I've seen the oil pump relief valve stick on a couple of 1996 models, but it's extremely rare. The oil pressure gauge on those cars is really just a light, it shows you have 7 psi of pressure or more, but not how much more. That wouldn't cause smoking though.
critical question: white, black, or blue smoke?
grimmelshanks wrote: critical question: white, black, or blue smoke?
TRUTH!
Don't tell the seller, but new plug wires will fix the 13 hp issue.
dark smoke that goes away dooooeeeess sound like oil but in all honesty there are sooo many things it could be. if it was over filled a little bit on oil and it needs rings, i could see it doing that. i could also see how it would be possible that its just starting to need valve guide seals. im sure you see where im going with this... i dont know what to tell you. you really do need to find someone who knows alot about miatas and on that note, im done.
120k seems like really low mileage to have those issues. Lowball em, wost he can say is no, tick off the issues before you offer, but count on the worst, get a quote from a shop on fixing said issues....use it for leverage. What is he asking for it?
At 120k, it's due for a timing belt change. Use that for negotiation, then use the job to familiarize yourself with the car. The "rear main seal" leak is probably a leaky cam angle sensor o-ring, super-easy to change as part of a timing belt job and still only an easy half hour or so as a standalone job. I'd certainly throw some new wires on there, that's more likely than a failed cat. It's an OBD-II car, so pulling the codes from the computer might tell you how the cat is feeling.
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