Miata Service

Crap!

To quote another famous person1 whose personal work included the words ‘Life of’ in its title, “What a revolting development this is.”

I followed Donna back home from Wayne’s Automotive the other day and when I turned into the driveway, she said to me, “The Miata sounds horrible.” She’s right. For the past couple three months there has been a metallic scraping sound that directly corresponds to the car speed. It started out very light and has slowly gotten louder. To me it was getting to the point where it was becoming really annoying, but when Donna noticed, that was the signal that it was time to get it looked at.

Having eliminated Wayne’s as a place to go, I wondered where to try next. I vaguely remember someone in the MMC saying they had good luck with the Automotive Workbench, so I called them and made an appointment to bring the car in on Wednesday.

I already like the owner as he came out and shook my hand, instead of just letting the desk clerk check me in, plus his name is Brian. We went a few miles down the street, he drove while I rode shotgun. He actually owned Miata for a while in the past and still has a 1.6 to 1.8 engine conversion in a 91 going on in the background. After the drive he had a couple of ideas what it might be, but needed to get it on a lift the next day to really troubleshoot it.

At the end of the workday yesterday I noticed a message light on my phone. It was the mechanic and he asked me to call back and he’d let me know what the repair would be. I tried calling, but got their answering machine. The place is practically on our route home, so I didn’t try and call again, we just stopped in.

Of course, of all Brian’s possible reasons that the noise could be, it had to turn out to be the most expensive one. The bearings are going bad in the limited slip differential. Used ones, if you can find them, run $800 to $1200 while new ones go for $2500.2

This morning I called the shop to let them know there was a place in Florida parting out a 2003 Miata and had a bunch of stuff listed for sale on Miata.net, including an LSD. I gave them the phone number and they said they’d check. Late in the day the mechanic called and let me know it had already sold. He had a line on one for the $1200, that came with a six month warranty and he would try them and let me know. I said if you can’t get that one, just go ahead and order a new one. He never got back to me today, so I guess we’ll find out the verdict on Monday.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 159

1. Chester A. Riley.
2. This figure does not include the multi-hundred dollar installation cost.

The Emperor Returns

New Pedals

The Cam Angle Sensor wiring harness was rubbing on a serpentine belt until it shorted out.

I was hoping to find a more local shop than Panic to take the Miata to when it needs work and it turns out Wayne’s won’t be it. Not that the quality of work is a problem, the car drove home just fine, but the intangibles sunk their chances.

When I got in the car to drive it home I noticed they had nicely laid one of those paper floor mats down to keep greasy footprints off the mats, but they had forgotten to put the fuse box cover back on and it was laying on the passenger seat. Back home I snapped the fuse cover back on and pulled up the paper floor mat. It had done its job because it had collected a couple greasy prints on it, but when I pulled it up, there were a lot more greasy areas on the real mats than on the paper. Good thing I still have some of that old carpet that I made these mats from. The topper came as I walked around the back of the car to go get that piece of carpet, there were four big greasy hand prints on the trunk from where they had pushed it into the shop.

Finally spent the $50 Gift Certificate we won for 2015’s Motoring Challenge. There was not really anything in the catalog that I really wanted. The only thing that I needed in there in the right price range were some replacement rubber pads for the brake and clutch pedals, but what would I do with the remaining twenty bucks. Plus I really didn’t like the ‘Roadster’ script on them. The fancy I.L. Motorsports aluminum ones were $15 over the sum of the GC, so what the heck, I bought them. They of course arrived on Thursday while the Miata was off at the shop. Put them on Friday night while I was cutting a new mat and wiping off the trunk lid.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 159

Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution1

In Case of the Removal of the Favored Car from the Garage, or of its Death, Sale, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Garage, the Same shall devolve on the 2nd Favored Car, and the Household may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Sale or Inability, both of the Favored and 2nd Favored, declaring what Vehicle shall then act as Favored, and such Vehicle shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a New Favored Car shall be purchased.

I have had a business card for a local place called Wayne’s Automotive in my wallet for like 15-20 years. A co-worker had given it to me way back when her sister got the job as the dispatcher for the towing portion of the business. She was giving them out to everybody she talked to, so I took one just to be polite. A few years later when I got a new wallet I transferred the card. At the next new wallet the card moved again right along with everything else, I had became superstitious about it. I just knew that if I discarded it, I’d need it the very next day. And it was a good thing I still had it.

Yesterday on the way home, about 1-1/2 miles from work, while accelerating through 3rd gear, the acceleration just stopped happening, the check engine light illuminated, followed by the battery light and because we were on a slight uphill slope the Emperor slowed to a graceful stop along the side of the road. No sturm und drang, the engine just quit like somebody flicked a switch.

I reached into the little compartment behind my driver’s license, slid out the dog-eared card and called Wayne’s for a tow truck. We originally were going to have it towed home, but during the wait we changed our minds in consideration of my very limited mechanical knowledge and abilities. Decided to have it taken to their garage portion of the business instead.

As we stood watching the Emperor being winched onto the back of a flatbed, a different co-worker pulled over to see what was happening. He offered to drive Donna home so she could swear in the Sonata as Favored Car and come get me at Wayne’s.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 158

1. We had to cite Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution in elevating the Purple Whale’s status because South Carolina is one of only three states that never ratified the 25th Amendment.

How Ya Been?

Me too.

The Emperor returned home Wednesday evening. And the squeal was not related to the oil leak at all. The leak was caused by the exhaust cam seal. If about now you are thinking, wait a minute, exhaust cam seal, that sounds familiar. Right you are. It was changed back in October which is why Steve didn’t charge me for changing it this time.

He did charge me for a used alternator though. That was the squeal. Not oil on the belts, but bad bearings in the alternator. Steve said that the very act of backing the car up and driving the 75 feet into the garage made the alternator almost too hot to touch. Glad that sucker didn’t lock up somewhere in the mountains of western North Carolina.

When Donna asked if I minded the used vs. a new one I said, “Nah.” “This one came off a car with like 60,000 miles on it and the original failed at 160K, so I figure by the time the used one goes the Emperor will have over a quarter millions miles on it.” Of course, wouldn’t you know it, yesterday coming home from work in the Miata, a couple times when we came to a stop sign the car let loose with a squeal of sorts. Didn’t sound like what I thought was belt squeal before, not as loud and a different pitch, but it wasn’t a normal sound either.

We are going to breakfast with the MMC tomorrow, if the noise appears again we may just be driving back to Panic Motorsports this Sunday morning too.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 113

159,000 Platelets

The Emperor has been back from the Doctor’s Office about a week now and tonight I finally got around to washing off all the dirt and stuff from his 5 nights outside at Panic. I’m hoping that it won’t rain on Saturday so we can do Augusta’s Car & Coffee.

The Miata’s initial diagnosis from the professionals was a leaking exhaust cam seal because of the oil splattering pattern. And of the two cam seals this is the more likely to fail because of the heat factor. They changed exhaust seal and went for a test drive. Unfortunately, turned out that really wasn’t the problem, the crank seal was the big leaker, so they actually did the work twice. But unlike some other shops might have might have, they only charged me labor once.

Yesterday the Emperor eased past the 159,000 mile mark while on my way to get some blood drawn for my doctor’s appointment next week. Lots of top transitions because I missed one the other week, then the day before’s trip up & down and then again today for washing.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, down, up, down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 95

The Emperor Is Acting Like A LBC 1

State - Georgia

He’s got an oil leak. Wednesday when we left Vicksburg, MS in the morning the car clattered a little longer than usual, but I chalked it up to the fact that is was parked nose up at about a 20° because of the slope of the lot. At our first stop of the morning I smelled a little cooked motor oil, but chalked that up to the ratty pickup truck we were next to in the quick stop lot. At the second stop I smelled it again. This time we were all alone in the lot.

I popped the hood and, oh yeah, the smell is coming from there. I checked the oil. The bottom of the dip stick was dry! Added two quarts of oil and it brought it up to full. At least it only needed two…the car only holds four. From then on for the next day and a half and 650 miles we carried around a quart of oil in trunk. Every couple miles I’d add a 1/2 quart or so.

Yesterday I jacked up the car and boy was it oily. I bet half of what I lost was coating the underside of the car. I was more on the right side than the left and it really seemed to be coming from around the oil filter. But when I went to see if it was loose, it wasn’t, it was still tight.

I sprayed Simple Green around the bottom of the car and pressure washed it as best I could using my lame homeowner weekend washer. Changed the oil and filled it up again. Then I washed the car and gave it a quick spray wax. I then laid a towel down in the garage and parked the Miata over it.

This morning we went to breakfast at Steak & Shake in Augusta with the MMC. When I backed out of the garage the towel didn’t look dirty at all. The leak went away? Highly unlikely. On the way to breakfast we stopped on I-520 going into Georgia to get the last State we’ll get for the Motoring Challenge, bringing this year’s tally to 22 (if you count DC as one & they do), this is exactly twice last year’s eleven. When we got home at about 11:00 AM the Emperor got parked back in the garage.

We went out this evening in the Purple Whale to fill it with gas and get an ice cream cone. On returning home I backed the Miata out of the garage and looked at the floor. There was a pool of of about 5 or 6 ounces of clean oil on the floor. I guess the leak is still there. My guess now on the source is near the upper front right, probably the valve cover gasket. It leaks out during operation and falls down on to the plastic under tray and then during that 8 hours of down time drips slowly onto the floor. The dip stick was down a half a quart.

I think it is time for another visit to the Miata Doctors at Panic Motorsports.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 88

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 75
Totals So Far: 143 points & 7640 miles

1. LBC is an acronym for Little British Car.

NO to ND

Last weekend at the finish of the Bug Splat (which I really need to write about over on the Club site) Donna and I noticed one couple’s car had nice new shiny leather seats in their 2001 Miata. We asked where they had them done and they said a little place called Evans Upholstery over in Georgia, $800 installed. This is a pretty good deal as the seats themselves from leatherseats.com would be anywhere from $700-750, then you’d have to install them yourself or pay someone a couple hundred more to do it.

This morning when we got up, with the practically fall-like weather decided to drive over and check the shop out. Most places like this aren’t open weekends, but the Internet’s know-it-all Google said that they were open from 8 ’til noon. Because the GPS was giving Donna fits when she was trying to enter in their address we opted to see if we could find it using my hazy memory of the Google map I looked at for 45 seconds yesterday. Predictably, that didn’t work out so well.

I pulled into a quick-stop and while Donna was inside I tried the GPS again. This time, it magically knew where to go. When we pulled up front Donna said, “Looks dark. They’re closed.” I said, “Nah. There’s an OPEN sign in the window.” When I pulled on the door, it didn’t open. Donna handed me the phone and I dialed the number on the door. After each ring in my ear I could hear the muffled ring in the shop. When the answering machine clicked on, I clicked off the phone. Turns out that Google is just like every other know-it-all I’ve ever known, they just think they know it all.

Another thing we learned at last week’s Bug Splat was that Andy Gerald Jones Mazda over in Augusta had a couple of the 4th generation cars, AKA the ND, in stock. Seeing as we were over this way anyway we thought we’d go check and see if they were still there. One was, a Ceramic Metallic GT. It was right out front with the top down. As we parked and started walking towards it a salesman who was walking around the lot plotted an intercept course and headed that way too. Donna and I arrived first and popped open the doors and sat right down.

It’s still a Miata, just updated. Kinda like your living room if you painted the walls a shade brighter color and bought new furniture. The good news is that the passenger leg room has returned from its absence in the 3rd gen car, the bad news is the 4 x 6 x 1-1/2″ high hump adjacent to the transmission tunnel is still there. The good news is that it doesn’t feel like sitting in a bathtub as much as the 3rd gen car did, the bad news is it still feels a lot more enclosed than our car. The good news is that as everyone on the Miata.net has said, it is much nicer looking in person than it is in pictures, the bad news is that Donna is still not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling from its appearance.1 While I give it 4 out of 5 stars and Donna gives it about 2-1/2, I’m pretty sure the Emperor’s reign over the Bogardus household is safe for the next several years.

When the salesman asked if we wanted to take it for spin we said, “No thanks, it’s an automatic.” When he asked if we wanted a call when they got a six-speed in, I said sure and gave him my work phone. And depending on if it is not too inconvenient when he calls, we just might go over.

I spent the rest of the day pampering the Emperor in preparation for our big trip. Rotated the tires and changed the oil. Checked all the fluid levels and air pressures. Then washed and waxed (with actual paste wax) the car. Couple items left to do, clean the inside glass and top off the air in the spare, these will happen tomorrow in the garage while it rains outside.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 48

1. I think that if the car had been a nice bright blue instead of a semi-gloss grayish white it would have gone a long way towards improving the car’s curb appeal.