116000 miles. Makes a sound like a sewing machine when accellerating starting at about 30 mph. Mileage seems to be a bit low.
Just had it into the shop for other things that were fixed.
Is this a problem?
Make model, what other things were fixed?
It might be. I believe the Protoge has hydraulic tappets, but they could be gummed up. If so, your valvetrain may not be opening your valves fully, your car will tickety-tick, and your mileage will suffer.
It’s best to get it checked out. If it is as described above, running it like that over the long haul can do damage to the valvetrain.
Mazda Protege: recently had alternator, plug wires, replaced. Did not have the problem before I took it in for an obvious alternator problem.
You might also check to see if they bolted in the alternator securely. If they left a bolt out so its not secure, that could be the sound of the alternator bearing wearing out prematurely. Just a guess because I have seen this and a similar sound was the result.
Is there a diagnostic software program that I could load on my notebook computer and try to diagnosis this myself? I do not want to take the car to the repair shop again just to have another problem develope after I have spent another thousand dollars to “fix” a problem.