[growe58]

Probably checking in too late to matter, but I doubt the two are connected.

The evaporative emmissions control circuit captures the evaporating vapors from the gas tank while the car is parked and sucks them into the engine to be burned the next time the car is running. Better for the enviornment than allowing the gasoline vapors to evaporate directly in our breathing air. Usually doesn't have much affect on how your car runs whether it is working or not, although it can cause some problems.

The Proteges are famous for bad Idle Air Control (IAC) devices. If the car is only causing problems at idle, runs well and delivers good mpg the rest of the time, I would bet that was your problem. Basically the engine uses so little air at idle, that the throttle plate isn't sensitive enough to insure a clean burn for emissions. So the computer bleeds the correct amount of air in through the IAC. If it isn't working, you will have idling problems. Sometimes, it's only the air passages that are clogged and if you remove the throttle body and clean everything out, you can get it working again.