2000 Protege Timing Belt question

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Nick - 11 Mar 2004 12:50 GMT

Hello all ,

My friend has a 2000 Protege with 70k miles. His question was
should he replace the timing belt/water pump now or wait until close
to 100k? From what I read on google it seems up to 97 Mazda's have a
non interference engine so even if it breaks, there will be no engine
damage. Is this still true on 2000 models?

Thanks in advance,
Nick

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dooker - 12 Mar 2004 00:02 GMT

The timing belt is due at about 60,000 miles. If it breaks you will do the
engine no damage. It's not common for the Protege engines to have problems
with the water pumps..... personally, I would take the chance and just
change the head cover gasket & timing belt ....

> Hello all ,
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Thanks in advance,
> Nick

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KWS - 26 Mar 2005 18:18 GMT

It's not a difficult job, but is somewhat involved. If you are going through
the effort of doing all of this, it seems reasonable to spend a small
additional amount of effort (and money) and do the water pump. If it's not
leaking at 60K miles, it probably will before the next timing belt change.
FYI - we bought a used 1997 (1.5L) prot?g?, which did not have a timing belt
change at 103K. The water pump was leaking.

When you do the job, it's a good time to replace the valve gasket, plugs and
plug wires (for cars that still have plug wires).

Mazda engines are typically non-interference, but who wants to be stranded
someplace?

Best,

Ken

> Hello all ,
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Thanks in advance,
> Nick

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