Miata's aren't so reliable...

You just need to know how to properly screw them up!!!

After doing a complete T-belt/water pump/Locite fix on my '90 three weeks ago, I've now been towed home twice...

The first was a two weeks ago, on my way home from work a little after midnight. Going down I-75, I glance at the guages and the "charge" light has come on. I make a mental note that this possibly isn't good.

About a mile later, the temp guage is rising fairly rapidly. Damn... I'm too tired to deal with two mental notes, so I decide to pull off to see what's going on. Just as I pull into a Shell staion, there is a loud "THWACK from under the hood. This, I believe, was the sound of pieces of both belts finally being tossed into the fans. Fortunately, the majority of the pieces simply got tangled-up in the pulleys.

Over that weekend, I got everything untangled, and replaced the now-missing belts. Good-to-go!!!

Until tonight... Once again, on my way home from work a little after midnight. Doing about 70mph in the center lane of I-75, I'm suddenly forced to choose the lesser of three evils.

I can either; A) run over a chunk of concrete the approximate size of Rhode Island, B) swerve left and be decapitated by a semi trailer, or C) swerve right and be decapitated by a semi trailer.

After hitting the concrete, I pulled into a Highway Patrol post to call the wrecker. It's too dark out to know what all has happened under my car, but the initial casualty report is one Kumho Ecsta MX destroyed, along with the 16x7 Konig it was wrapped around... Oh, and there is that nice puddle of tranny fluid that is now taking up residence on my driveway.

I can deal with having to fix things on an 18-year old Miata... What scares me is the fact that during the time it takes me to fix the Mazda, I will have to rely on my 2000 Stratus... Which I have come to believe was actually designed, from the outset, to be a completely unreliable piece of E36 M3!!!

Sorry for the meaningless post, but I just needed to vent.

Just for tolerance of abuse comparisons:
I Just recently knocked the alignment out of wack in my wifes WRX by going the same speed over one of those giant speed bump/hills as I regularly do in our Miata. Freakin wanna be rally car cant handle a bump as well as a lowered miata. WTH?

BTW-good luck on the repair.

For your sake I hope you've either misdiagnosed the fluid or you have an automatic(actually, that would be pretty rough too). The 5 speed transmission doesn't have a pan, so if you're seeing transmission fluid, you'll probably need a transmission. Hopefully you'll just need an oil pan and be good to go.

You're on a one-way road with two lanes. To your right is a 400-foot drop off a steep cliff. To your left is a fire truck. In front of you is a giant pig, and behind you is a helicopter flying at ground level. They are all moving the same speed as you. What do you do to get out of this dangerous situation?

Get off the playground equipment - you're drunk.

Sorry to hear about your Miata. Is insurance going to be helping you out? I hate how the state will never take responsibility for disrepair of their roads. Maybe it's not their fault though if a giant hunk of concrete was sitting on the road. Where did it come from?

Good luck!

16vCorey wrote: For your sake I hope you've either misdiagnosed the fluid or you have an automatic(actually, that would be pretty rough too). The 5 speed transmission doesn't have a pan, so if you're seeing transmission fluid, you'll probably need a transmission. Hopefully you'll just need an oil pan and be good to go.

If hes seeing ATF he probably tore a line off the power steering.

MrJoshua wrote: Freakin wanna be rally car cant handle a bump as well as a lowered miata. WTH?

I'd imagine the extra 1000lbs of so that the wrx has on the miata has alot to do with it...

16vCorey wrote: For your sake I hope you've either misdiagnosed the fluid or you have an automatic(actually, that would be pretty rough too). The 5 speed transmission doesn't have a pan, so if you're seeing transmission fluid, you'll probably need a transmission. Hopefully you'll just need an oil pan and be good to go.

When I first noticed the puddle, the oil pan was my first thought. Got another one on the spare engine, so that would be ideal. However, to paraphrase some windbag from D.C., "I know oil, and that, sir, is not oil."

I won't have a chance to crawl under the car until Sunday, but I pretty much expect to find a hole in the trans case. But hey, a ruptured PS line doesn't sound all that bad right now!!!:nice:

MrJoshua wrote: Just for tolerance of abuse comparisons: I Just recently knocked the alignment out of wack in my wifes WRX by going the same speed over one of those giant speed bump/hills as I regularly do in our Miata. Freakin wanna be rally car cant handle a bump as well as a lowered miata. WTH? BTW-good luck on the repair.

my moms 2.5rs also seems to slip alignment rather easily :whatthe:

is it just a common problem with them?

well, can't say the second tow was you or your car's fault.

Sucks either way though, I certainly hope is only a torn power steering line

I bottomed the front left suspension pretty hard. I have bouncy Megan coilovers on mine that come with alignment slots in the strut attachment, im hoping they slipped. It also has caster/camber plates so they are the next guess.

Edit-Hmmmm-that sounds like alot of redundant adjustments, maybe it only has plates, guess I will know when I look closer.

MrJoshua wrote: I bottomed the front left suspension pretty hard. I have bouncy Megan coilovers on mine that come with alignment slots in the strut attachment, im hoping they slipped. It also has caster/camber plates so they are the next guess. Edit-Hmmmm-that sounds like alot of redundant adjustments, maybe it only has plates, guess I will know when I look closer.

The megans are the problem, not a good rally coilover. ;)

Yeah, the megans dont seem to do anything well but bounce.

Edit-they were on the car when purchased. Im planning on replacing them, but ive been nothing but frustrated trying to get intelligent product reviews on NASIOC.

Megans are one of those hong-kong special coilovers that don't really have a damper so much as an oil filled tube with a shop rag stuffed inside.

I'd look at something bilstein if i had a WRX, i've been super happy with the japanese market factory bilsteins on our legacy.

The ride isnt that incredibly stiff on actual bumps, but they somehow manage to bounce while driving down a seemingly smooth road at any of the 32 adjustments. I do like the height and dampning adjustment, so I will probably look for a coilover setup to replace this one.

Graf-Whats the diagnosis on the otter?

I see a naughty word up there!!

MrJoshua wrote: Graf-Whats the diagnosis on the otter?

Still not completely sure... I only had a few minutes to crawl around under the car on Sunday. The oil pan looks undamaged, as does the tranny, although there does seem to be a little seepage from both. The steering rack is also pretty much coated with crap as well, although it looks like it's been that way for a long time. All PS lines seem to be intact.

My buddy spent most of the time crawling over/under the car during the T-belt/crank repair job, so I'm waiting for him to get the time to slide under and see if he recognizes any of the leaks.

Fortunately, it looks like the plastic undertray behind the nose took the brunt of the impact. It looks like the initial impact broke the concrete in two. One chunk went into the left-rear tire, gashing the inner sidewall. The wheel may actually be OK.

The other chunk bashed-in the right frame-rail pretty good. I already had the FM frame-rail reinforcements ready to install, so I can hopefully tweakify the rail enough to get the reinforcements to fit.

As always, it'll be Sunday before I have any time to dig-in any further.

thatsnowinnebago wrote: I see a naughty word up there!!

Fixed.

The filter was working when I originally posted... Honest it was!!!

grafmiata wrote:

"I know oil, and that, sir, is not oil."

Well I can tell you that the only red fluid in a Miata should be in the power steering system, unless you've got a jug of Kool-Aid in the passenger compartment.. OOH YEAH! What comes out of your transmission should look like oil, because it is. Just a heavier weight.

Wowak wrote: grafmiata wrote:

"I know oil, and that, sir, is not oil."

OOH YEAH! What comes out of your transmission should look like oil, because it is. Just a heavier weight.

Granted... However, I really don't expect the gear oil that's been in the tranny for God-knows-how-long to have the same appearance as the freshly-changed oil in the pan.

As far as the PS fluid... Yes, I know it's red. But it's quite amazing how quickly leaking fluids can change color when they hit the undercarriage of a rusty/grimy car that spent it's entire life in Michigan.