Keep in mind that I live in the midwest USA. aren't too bad to replace on that car, but pinch welds or other structural body panels in bad shape would be a deal-breaker for me. I might have some photos of the problem areas let me know if you're interested and I'll look for them.Ī-arms, struts, trailing arms, etc. If you tap these parts with a ball peen hammer, does rust crumble and fall off? If you shine a flash light through them, does light pass through? Also, inspect the body surrounding the rear axle(s) and wheel wells - that's where mine rusted the worst, enough that my shop eventually refused to put it up on a lift. It's hard to tell in a video how bad it is, or how deep the rust goes into the metal. What I'd be most concerned about is the condition of the suspension components, the parts of the body where suspension meets it, and the pinch welds on the body. Yours looks about the same as mine did underneath. If you're not up for welding, I suggest finding a good exhaust shop and taking their advice, be it patching only what broke or replacing affected parts. This may or may not be a case of "pay now, or pay more later". I'm sure mine broke in that exact same spot yours did at least once. The OEM parts were made of thin enough pipe that they were no match for midwestern winters. I swear, the exhaust got fully replaced from header to tailpipe, one piece at a time, in two-year cycles. (Comment edited because I realized I didn't answer your questions at first)Īh yes, you reminded me: The only real issue I had with that car was how the exhaust was basically a consumable component, like oil or gas. Please do share updates and photos! I'd love to go on a trip down memory lane. Without seeing it myself, you're probably right about the thermostat as well. Don't remember how the fuel gauge works, but you're probably right about the sender, which requires the rear seat to be pulled out (again, not a terrible job). The valve cover gasket (assuming that's the source of the oil leak) is easy enough to replace, and EGR isn't terrible either. All the photos in it are for the 6th gen, but everything's close enough that it's still relevant to the 7th gen. If you decide it's worthwhile to put work into it, I strongly recommend picking up the Haynes manual for the '90 to '97 323/Protege. ![]() If I were you, I'd just make sure that you're not putting love and care into a car that's still going to fall apart regardless of what you do to it. If you have the time, funds, other means of transportation, and enjoy wrenching on things that are relatively easy to work on, why not fix everything you can? I did a lot of work on mine to keep it going, and I don't regret it at all. Out of principle, I would want to fix everything and keep it reliable, though I'd give priority to the weird idling, since it'll probably get worse over time. I had a '96 Protege LX as my first car, and I loved it to death, but at the end of the day the body was rusted enough that it got dangerous to keep driving. It's up to you and what the car means to you.
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