Miata Noob with Questions!

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DaleNixon

Member
:
2001 Miata, 2011 Mazda 2
Hi all! I will own a 2001 Miata LS in two hours. It's white with a manual transmission. I can't wait!

I don't really know anything about these cars. I'd like some advice on what I should do maintenance wise first. The car only has 48,000 miles on it. The oil definitely needs to be changed.

Do you guys recommend a specific brand/weight? (flame suit on)

Should I seafoam the car?

Is there anything I should look out for engine wise?

I'm thinking I'll start with the oil change then check the spark plugs then seafoam it. Any other maintenance tips or gotchas you guys can point out would be great. Thanks! (rockon)
 
Congratulations! Ya just the usual maintenance stuff I suppose. Maybe change the trans and diff fluid, but its still kinda early for that. Plugs wires battery etc is what I did for mine, but also, my car is almost 20 years old lol
 
With so few miles, there isn't much that needs to be done. The plugs are likely fine, but it's only a few bucks to swap 'em out. I wouldn't bother with the (2) plug wires if I were you. Change the gear oil, diff oil, and engine oil just for assurance that maintenance is up to par. Other than that, drop the top, have fun with it, and congrats on the purchase!
 
^ Hell yeah it's a great combo! Thanks for the tip kcbhiw. I seafoamed, did the oil (Pennzoil Platinum 10w30), spark plugs (NGK iridium), and put a new battery in it (it cranks much faster now).

Are there some decent howtos on this or another forum for changing the gear/diff oil? Also, does this NB miata have a cabin air filter? And should I replace the fuel filter(s) as well? Thanks!

Edit: Pics!

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We cleaned up the dirty engine bay (it had dirt dobber nests in it! lol!), but the fluids were all perfect and the car spins like a top.
 
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It looks good in your sig! What wheels are those? And what drop do you have? When should I change my trans/diff fluid and what should I use? Are there any good howtos for that anywhere?
 
beautiful car. What Kevin said, and +1 million on just dropping the top and having some fun with it :)
 
My wife was dead set on getting the valve cover painted so I decided we should take the opportunity to replace the valve cover gasket. We get the cover back from the powdercoater today. I didn't like how far back we had to bend that banjo bolt on the oil feed line to get the valve cover off. I didn't see any other option.
 
DaleNixon said:
It looks good in your sig! What wheels are those? And what drop do you have? When should I change my trans/diff fluid and what should I use? Are there any good howtos for that anywhere?
Click to expand...

use Redline MTL and MT-90.. change it out now.
 
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DaleNixon said:
50/50 mix in the trans and diff? What's the capacity if you don't mind me asking?
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MTL in the tranny and MT-90 in the diff. Tanny is 2 quarts and the diff is 1 quart. And dont forget to replacethe oil on top of the shifter turret.
 
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Ok so the car has a few problems at this point. The valve cover painter was a complete idiot. He got powdercoating thick inside every threaded hole on the cover, he painted a lot of the inside of the cover, and he clogged up the VVT actuator/oil flow housing thingy with powdercoating.

I stripped a bolt head off trying to put the VVT housing thing back on (possibly due to thick powdercoating in the threads. But we got everything back together after a bit of stress.

The car ran great for a few days, then it threw a CEL. We've got a P0012 "timing over retarded" or something along those lines. It seems the VVT sensor/actuator might be stuck for some reason. I suspect it could be a combination of the 10w30 oil I added (too thick a starting weight maybe?) and possibly more powdercoating clogging up that inline oil filter.

Also, there were bits of powdercoating in the small inline filter that flows oil into the VVT sensor area.

To top this all off, an oil leak appeared from out of nowhere. I dropped the undertray and it looks like the oil is coming from the front crank seal. This is an 8 year old car with almost 50,000 miles, so it might be time to do the belts/water pump/seals/etc.

I have no idea how to do this stuff, but I think I'm capable of doing it myself. I just need to figure out what parts to order and get some instructions. Any assistance from anyone here is greatly appreciated.

I bought this car to have fun with, but it's become a bit of a nightmare in the few weeks I've owned it already. I know these problems can be fixed, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Miata.net has pretty good guides, but they all seem to apply to the Gen 1 Miatas for the most part. And mine's the first year with VVT.
 
Wow...thats some bad luck. @ 8yrs/50k, go ahead and replace everything. Belts, timing belt, water pump, seals. 10w30 is just fine for the car. And get that valve cover off the car. All that powdercoating wasnt done correctly and inside shouldnt have been touched. The oil is eating away at it and breaking pieces off and its floating around in your engine.

As for the timing retard code, you may have jumped a tooth on the cams or a tooth broke off the belt. When you go ahead and do all the maintanence on her, set the timing to 10*BTDC.

My car is a 97 and the only oil leak i have had was the CAS o-ring which is on the exhaust cam and was very mild.

BTW...i did all my maintanence at 71k miles. Good Luck
 
Now u just have to boost it. :) Just kidding. Nice car, looks clean.
 
mr_mazda329 said:
Wow...thats some bad luck. @ 8yrs/50k, go ahead and replace everything. Belts, timing belt, water pump, seals. 10w30 is just fine for the car. And get that valve cover off the car. All that powdercoating wasnt done correctly and inside shouldnt have been touched. The oil is eating away at it and breaking pieces off and its floating around in your engine.

As for the timing retard code, you may have jumped a tooth on the cams or a tooth broke off the belt. When you go ahead and do all the maintanence on her, set the timing to 10*BTDC.

My car is a 97 and the only oil leak i have had was the CAS o-ring which is on the exhaust cam and was very mild.

BTW...i did all my maintanence at 71k miles. Good Luck
Click to expand...

Thanks man. This car did sit unused outside for quite some time. It just needs a little help. I ordered a belt kit, water pump, accessory and alternator belts, and a book that shows me how to install it all from Flyin' Miata. The only thing I'm really worried about is keeping the cams from moving when I replace the cam seals and belts. Do you have any tips for that?

Also, do you think powdercoating floating around in the engine is going to hurt it? Before we installed it, we used gasket remover to get almost all of the powdercoating off the inside of the cover. It was everywhere :(
 
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