Expert MX5 Advice Needed

raekil · Post by **raekil** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:41 pm

Hey guys,
I'm looking at purchasing my very first MX5. It's a '96 import and I'm in love with it already but have had a pre-purchase inspection and they have found the following things:

- minor tear in soft top above passenger door
- noisy tyres
- suspected exhaust leak at manifold
- tapping noise on cold start

There is also a service due and as the k's are only at 69,000kms and no cambelt sticker so I'm assuming it will be needing a replacement soon enough.

Any idea what sort of amount I should take off his asking price? I don't know the first thing about cars or MX5's and I don't know if this "possible" exhaust leak means something severely serious or if it's a quick fix. And what's the cost of repairing a "minor" tear in the roof? Coming from a nightmare BMW that had $6000 worth of repairs, I don't want to go down that road again! If anyone can shed some light on these sorts of issues, that would be greatly appreciated!

Angreal · Post by **Angreal** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:49 pm

Pretty much all pop-up lights MX5s will tick on startup and should die down once the engine is warm. The only way to fix this is to pull the cams out and clean the HLAs http://www.miata.net/garage/hla/cleaning.html which I'll be attempting shortly.

Noisy tyres shouldn't be an issue... the MX5s in general all squeak, rattle and make noises, oh and the wind noise which will over-ride everything when the top is down

Exhaust leak shouldn't be too big a deal if it's just gaskets that need replacing (undo some bolts and replace?) but if the exhaust has split you should know and it just means you'll have to buy some extractors (couple hundred) or turbo setup (couple thousand depending on what you do)

Depends on the tear. Mine has small tears because it spends most of it's life down with the hardtop on but doensn't leak. If you have a photo of the tear then we should be able to rate the severity. A brand spanking new top should be a touch over 1k? (no idea on soft top prices sorry) or get a hardtop for the same price and use it during winter and take it off during summer

The 70k service isn't a big one while the 80k one is (cambelt should be done at the 100k generally)

Kieran · Post by **Kieran** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:50 pm

New Roof $800(Soft Top) $1000(Hardtop)
New Tyres $100 Each
2nd Hand Exhaust Manifold (Talk to Mazline) Won't be to much
Tapping noise is normal try changing the oil to a 5W-30 usually helps
Cambelt and waterpump will need to be changed at 100K if the cambelt snaps it won't hurt the motor just put a new one on and away you go

Angreal · Post by **Angreal** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:56 pm

I can tell you what's in the maintenance schedule for the 70k service when I get home (stuck to my door) but pretty sure it's just oil and general inspection, while the 80k has basically all the fluid boxes ticked - gearbox, diff, engine oil etc

raekil · Post by **raekil** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:13 pm

Wow thanks everyone for the help! Such quick replies and you've really cleared a few things up for me. Sounds like it's not as scary as I thought

Angreal if you could let me know the maintenance schedule and details when you can that would be great!

Kieran · Post by **Kieran** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:21 pm

Basically change the fluids and filters every 10000Km
And inspect all other wearable things ie brakes, radiator hoses, etc.
Mx5s are usually pretty trouble free no where near as bad as BMWs

tomtikki · Post by **tomtikki** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:48 pm

Kieran wrote:New Roof $800(Soft Top) $1000(Hardtop)
New Tyres $100 Each
2nd Hand Exhaust Manifold (Talk to Mazline) Won't be to much
Tapping noise is normal try changing the oil to a 5W-30 usually helps
Cambelt and waterpump will need to be changed at 100K if the cambelt snaps it won't hurt the motor just put a new one on and away you go

Kieran has hit the nail on the head with those numbers mate - ive done all of them in the last year.
The Mx is probably the cheapest car to do a cambelt on and if does go (like mine did!) its a non-interference motor so it doesn't hurt it internally!

Growler · Post by **Growler** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:57 pm

The car is 16 years old and only done 69,000k. That equates to around 4,000k a year which is nothing.
I would get the tear looked at first as it may be an easy repair.
The tires are probably old. You can persevere with this (as it still gets a warrent obviously) until you get some cash together for new tyres.
The manifold leak is a suspected leak. I would assume this is just a gasket that has gotten brittle with lack of use.
The tapping noise could be again from a lack of use. Change the oil and run it for a few weeks and see if that improves it

raekil · Post by **raekil** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 7:19 pm

Thanks guys for all your advice and suggestions, I've shown my father this link and we've decided to go with the car! Very exciting! I'm mostly excited about the cheap mechanic bills compared to the dreaded BMW!

WideOpenThrottle · Post by **WideOpenThrottle** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 8:27 pm

We had a patch repair done on our soft-top by our local upholsterer for $20.00 & said it would last a year but we got two at least.

I then bought a new sot-top for $800.00 & spent nearly two days swapping it over.
It may cost $350-500 to get an upholsterer do it for you so factor that in too!

I serviced my ticking HLA's & they are now quiet-as

New ones were gonne be at least $16.00 each [16 of them in there]!

Angreal · Post by **Angreal** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 9:00 pm

Well the 70k service is a lot of inspections of everything and an oil change if you use themazda service schedule

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:28 am

mx5 are cheap to run, thats the great thing about them. the major cost items are soft tops (Replace every 8-10 years) and then things like supension and gearboxes if they get clunky. engines are dirt cheap so even if you lunch one (not very common) its not a mortgagable repair.
ticking on startup is nothing to worryabout. nearly all mx5 do it at some stage. its just a matter of findig a brand of oil that suits YOUR car, what works in one car may not cure the tick in another.

there are general maintenance things that are good to keep on top of like making sure your electric windows slide freely so they dont break the cable etc.

Growler · Post by **Growler** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 2:35 pm

SLYDIT wrote:there are general maintenance things that are good to keep on top of like making sure your electric windows slide freely so they dont break the cable etc.

Someone mentioned a dry lube stick for the guides. Can anyone remember what that was?

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:36 pm

i have used dry lithium spray which works well and moly grease on the mechanical bits.

Angreal · Post by **Angreal** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:38 pm

Yeah I used the lithium grease also. Can't drink percolated coffee anymore as the taste reminds me of the stuff...

Growler · Post by **Growler** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:20 pm

SLYDIT wrote:i have used dry lithium spray which works well and moly grease on the mechanical bits.

Cheers. I bought a new cable/motor etc and fitted it about 4 - 5 ears ago. At the moment it is reeallllyyyy slow to go up and down - which must be putting a lot of strain on the cables and to a lesser extend the motor.
Can you remember what brand of dry lithium grease you used?

sprsta · Post by **sprsta** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:49 pm

put a squirt of carbon powder in the rubber too

Expert MX5 Advice Needed

Expert MX5 Advice Needed

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