aircon switch & oil pressure

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:34 am

Hi folks

Checked out a 1990 model over the weekend. 105000km on the odo. Been
in NZ for 6 years, one owner. $6200. Looked promising until I took it
for a longer drive on Sunday (went to see it on Sat and it poured down -
only managed a quiet trip around the block with the owner's father
beside me). At least I know the hood doesn't leak and the wipers work!

Once the engine was warmed up, I noticed the oil pressure was a lot
lower than the other cars I've tested. The gauge sat on 2 - 2.1 at
3-4000rpm, and less than 1 at idle (I estimate the gauge read about 0.5
at idle). Other cars I've seen have shown 2 at idle, and 3.5-4 at
higher revs. Is this a car to be avoided, or is there a chance that it
has a faulty gauge or sender unit? It's due for a service, so how much
(if any) difference would fresh oil make?

The air con switch was also broken, leaving the air con permanently on.
The rotary fan switch still worked, but the push botton no longer
"pushed". Is this a difficult/expensive switch to replace?

While I;m here, a couple more questions. The rubbers along the top of
the doors (that seal against the windows) are perished. Is that a
straightforward replacement job? And when I changed up, there was a
distinct "click" as I engaged the higher gear. The gear lever didn't
jump or baulk as if the synchro was protesting, just a "clicking"
sound. Is that normal, or a sign of gearbox problems?

Thanks

Dave (still a lot to learn)

[...]

Simon Lord · Post by **Simon Lord** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:04 am

You know, Dave, I have seen people buy businesses and invest their life
savings and their future careers who take less care than you are taking in
buying a car - congratulations! I haven't got the faintest idea as to the
answers to your questions but someone on this list will have. As a former
Lord Chief Justice once said, 'the law cannot protect the fool in a hurry'.

Whether this car is the one or not, I'm sure your diligence will pay off and
you'll be joining the ranks of those who drive from the house to the corner
dairy via Kaitaia just for the joy of it. Good luck!

Simon

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:43 am

PS there is a ChCh club member with a 'minter' - red 94 - 4 sale if you are
interested??

Ian

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:23 am

Hi Simon

One of the guys at work said that the best description he ever read of a
sports car (ie MX-5) was something like: "The best way to get from A to
A". I have to agree with him. Kaitaia might be a bit far from ChCh,
but I will definitely be taking the long way home when I do finally get
one!

And I have a limited budget to spend on my toy, so I have to be careful.

Regards

Dave

Franchise New Zealand wrote:

[...]

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:31 am

Dave, Simon's advice was hypothetical (I hope...lol)...

NZ Driver magazine's NC road test last yearwas over the Lewis Pass, down the
Coast Rd via Punakaiki and over the Arthurs' Pass. There is no finer touring
route for an MX5 in NZ for a weekend away, in my humble opinion.

Ian

skams · Post by **skams** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:30 pm

Dave,
Just looked up my shop manual and it quotes the oil pressures as follows:
@ 1000 RPM between 2 & 3 (28 - 43 PSI)
@ 3000 RPM Between 3 & 4 (43 - 57 PSI)
My 1990 model has done over 130K and conforms to these specks.
Apart from the obvious worn engine there are a few things that can cause low
oil pressure;
1. stuck oil pressure relief valve, not sure if this can be reached from
outside the engine.
2. clogged oil filter - the bypass valve in the filter may be doing its
thing with a resulting drop in oil press, change filter (and Oil).
3. Dickey oil gauge / sender unit, you could try hooking up a direct reading
gauge by unscrewing the sender unit and hooking in there.
As for the aircon switch, I have had no experience there but you could try
giving Ross Campbell at MX5 MART a buzz, I'm sure he could fix you up with a
second hand unit.
Cheers Simon Senior
MX5A

From supasparky@yahoo.co.uk Fri Apr 27 17:48:49 2007
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.co.uk;
h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding;
b=maUycsaOXJe2GxU0bqpENtMyKdlMrjqydK0lxMs4Ez7YJq5NK5P2mf+tPfk88NBiFkoEuxZMCMZTSN2WjBXqjW4AXwSr1DmQGerUO0bPlmNi3yZ6TxB3WM8RpGstFSRhIk9DhsBvCOE3fD0slQGUVAlv/V55jOeccHPolbypkXg=
;
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 04:34:01 +0000 (GMT)
From: glenn roberts <supasparky@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: That Accident
To: MX5List <mx5list@mx5club.org.nz>
In-Reply-To: <440BB6FB.000001.01012@FATBOY>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Precedence: list
Message-ID: <YwfkQD.A._DH.ZGZMGB@L733>

Hmmm. i guess my insurance premium is going to go up
now that MX5's are now a menace on the roads and make
the front page accident news.

Glenn "SLYDIT"
http://miata.cardomain.com/id/supasparky
Hairdressers car??? well no. but it does have a HAIR DRYER!

Post by **zorruno** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:34 pm

Hi Dave

"Dave Reynolds" Wrote

Once the engine was warmed up, I noticed the oil pressure was a lot
lower than the other cars I've tested. The gauge sat on 2 - 2.1
at 3-4000rpm, and less than 1 at idle (I estimate the gauge read
about 0.5 at idle).

The pressure gauge is not that reliable (even the 'actual gauge' type
ones in the earlier models) - It is useful to tell you the
pressure has dropped... as long as you know where it is normally
positioned. I certainly wouldn't use it as a measure of correct oil
pressure or not.

The air con switch was also broken, leaving the air con permanently
on. The rotary fan switch still worked, but the push botton no
longer "pushed". Is this a difficult/expensive switch to replace?

Sounds like a relatively simple job if you can get a replacement switch.

You can pull the full surround plate off (the one around the stereo
and all the other switches etc) and get to it easily. You might find
that there is just a spring missing from it or something. Worst case
scenario would be you have to wire up another on off switch somewhere
which I'm sure could be done if you can't find that switch at a wreckers.

While I;m here, a couple more questions. The rubbers along the top
of the doors (that seal against the windows) are perished. Is that
a straightforward replacement job?

Never done it, but I assume not too hard. Mazda dealers and MX5 Mart
(plus the international aftermarket vendors) have replacement seals +
the hard top cable etc if you need new ones.

And when I changed up, there was a distinct "click" as I engaged
the higher gear. The gear lever didn't jump or baulk as if the
synchro was protesting, just a "clicking" sound. Is that normal,
or a sign of gearbox problems?

Can't answer this one, sorry - but I know the gearboxes seem to last
pretty well.

I would however look at the notes around re how to check for the short
nose crank problem, as that is not a cheap exercise to fix. Most other
known common engine problems can be easily rectified with a bit of
maintenance.

Oh and as to the limited budget - I think that is the best way to buy
them. Spend little up front, then you have money for things like a
brand new top, tyres, paint, suspension mods or whatever you wish later.

HTH
cheers
zorruno

poison · Post by **poison** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:47 pm

Double that for the cam belt if you go to city garage

Gazza
"PO1SON"

Roy & Sue Cunningham · Post by **Roy & Sue Cunningham** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:19 am

Interesting Gazza.
What is the price if you go to John Andrew (who give 15%) On Ponsonby Road.
Roy

poison · Post by **poison** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:05 pm

Not sure of other places, but here's my tale...

I bought all the bits Cam Belt, standard belts, water pump, new, crank bolt
and key plus something else I can't recall. They charged me 5 1/2 hrs labour
(this incl an oil change so call it 5 hrs, still a looooong time). They got
some
bearings, seals and a tensioner and I was up above $600 + the $200 on parts
I bought beforehand. Total job cost came to over $800.00

Also I gave them locktite to glue in the crank bolt and they didn't use it
because "It didn;t need it" I was p*ssed off, they should have rang before
making this decision.

After this I rang around and got estimates from 2 1/2 hrs to 4hrs if
everything possible went wrong.

Next time I would buy all these bits as the prices they charged seemed to me
to be excessive, lesson here. get a quote on the time. And buy all the bits
yourself.

By the way buy your water pump from Autoclutch in Morningside, and they give
a decent club discount. Good quality part, looks to be genuine you can see
where the name was ground off. When I was in Japan last my GF worked at a
Toyota parts manufacturer (in a city called Toyota funny enough). The same
parts went into 3 different branded boxes, some parts having the "Toyota"
branding cut/ground off first. Quite an eye opener. The funny thing is
"Genuine Parts" are not made by Toyota, Mazda etc etc but by suppliers who
have won the supply contract. Although the quality control is very good.

Gazza
"PO1SON"

From chris.tankard@aderant.com Fri Apr 27 17:49:18 2007
Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Subject: RE: airbag
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 22:48:17 +1300
Thread-Topic: airbag
Thread-Index: AcZBnoWWY/HacFtcRgmdYmdLX9KxsQALb1DZ
References: <5EC326B1-2A11-4F94-96F5-C81839F9DE3E@soundtrax.co.nz>
From: "Chris Tankard" <chris.tankard@aderant.com>
To: "MX5List" <mx5list@mx5club.org.nz>, <mx5list@mx5club.org.nz>
Precedence: list
Message-ID: <0ZxhJ.A.qEH.ZGZMGB@L733>

Hi Jim,

A big implication will be the need to get this certified - a (iro) $300
exercise.

C

________________________________

From: e-admin@mx5club.org.nz on behalf of James Hall
Sent: Tue 7/03/2006 5:16 p.m.
To: mx5list@mx5club.org.nz
Subject: airbag

Yes I know it is frowned upon by the MOT but I want to replace the
Huge air-bag Momo wheel on my 96 MX5 with a smaller momo. What are
the implications? Will the buzzer stay on all the time and will I
have to remove the warning light from behind the dash? All help would
be appreciated. cheers Jim Hall

geoff cotton · Post by **geoff cotton** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:22 am

Hi Dave. as an a grade mechanic, the modern jap car does not lose oil pressure
through worn bearings etc like the old pommie ones. The lower end is pretty
much trouble free. If you have bearing problems, It woulld sure let you know!
ie rattle like hell. Also, I heard mazda actually built the 'clik' into the
gearbox as the final spoof to the english as to how to make a Lotus
elan...properly! Get the car checked by someone who knows what they're doin;
and do it! cheers geoff C.

Who is online