Hi all, I got my first Miata and I have a few questions that hopefully the resident Miata expert here can help me with.
1. I have a minor leak from around the engine and the transmission. It started after I changed the engine oil, oil filter and trans and diff fluids about less than 50 miles ago. It smells like engine oil not trans fluid but I am not sure. I checked the engine oil drain plug and oil filter and both were tight. I know it sounds really vague but can any body tell me what could be the potential cause of this problem? I am going to get some lift time tomorrow during the local Mazda club DIY event so hopefully I can get better idea of what's wrong.
2. There is some ticking noise from the valve cover. It's louder when the engine is cold and not as loud as the engine warms up. Since this is my first Miata I am not sure if this is normal or not. I just changed the engine oil with Mobil1 10W-30 with NAPA gold oil filter. Is this normal or is this something I should worry about?
Thanks all.
The oil leak you're just going to have to chase, I'd make sure there's not two gaskets on the oil filter or something like that.
The valve ticking is a common affliction of Miatas, and it's not necessarily indicative of a larger problem, most of the time the noise itself is the only issue.
The crank angle sensor (CAS) o-ring is a common place that leaks oil. It is on the back of the head. The lifter tick is pretty normal, on my first Miata I just ran 10w-40 oil and it disappeared.
Thanks guys, amazing response time (6 minutes for the first response). Can I check the CAS o-ring from above the engine or can I only access it from below the car (i.e. with a lift)? Thanks.
I have never checked it but I assume it is accessible from above.
Here is a DIY from M.net: http://www.miata.net/garage/cas_oring.html
Often HLAs tick if the oil gets too hot, or as I near the oil change interval. There's lots of discussion about which oils to use in the motor to avoid the ticking. I run Royal Purple 5W40 (mostly because that's also what I run in my BMW) and have found less ticking after autoxs with it.
Checked the car on a lift and saw that there was some minor leak from around the valve cover gasket, the CAS o-ring and the oil drain plug (presumably because I didn't change the drain plug washer when I changed the engine oil). So I changed the valve cover gasket and the CAS o-ring hopefully that would stop the leak from around the valve cover.
Not sure what to do with the drain plug, it's pretty tight and I don't want to strip it by tightening it further but if I take it off and put a new washer I'd need a clean pan to hold the oil before I put it back in (it's only about 150 miles old). I guess I can always leave it until my next oil change which will be a while since I don't expect to drive the car for more than 2-3 kmiles per year. What should I do?
Leave the oil plug in. Drive the car more.
