Owned a few classic cars over time and nothing wrong with the mx mk1 at the mo but like to get a heads up on anything that is a issue with this car
The engines are pretty bomb proof, as long as the fluids are changed regularly. The biggest problem is the body work. The rear sills rot form the inside out, both sides on mine have had to have the sill up to the top of the arch replaced. Make sure all the drain holes are kept clear to help prevent this. (holes in sill itself and drain tubes just behind the seats on the parcel shelf).
I also had problems with the bottom of the wings as there is a natural dirt trap there!
Enjoy your 5
Did clean out a while ago found alsorts in there even a nail clipper dropped on the drive must of fell out of a travel bag
ps do you recommenced to remove inner wing plastic to clean
They are all old. Everything is well past their sell-by dates. Bit like me.
Mostly rust though.
Everything else is just a big boy’s Meccano set.
Parts are still, mostly, pocket money…for now anyway.
If you have AC and it’s goosed…strip it out.
Yes.
Hi, had my mk1 for over three years now and has over 230k km on it. As mentioned all the mechanicals seem bullet proof not had to replace anything other than service items and I got a new roof put on. I think it’s normal but they do shake and rattle a bit but I found fitting a front strut brace tightened things up and it definitely benefited from a four wheel alignment. As also mentioned i too have done the rear sills and arches. I also had a rust hole under the right hand headlamp so might be worth checking under there. Other than that, brilliant car!
nothing wong with sills got spot welds on them .Will take it in for wheel alignment have a slight problem treated roof but still lets water in. Used tend proffer on it great as water beeds on top still get water inside
As I indicated before, you really need to give more information about which Mk1 import you have, as there were 3 different variants of 1.6, the 1.8 came in two different flavours, plus auto versus manual.
Randomly ordered list based on my 20+ years of ownership. I’ve probably missed a bunch of stuff.
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Clutch slave cylinders; will fail at around 50k miles, often without much warning.
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Rear calipers; always end up failing on handbrake efficiency.
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Early (pre 91) 1.6’s; crank nose wear, causing loss of timing. Other models can suffer this problem, depending on the slack jaw yokel who changed the cambelt
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Cracked radiator tops. Who brown radiator versus green radiator controversy. Plastic gets heat cycled and becomes brittle, and crack
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Rust on rear sills wheel arch lips, starts from inside out.
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Vinyl hoods shrink over time, causing leaks into footwell and behind seats. Rainrail can fail and cause leaks under the deck carpet. Deck carpet will feel dry to touch. Water will track back into the sills. Design flaw in the sills creates plenty of non-draining spots and rot. This is exacerbated by the main drains behind the seats becoming blocked. Plastic window can become brittle and crack; never lower the roof without unzipping the window. Release hood catches then unzip.
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Relays can fail, eg bizarre “winking” headlights
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Wiper motor speed control wears out, leading to slow wipers. At least 3 different wiper motors were fitted. Late motors can’t be fitted to early cars.
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Diff carrier is designed to crack in an impact, to protect the driveline, as the diff is connected to the gearbox by the PPF. Cars that have had light rear impacts can have hairline cracks in the carrier, and break without warning.
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Batteries; don’t fit a cheap lead acid battery, unless you like a rotten boot. Fit original Panasonic branded gelmat battery. Not certain for how much longer Panasonic/Mazda will supply this battery (Mk2 was the last car to use it). It is a long lived battery though, though it doesn’t like jump charging.
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Rear light cluster seals can dry out and leak
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Sidelight bulb holders become brittle, and the retaining tangs snap off
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Waterpumps can leak, especially if not replaced at the same time as the cambelt
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O-rings around the CAS can leak. Annoying on the 1.6, on the 1.8, leads to leaking on the heater hoses, softening them, and increasing the chance of sudden failure
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Camcover gaskets develop leaks. More so with pattern gaskets. Leaks can foul the spark plugs.
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Rubber clutch hose over the gearbox can split at the ends.
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Small spring in door lock can snap, leading to the door handle becoming inoperative.
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Slow power windows; either sticking guides or worn control cables. Cables can snap, damaging the lifter motor assembly.
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Push-push window switch can develop faults leading to slow windows. Whether you have these depends on which model year you have, but we don’t know which one you have.
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Shifter boots split, shifter bushings can split, giving an precise 2nd to 3rd change. On most cars, 2nd to 1st can feel very stiff to owners not used to this type of mechanical shifter. Use of a synthetic gear oil with a moly additive, such as Redline, can improve things in some cars, but not all. In all of my Roadsters, the sift to me feels Enfield precise. Quick shift kits generally ruin things.
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On 1.6 cars, thermostat bypass hoses can block with metal turnings,leading to overheating problems, and eventual cooling fan motor failures. Thermostats fail open, radiator caps wear out.
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Front brake calipers can stick. Like the rears, the sliding pins should be kept well lubricated, and not with copperease.
23. Some imports will still have sealed beam halogens. Sealed beam halogens are generally unobtanium, There are low wattage Triumph Herald non-halogen units, but why would you fit this. If a sealed beam headlamp fails, need to buy two new 7" H4 headlamps.
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On imports, there can be botched attempts to fit fog lamps, leading to all kinds of dash failures.#
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On older 1.6s, some oil pressure sender units are starting to go bad, leading to unreliable oil, pressure readings, Replacements sender units are pretty expensive.
26.Throttle Position Sensor; this can develop problems after 30 years, some of which can be tracked back to band grounding wire (if can get messed up by oil leaks)
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Coil packs, 3 types, depending on model of car. 1.8s have a higher failure rate, especially if the ignition is left on, without the motor being started. Earlier 4 pin 1.8 coil packs seem to have a higher failure rate than 3 pin packs. Can’t fit 3 pin packs to 4 pin cars. The insulation on coil packs can be burnt by shorting plug lead connectors.
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Alternators can blow diodes.
29. Factory fit CD player can get jumpy. Can be fixed by stripping down, and cleaning the felt pads with alcohol
30. Headrest speakers blow, and blow.
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On older cars, not recommended to clean the bottom of the front wings by releasing the bottom bolts. The M10s used on the car are like chocolate, and will likely shear.
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Seat belts can feel loose. To an extent, thats because on imports there is an electrical relaxer function; pull the fuse. But mostly, its because the webbing is dirty. Cleaning with a good heavy duty foaming cleaner can restore functionality
33. Clutch switches can fail.
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Linkages on the heater control can come apart.
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Throttle pedal bracket can crack through; seems more common on 1.6 models, completely unknown on LHD cars, so I suspect this is to do with the condition of the throttle cable.
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Catalytic converters can fail, either due to impact damage or engine fault.
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O2 sensors (lambda sensors) can fail. Early cars used single 12V feed. Later (1.8) cars used a heated version. Heated O2 sensors can be fitted to early cars.
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Water thermister can fail, putting the engine into a “cold start loop” (idle too high, running rich)
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Factory springs can crack, at the top, particularly the rears.
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Front and rear crank seals can fail; if rear fails, could contaminate the clutch
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Clutch release bearing can seize
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Hydraulic lifters on the Mk1 engine, so some can stick, leading to tapping.
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1.8 oil pump strainer can clog, leading to oil starvation.
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Oil pressure relief valve on the 1.6 can stick.
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Crankshaft pulley damper can separate.
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Leaking roof can cause corrosion issues in the ECU, located in the passenger footwell.
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Factory stainless steel sill covers can scratch the sills, and cause surface corrosion.
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Bonnet hinges can seize, distorting the bonnet
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Seeing the headlamp bulb connectors now start to become heatcycled, and brittle
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Wishbone failures on cars fitted with aftermarket bushes. The bushes seize, and the wishbone fatigues and cracks. Wishbones can corrode through, but more of an issue with the Mk2, which had a change in the pressing.
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Clear coat on bumpers can lift off. On early silver and white cars, problems with the primer cause the paint to peel off.
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Hood catches can wear.
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Internal spring loaded bolt inside the mirror housed breaks due to corrosion, and mirror falls off.
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Don’t ever use the box sections on the underside for a jack. These will not support the weight of the car, except at the double skinned ends. These are anti-drum channels, designed to improve NVH, not structural. Frequently crushed like a pancake, due to slack jawed yokel mechanic.
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On 1.8s, the oil scraper rings can stick, leading to extremely high oil usage at quite a low mileage. Possibly, aggressive sea foaming might improve things
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Wiring for boot stop lamp can come adrift, and trap on the hinge, cutting it. Owners frequently unaware this has happened.
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Aircon compressor clutch can seize
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Door lock barrels can wear, leading to lock not locking
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Intermittant wipe function can become faulty on post 1995 cars, due to stalk switch.
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Headlamp switch wears on pre-95 cars leading to high beam function becoming unreliable.
Made it to 50 things. Someone an come up with the next 50.
If the roof is vinyl, its shrunk and fit for the bin.
thanks for all the info really appreciated as this is the last car im going to own love it
Bloody hell Saz, I’m scared to look at mine now, never mind starting and driving it, lol.
All good to know learnt a lot so thanks Saz if it goes wrong will be back up till now its fine but will be checking the points you brought up and start my spares collection
That’s a scary list Saz - frightened to use mine now.
I suspect that the next ‘50’ list will be a generic list of stuff that can happen to all old cars.
Yeah, but the OP wanted to know all the things that could go wrong in a 20-30 year old car, without using search. And we still don’t know which model of MX5 he has besides its a “Mk1”. So there might be things on there that are irrelevant to his particular car.
Could start of a list of new things that might go wrong. I recall Dutch owners were particularly worried about delaminating PCBs, and were banging on at Mazda Europe about what they were going to do about that. Not that its happened yet, but it might.
Add to the list the brake pipe over the rear subframe; its a bit difficult to replace.
Its not an exhaustive list, and you can’t learn a lot from just bullet points. And no good you stocking up on, say, 3-pin coil packs when you have a 1.6. We still have no idea which model you have, besides that its a car built between 1989-97. Within that range, there were 4 significant updates, involving changes in engine, emissions control and chassis.
On this forum, we would prefer if owners don’t just visit when the car goes wrong, but actually involve themselves a bit. This forum is not just a resource for technical questions, but is also social. There is a Quid Pro Quo expectation, and people enjoy reading about other forum members’ cars, projects etc. Even non MX5 stuff, such as Toyota Seras (the gull wing Corolla).
One thing you could do is join the MX5 Owners Club, which funds this forum. Join the club, get along to a meeting, speak to other owners.
Hay did not want to start a row mk1 1.6 auto 1991 feel great as you all responded so quick and there is nothing wrong with the car apart from me being to picky about a stile 20 revs . And i have a sera and its not a corolla every thing is starlet apart from the body . To join a forum is good way to get info that you cant get from a book or online as someone has done it and its better
The 1.6 auto is a bit down on power compared to the manual. Has an open differential, versus the viscous LSD on most manual Roadsters. Shares the same gearbox with some Nissan light vans and certain London taxis, so parts supply ought to be ok. Persoanlly, I don’t like how the auto drives, but it does it for some others.
Forums are ok, to an extent, but as another poster pointed out, there is a lot of rubbish spouted as well. My top 50, for instance, might have been made up. Providing more details about your car could have provided more context to the advice proferred, whether the idle fluctuation is seen in Park or neutral or both. Because your questions have probably been answered in the previous 10 years of posts (or even near 20 years on miataforum), searching also helps. As for many many other forums, searching forums by google is better than using the forum search engine. I haven’t come across a single forum where the inhouse search is better than google. Its knowing the lexicon of google that allos you good search
There is also MX5nutz.com, mx5life.com and mazdamender,net as UK forums to ask questions on. UK forums are comparatively quiet compared to the US/Canadian Miataforum.com.
Corolla, Starlet, all the same really…
Wow, if I hadn’t owned mine for the last trouble free 5 years I don’t think I would bother buying one!