MX5 Various Mechanical Issues

Soldato
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I've shamelessly copy and pasted it from the post I made on the MX5 forums but it's always interesting to hear you guys ideas as well...

Car is a Mk1 1.8 I've found these various problems with the car, most of them were noted by the dealer when serviced in August but clearly not rectified! Would appreciate any input you guys can give

1

Brake disc looks pretty rusty to me. I've tried to clean it up with disc cleaner+cloth but this was the best I could do. Any thoughts?

brake_t.jpg


click here for a bigger pic http://www.crossleysolutions.co.uk/pics/mx5/brake.jpg

2 Garage also noted a bit of oil around the cam cover, you can clearly see that in the photo. Is it a problem and if so how do I rectify it please?

cam_t.jpg


click here for a bigger pic

http http://www.crossleysolutions.co.uk/pics/mx5/cam.jpg

3 Garage noted brake fluid looks dark. I guess it does. What do you think?

fluid.jpg


4 The plastic window is slightly coming away from the hood at the bottom centre section. Can this be repaired? It doesnt seem to be leaking at the moment

hood.jpg


5 Garage noted that shock absorber cover was broken- I can see the rubber thingy is sort of hanging down which doesn't look good..

shock_t.jpg

click here for a bigger picture

http://www.crossleysolutions.co.uk/pics/mx5/shock.jpg
 
Associate
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I was always told to not really be conserned about rusty brake discs as they quickly become shiney again after a bit of braking.

Not sure about your other issues.

EDIT: actually this happened to me last night after finally getting my dead battery back to life after 3-4 days of not moving the car. The brakes sounded aweful, a horrid grinding noise when I braked but after 3 or 4 careful corners later, it cleared up and they're perfect again. I assume that was rust.
 
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Soldato
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mmm have done about 500 miles in it since I bought it (mostly the long journey back from where it was purchased) and then 50 or so miles on errands and test piloting!
 
Soldato
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discs? just use the car, when you brake... the rust should come off. if it doesnt, get new disks lol

oil around the cam cover... get a new gasket

brake fluid.... just change it


i dont get what the complication is. is someone buying it? if so just haggle the price down because of the work it needs.... or just dont buy it

hardly rocket science mate
 
Soldato
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Matt82 said:
discs? just use the car, when you brake... the rust should come off. if it doesnt, get new disks lol

oil around the cam cover... get a new gasket

brake fluid.... just change it


i dont get what the complication is. is someone buying it? if so just haggle the price down because of the work it needs.... or just dont buy it

hardly rocket science mate

Dude I'm just checking the car out before I go driving it hell for leather and something goes wrong. Some people are really into their DIY on this forum so I thought I'd get peoples opinions before carrying out the work myself or wasting money on a garage doing it. I already own the car. There is no problem. Like I said I just want peoples opinions as I am not an experienced mechanic.
 
Soldato
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every car has its price, as long as you paid a price that reflects the necessary work, youre fine.

the brakes should clean up after one use, if not it would appear the car has been left stationary for a long time and the discs have rotted.

in regard to the brake fluid, i would suggest you have that changed as a matter of course. the fluid absorbs water over time and degrades (its boiling point lowers and it becomes less effective as brake fluid), whilst youre at it have the other fluids changed too (engine and gbox oil)

the boot over the shock absorber, its there to keep dirt out, some cars dont have them at all, so i wouldnt worry

the oil around the head looks minimum (i cannot see the rest of the bay) so depending on where you brought it from, if it was a dealer they may have prettied it all up and cleaned away any previous oil, hence no one can say how much of a problem you have there without seeing the rest of it.

remember, it is japanese so will generally be bullet proof.
 
Soldato
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bought privatey at a good price so I'm not worried about spending a bit on sorting it out but would prefer to do the work myself to keep the costs down and also because I find it interesting. Will change be changing all the fluids I think as it doesn't do any harm, is not expensive etc. Will refer to the workshop manual with regards changing that gasket but I can't imagine it's that hard and it looks like the part is £10. Thanks for your help Matt.
 
Soldato
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youll love it, as i said above, the bits the need doing are far from complex and are general maintenance really. there are few things more satisfying that tinkering about with your car!

do the engine oil and filter. same with the air filter. if the car is an older model or has quite high mileage, it really is worth going the gbox oil too, that is often over looked.

i was after an early 90s mx5 last summer and a runabout, there are some really neglected examples out there, but due to the fact they are japanese they seem to take it in their stride.

the weather is good at the moment so i suggest you get your boiler suit out and start tinkering :D
 
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That's what I've been doing this morning! Only had chance to inspect today as I have to work this afternoon. The next step is to get the parts ordered and then next time I actually have a full day off and it's not ******* it down I will get to work. I've been after an MX5 for the last year or so but it's taken me this long to find one that was not either a complete dog or overpriced. February is defo the month to buy an MX5!! ;)
 

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Soldato
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doesnt look to bad actually

a rocker cover gasket and a brake fluid change would see you right :)

as for the boot its not essential so dont worry about it, the brake discs suck it and see if it cleans up when driven then fine if not, it might be a stick caliper again no biggy just strip it free it off and apply some moly,

as for the plastic window um not sure best to ask some mx5 peeps
 
Soldato
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Actually, those discs probably should be replaced, or at least skimmed. Note that the friction material is only making contact over a small section of the disc, it should go almost to the edge. New pads will be needed obviously. The brake fluid is probably well past it's service date, so should be flushed through with new fluid.

Rest of the issues are fairly trivial. The rubber gators on the shocks tend not to last very long, the ones on my MR2 had converted themsleves into a pile of rubber rings when I changed the shocks. It could be replaced fairly cheaply if you are worried about it, ditto the cam cover gasket.
 
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I wouldn't worry too much about the hood, you could proberbly superglue or duck tape it back together for now, and if it really becomes a problem there are some places that do softop repair, or if your feeling flush you could get the roof replaced with one that has a glass roof and doesn't need unzipping! lazy++
 
Soldato
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Matt82 said:
discs? just use the car, when you brake... the rust should come off. if it doesnt, get new disks lol

oil around the cam cover... get a new gasket

brake fluid.... just change it


i dont get what the complication is. is someone buying it? if so just haggle the price down because of the work it needs.... or just dont buy it

hardly rocket science mate
 
Soldato
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As said Persil there is no massive problem, I'm just interested to get the input and experiences from more mature car DIY bods as I'm still only really at the change oil and filters stage of car DIY at the moment.
 
Soldato
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do you have a rough idea of which oil to get etc? seriously, take it one task at a time and just post on here with any queries if they crop up.

there is a good knowledge of cars here
 
Soldato
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Update- Took her out for a spin this morning. Stuck to 30mph but was braking harshly in a straight line. Both discs were nice and shiney when I got back at the front (the rears were still a bit manky). However, there appeared to be some scoring on the offside front disc (the one I pictured yesterday) and on the nearside front disc I could smell a bit of burning. I then touched that disc and it felt very hot, then touched the offside front disc to compare and that felt hot but not anything like as hot as the nearside one. I'm pretty sure that new discs and pads are in order but am thinking that I should defo check out the operation of the nearside front caliper. What do you guys reckon? The scoring I have seen can also be seen in the original picture of the brake disc.
 
Soldato
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Matt,

If you want to give the car a bit of a pampering then you could do the following...

Change brake fluid. Make sure you bleed each corner after (I suspect the fluid is old and has boiled which leaves a liquid which is thinner than normal brake fluid or if any moisture somehow got in then maybe air in the system, this would also explain why one corner is breaking harder than the other.

Whilst you are at it you could change the discs and pads, looking at one of the discs it doesnt look like it's worn evenly but I could be mistaken.

The rocker/cam cover just unbolts and there is a gasket around it, I expect this is old or the cover has been removed and the gasket reused. You have to unbolt and rebolt the cover's bolts in a certain order and to a very strict torque setting to avoid warping the cover. Gaskets are around £10. If it isn't actually leaking then don't bother though. It could be just dirty but not leaking from some previous work.

If you are unable to repair the cover then I think it would be worth getting a new cover on the shock. If grit and rubbish gets into the shock then it will waste it.

You can buy an entire new hood which you can fit yourself, it's a tough job and would take most of a day to do.

I wouldn't say you "have" to do any of these things but if you have about £250-£300 lying around you could make your car faultless with it.
 
Soldato
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If that was my car i would replace the disks .
There seems to be a bit a lip which = worn disks .
There not expensive to replace so do the pads and disks and the fluid .

Persil
 
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