I have a 1998 S Reg Mazda MX5 MK2 which was in excellent condition for its age. The body work is great and it has only done a little over 100,000 miles. Unfortunately, prior to driving back to Peterborough to see family for Christmas I neglected to check my oil and although I made it back safely the engine died whilst back in Peterborough over Christmas. When I managed to get the engine to restart it made a racket which the RAC man (whilst looking at me as if was the lowest form of life) advised me is due to the camshaft/big end knocking due to no oil and that an engine rebuid is necessary.
Does anyone know somewhere that would be able to carry out an engine rebuild/reconditioning within the East Anglia area?
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Just get a second hand engine, they are almost given away with breakfast cereal and will take someone with even a modest tool kit a day to do. You will need to hire an engine hoist and that’s about it. Make it a tech day for your region.
Really, there is nothing particularly complicated about it.
Agreed by the time you buy a full gasket set and a complete set of bearings and you may well have to have some machining done £1,000 would not be over the top.
As Nick says source a secondhand engine from a reliable source.
The Mk2 1.8 has some instances of sticky oil control rings that cause the normal nominal oil consumption to rise considerably.
I guess that happened to your car.
No real reason for it as some engines that are neglected do not get it and some that have two oil changes a year get it.
Always seems to be the 1.8 engines that fail due to crank/big end failure. They seem to inherently burn more oil than the 1.6 so important to always check oil level off the dipstick rather than relying on electrical low level warning light.
I’m not a big engine seller but sell enough to realise this is an all too common story, especially with the MK2 / MK2.5 engine.
You will need the MK2 engine 1998 - 2000 as a direct replacement. The VVT engine from the facelift MK2.5 is more commonly available and very cheap but not the right option for you. Crank / big end damage will likely cost £1000+ to rebuild properly.
MK2 1.8 is possibly the hardest engine to find with reasonable mileage(80k or preferably less) - expect to pay at least £300 - 400, delivered.
Garage would charge around £400 - 500 to install the engine for you. Whatever others may advise this is not a job for a DIY mechanic which is why garages typically charge for 5 - 7 hours of their time to do it.