Hi all,
Fairly novice MX-5 lover here looking for some help to save my disastrous first experience!! (Apologies in advance for the long post).
Around 18 months ago I achieved something of a dream and bought my first MX-5, a black MkIII 2005 plate, 1.8 cabriolet.
I confess I didn’t know a great deal about MX-5s suffice to say I thought they were stunning cars and soon learnt, equally fantastic to drive!
It wasn’t long after buying the car I first had some issues with a smoking engine. At first an oil and filter change and an engine cleaner seemed to do the trick, but a few months later the problem returned and was diagnosed as smoke coming from cylinder 3 upon spark plug removal. I’ve been advised the only way to fully diagnose the issue is essentially to take the engine apart to get at the piston rings and see if its a replacement or cleaning job thats required. Either way the labour costs will be eye-watering.
In addition to this are other issues that need resolving including a corroded brake disc, broken coil spring, leaking shock absorber and anti roll bar drop links which have play.
I have no mechanical experience myself but understand that the main issue here with the engine is rarely seen in MX-5s.
I’ve since sat on the problem pondering whether to repair the car, sell as is or attempt to learn enough to take a look myself.
Before you know it a long time has passed and I’ve done none of the 3, so wanted to get some advice from people who know what they’re talking about. Are the issues rectifiable? Is it worth enlisting a mechanic to do the repairs? Is there a specialist out there who takes on projects such as this?
Any guidance at all would be gratefully appreciated!
Thanks,
Dan
Firstly welcome to the forum.
Can you let us know your location so that we can advise on people near your who can help.
With regards to the engine whilst the Mk3 engine is very reliable you do have to keep the oil level at the max mark on the dipstick and change the oil and filter every 10,000 miles or you can have problems with engine wear.
To confirm that your problem is with engine wear I suggest that you get someone to do a compression test, both wet and dry. This will confirm if the problem is with valve seals or pistons ring/bore wear.
If piston/bore wear then it is generally cheaper to fit a reconditioned engine. Roddisons at Sheffield may be able to let you have a good engine,http://www.mx5-racing.co.uk or under rodders on this forum.
Thanks for the quick reply (which I totally missed for the past week!)
I’m in Stafford in the Midlands. I believe the compression test was done when I had the initial problem diagnosed.
I’m now looking to sell wither before or after the necessary work. Would you recommend fitting the reconditioned engine and then attempting to sell? Or selling now as a project for someone else to take on?
No matter what leaking shockers are an MOT fail - so they’ll need replaced.
Dan why dont you bite the bullet,treat yourself to a repair manual and you will see how easy the non engine repairs are.If you did them yourself you would most likely save enough in labour charges to buy your own engine hoist,get your replacement engine delivered and fit it yourself.You will be amazed at the satisfaction you will get by doing this.
Kind Regards
Ian.
If you looking to sell we buy all mk3/3.5 mx5’s runners or not…
feel free to call me on 07770 566599
paul
How many miles has it done??
An engine swap is a massive challenge for someone who’s not mechnically minded.
If the broken spring and leaking shocker are on the front, then these are not the easiest of jobs either for a novice.
Corroded discs and drop links are easy enough.
The deciding factor would have to be that cyliner 3 though.
I guess there are a few things you could try before embarkinging on such a massive job.
I’ve heard stories about gummed up oil rings, and that allowing diesel to soak has freed them off.
So it might be worth taking the plugs out and putting some diesel in the cylinder, allow this to soak for a short while, then crank over the engine to blow the deisel out.
Followed by an oli change afterwards.
I think if it were me, I’d be looking to figure out the cause of the the oil burn and potential costs before shelling out on anything else.