How I went two months without driving my Miata

As you may know, I tour with a country music act out of Nashville, selling merchandise and generally enjoyinig the roadie lifestyle. Anyway, I needed to get this ordeal off my chest...

Well, about 2 months ago, we got home from a run, and the battery was dead in my car. So I pushed it out of the garage and used my buddy's SUV to jumpstart it. Fired right up. As I was walking around to give him his keys back, I noticed a small puddle of coolant in the garage, and sure enough, a slow drip of coolant coming from under the car. Discouraged, I put the car back in the garage, got out my tools, and started poking around. Sure enough, the water pump was toast.

Now this is entirely my fault: shortly after I bought the car, I changed the timing belt, and I should have replaced the water pump too. At the time I was between jobs, so I decided to save the money and leave the existing water pump on there. I gambled and lost, because 2 years later it failed.

So anyway, I borrowed , my buddy's SUV, and took a drive to order the parts I needed. Some parts I got from Advance and Autozone, but some of the parts I needed to order from Cool Springs Mazda. Now I've dealt with Mazda's online parts catalogue (the one the parts counter uses) before, and I know it can be confusing, so I knew I had to actually go in to show them the parts I needed in the catalogue, trying to describe them over the phone would be futile. So I verified online that their parts department is open until 6pm. I got there around 5:45 to find out they really close the parts department at 5. The next day, we left out for a run. An entire week has gone by, and I haven't even ordered the parts.

The next week, we get back into town. We rush over to Cool Springs. We get to Cool Springs Mazda at 4:52. The parts department is already closed. They just left. Ugh.

Next day, I wake up at a balmy 1pm and rush over to Cool Springs. This time the parts department is still open. I'm somewhat concerned when I have to explain to the counterperson what a woodruff key is. No, its not the ignition key. Its the little piece of metal that fits into the slot on the end of the crankshaft and the slot on the crankshaft pulley. Yeah, it keeps the pulley from just spinning around the crankshaft. Yeah, I'm sure you can get it, I've gotten them before. In fact the service manual says you have to replace it every time you remove it. Oh you found it? Great. No, of course you don't have it in stock. You'll have it Friday? Don't worry, I'll be on the road.. I'll see you Monday.

Now two weeks have gone by without a drivable car. We get back into town, and I pick up all my parts. I go out in the garage to drive the car up onto my ramps, and it won't start again. Now I face a conundrum: I can jump start the car now and drive it onto the ramps, but once its up there, I won't be able to get the SUV close enough to jump start it again. (My car keeps its battery in the trunk.) I decide that replacing the battery is imperative before proceeding. As you well know, in addition to keeping its battery in the trunk, my Miata uses a special battery that no one locally carries. Even if they did, I just don't have another $200 to order it with. Money is tight and I just blew a lot on parts. Its times like this that I wonder if god is actually Loki. I spend the night doing research on miata.net, and formulate a plan: its not the RIGHT battery but Walmart sells a Tractor battery that will fit in my trunk for $28.00. In between doing laundry and getting ready for another long weekend on the road, I stop by Walmart and get the battery, and at Autozone I get a post converter so I can actually connect it. When I get home, I have enough time to install the battery and drive the car up on the ramps. Its too late to start wrenching, bus call is at 12... Another week will go by without an operable car.

We get back into town and I start disassembly. I find that because I have a larger aftermarket swaybar, its now in the way and will have to be removed. It adds a good bit of time to the job. Upon inspection, I find that the alternator belt, which is less than 2 years old and was purchased from Mazda, is severly cracked. I press on, replacing the waterpump and the water neck O-ring. The O-ring is another part you can't get at unless you remove the timing belt, I don't want this to fail on my later and have to do this whole job AGAIN. The paint is peeling off the valve cover, so I strip the paint off. I took some parts around back to rinse them off with the hose only to realized the hose is frozen. Its now 20 degrees outside. Time to call it quits for the night. Between needing the new belt and having to paint the valve cover, I'm not going to get it done before we go back out on the road anyway. Another week will go by with my car out of service.

Another run is on the books, and its go time. We arrive in Nashville to find 70 degree weather. I curse the fact that my convertible is still incapacitated. Its Sunday, and I'll certainly have the car running by Monday night. I make a date for Tuesday; driving a convertible is fun, driving a convertible with a pretty girl in the passenger seat is more so. Monday comes, I get the belt, and while the paint is drying on the valve cover, I have everything else back together. Trying to get ahead, I proceed to fill the radiator, and hear the one sound you do NOT want to hear when you pour fluids into your car: those same fluids dripping onto the ground. A thousand thoughts run through my head: Did I forget to reconnect one of the hoses? Nope, they're all there. Where is s it coming from? All the plastic covers are back in place, but it looks like its coming from behind the waterpump. Could I have mis-diagnosed it all along? What else could it be? My mind goes to the worst possibilities: what if the head or block are cracked? Wouldn't I have noticed? It was fairly dark in the garage but I know every nut and bolt and could practically do this blindfolded! Maybe in the dim light I missed something? In an effort to get a clearer look at the water pump, I decide to move the power steering pump out of the way. It pivots on one long bolt because it also acts as the tensioner pulley for that belt. The long bolt slides out the back.. except it won't. Its firmly against the number one tube of the aftermarket header. Disgusted, I throw in the towel. I spend the rest of the night watching DVDs, too disgusted to even look at the car, and still fearing the worst. I also cancel my date for the next day. Then we go back out on the road. Another week with no car. Now I'm starting to get angry.

We get back into town and its cold. Too damn cold to be out in the garage. My buddy loans me a space heater.. it is ineffective. I do know that to verify the problem I'll have to remove the water pump again. The gaskets are not reusable so I borrow another car and head to the nearest Advance Autoparts. They'll have to order the gaskets. I start to wonder if I'll ever drive my car again. On tuesday night we go back out on the road. Another week with no car.

We roll back into town, and although not warm, its not freezing. I layer up and keep the garage door closed. Its darker than I would like but at least I won't freeze. I remove the aftermarket header so I can get the power steering pump pivot bolt out. When I remove the bolts for the water pump, plenty of coolant pours out. This tells that the coolant wasn't leaking from the water pump, it was leaking from somewhere higher. I remove the front cover plate, half expecting to see the crack in the cylinder head that I missed before. Instead, I see a tiny piece of O-ring poking out from behind the thermostat water neck. When I installed it it must have shifted ever so slightly. The O-ring is however ruined. This time I can order over the phone, though... I already have the part number! I grab the invoice and call Cool Springs Mazda, and... its busy. How is a whole car dealership running with one phone line??! Finally, after an hour of trying, I get through. "I'm fresh out of those. We've been having some trouble with our parts shipments, we probably won't have it for about a week." Why am I not surprised? So we'll leave on Thursday for Missouri, but I'll feel a little better knowing that I have only ONE more week before I get my car running.

We get back into town late Sunday. On monday I call Cool Springs Mazda to verify that the part is there. Of course i is. Gee, thanks for giving me a call to let me know! I catch a ride over to that side of town (which is a half hour ride if roads are free) and get my three dollar o-ring, then we head to Starbucks for our weekly ritual of hanging out and being obnoxious until they throw us out. I don't even drink coffee but I enjoy the company of friends. I had planned on working on the car in the morning, but I'm very restless at the coffee shop: I need my Miata therapy. We head home and I head straight for the garage. I work straight through to the wee hours of the morning. "Is it fixed?" my roommate asks as I walk in to wash my hands. My reply: "I'm about to start it. This is where you will get to see a happy man with a running Miata, or get to see a grown man cry."

Fortunately no grown men had cause to cry in this garage today. It was far too late and cold to take her out for a real shakedown, but I'll have plenty of time tomorrow, or, I guess, later today, after I get some sleep. Of course she has 4 bald tires and I have to drive to NOVA in late March for my brother's wedding... but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now I'm just happy to have my Miata back.

You need to find a good, independent, traditional auto parts store. I used to work at one that had every woodruff key and o-ring possible.

Your story sounds so familiar! One thing about constant travel is that it prolongs even the simplest projects. Same thing when I bought my E30 - a simple rear subframe swap turned into a two-month project. It seemed like everytime I spent an hour on the car I'd find two more parts that needed to be replaced. It was a constant pattern of work on the car, order parts, leave town, install new parts, find new things I needed, etc. Very frustrating, but at least things will be good to go when the weather's nice!

At least you get problems that are easy to diagnose. I get weird problems like non-functioning fuel pumps (that turn out to be a broken wire) and broken fuel gauges that could be anything from another broken wire, to a broken float thingey inside the gas tank. Well, at least they're all related.

How hard SHOULD the water pump job be? When I replaced timing belt on Lacy I didn't budget for a water pump since it was supposed to be a challenge car. I need to go back in again and replace that ASAP.

SUPER-EDIT: Also, congrats on getting her working! Now go! Drive!

My '97 has been inoperable for a couple years now... Need to get the tranny out to replace the throwout bearing. Need to get taller jackstands so that I can get my belly under the car comfortably.

You don't even need to find a parts store to get a proper o-ring, just a hardware store. A CAS o-ring from Mazda is $8 or so, or you can get the same size for $.59 at the local ACE. As long as you have the size or the old one to match up you're good.

I also wanted to add that I recently bought a $26 tractor battery from Sam's Club and $5 post adapters from NAPA instead of a $100+ Miata-specific battery. Working great so far!

Sounds like you need to find an internet connection for woodruff keys and o-rings or make friends at the local autoparts store.

I am suffering a little project paralysis myself right now - I have an E30 race car build in my garage that needs some more welding, a lot of fabrication, wiring, brake tubing, seat fitting, painting, windows installed.... doors installed.... suspension installed... I'm getting anxious just typing this.

It was 0F last night and only slightly warmer in my garage. Its pretty much been like that since December.

I know how you feel... been over a month since I drove my ti and it will probably be another month or so until I get the floor fixed (previous repair from an accident was not sealed.. so the passenger floor rotted out).

and then I have plans to paint the car and get her shiney again.

Love my saab.. but the Bimmer is more fun to drive

Man, that's quite a saga.

A couple of notes, for Miata owners who might be reading this. It doesn't have to be this hard

• the woodruff key does not have to be replaced every time it's removed. It's not a wear part. Neither the 1990 nor 1994 factory manual (the only two I have here at home) say it should be replaced. So there's no need to hunt one down.
• even if the woodruff key did need to be replaced, there's no need to remove the original one if all you're replacing is the water pump. You can leave it in place along with the timing belt pulley.
• that o-ring behind the thermostat neck almost never fails if it's not disturbed.
• that must be one big sway bar. I'm thinking Racing Beat You wouldn't have to completely remove it, just pull the four bolts for the brackets and let it move foward
• this sort of work is easier if you pull the radiator out, it's quick and gives more room to work.
• the AC belt shouldn't have stopped things dead. The cracked one could have been reinstalled and then replaced shortly thereafter, as it's pretty much a stand-alone job.

I'm not trying to be an shiny happy person here, just making sure nobody else goes through the same pain.

I find it funny how some very intelligent people (and morons like me), will make a project more daunting than it really is.

I was very freaked out about replaceing the Beetle transmission only to find out that it is a relatively easy process.

I an mot reading all of that.

Do yourself a GIANT favor and go to the local lowes/home depot and get a 500watt work light. They make your workspace bright as the surface of the sun and put out a decent amount of heat for the winter wrenching.

like this one for $10 http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=156853-52757-WL500RSP-L&lpage=none

Wow, all that shennanigans and you didn't even call me? I could have helped track down parts and stuff!

Glad the car is back though. :)

That sounds EXACTLY like every...single...time...something goes wrong with one of my vehicles and I need to order parts from the stealership. EVERY TIME.

That sounds a lot like my Nissan experiences, too....

I use a parabolic heater when it's cold. Point it at your bum, and you're nice and toasty while you work.

Go buy a old Chevy, you can probably get parts for it from Walmart for dirt. Of course if you got a hammer and a Crescent wrench, you might not need parts. I have no room to talk though. Nobody carries parts for a 1st gen RX-7 unless you have gold coins to pay for them with.

Kramer wrote: You need to find a good, independent, traditional auto parts store. I used to work at one that had every woodruff key and o-ring possible.

There's one at the end of my street. That place has saved my ass countless times. Nearly every time I do something, I wind up screwing up some oddball part that's only available on Jupiter. They always seem to have whatever I've managed to break in stock.

Toyman01 wrote: Go buy a old Chevy, you can probably get parts for it from Walmart for dirt. Of course if you got a hammer and a Crescent wrench, you might not need parts. I have no room to talk though. Nobody carries parts for a 1st gen RX-7 unless you have gold coins to pay for them with.

Try Rockauto they have a lot of 1st gen parts....and I have the rest

Stealerships suck. A lot. At everything.

I went my whole life so far without driving your miata, but I can't seem to figure out how to make it such an entertaining story.

I drive it whenever he's away, sorry about the leak, and the parking tickets coming your way.

Keith wrote: Man, that's quite a saga. A couple of notes, for Miata owners who might be reading this. It doesn't have to be this hard - the woodruff key does not have to be replaced every time it's removed. It's not a wear part. Neither the 1990 nor 1994 factory manual (the only two I have here at home) say it should be replaced. So there's no need to hunt one down. - even if the woodruff key did need to be replaced, there's no need to remove the original one if all you're replacing is the water pump. You can leave it in place along with the timing belt pulley. ***I did end up leaving the crank bolt in when I stood there and said "you know, I'm not replacing the belt..." My 91 is a later "fat nose" so I would have to remove the bolt to get the pulley boss off. - that o-ring behind the thermostat neck almost never fails if it's not disturbed. ***I disturbed it last time I had the car apart.. go bored and decided to polish the water neck. I didn't replace the o-ring that time, so I thought I shouldn't gamble. - that must be one big sway bar. I'm thinking Racing Beat You wouldn't have to completely remove it, just pull the four bolts for the brackets and let it move foward *** ah, unless you have the racingbeat swaybar brace installed. Then you have to drop the whole thing - this sort of work is easier if you pull the radiator out, it's quick and gives more room to work. ***I took the radiator out the first time around. After reassembling it I got cranky and left it in. - the AC belt shouldn't have stopped things dead. The cracked one could have been reinstalled and then replaced shortly thereafter, as it's pretty much a stand-alone job. ***my bad, it was the alternator/WP belt that was cracked. I'm not trying to be an shiny happy person here, just making sure nobody else goes through the same pain.

Of course things could have been easier, but as my dad always says, theres no sense being Polish if you don't act like it sometimes.

Wally wrote: I drive it whenever he's away, sorry about the leak, and the parking tickets coming your way.

Perhaps you can explain these stains on the leather?

At least now I know where that funnelcake smell is coming from.

Sometimes when I get scared I has stomache problems

Wowak wrote: Of course things could have been easier, but as my dad always says, theres no sense being Polish if you don't act like it sometimes.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

My uncle put three engines into his hot rod before he figured out which one was the best for it. The guy is in a wheelchair and does almost all of the work himself. His wife gets mad at him, and he just blames it on being a Polack.