt properly in the 1st place and using an after market belt. I checked the recalls, nothing there.

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Info Request
February 07, 2005 9:37 p.m. (5 hours and 16 minutes later)

REPLIED to Info Request

Hi,

please keed to know the engine size?

carrdoc -- Auto Service Technician -- No feedback on 2 Car accepts
25 yrs foreign car repair

Reply to john
Sent February 08, 2005 6:56 a.m. (9 hours and 19 minutes later)

1.6 Liter

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

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