Cursed Water Plug on 92

So a couple of weeks ago my radiator and Thermostat housing started to leak. Went ahead and replaced both of them and car seems good. Tonight was out running some errands and getting dinner and on the way back home smelled a whiff of coolant. Pulled into my parking space and looked under the car and saw a drip from the back side of the engine on the passengers side. Went and googled it and started looking and sure enough it looked like the "Cursed Water Plug" was leaking. I could see a steady drip right from the housing and probably from the plug. I've been looking at the usual places but can't seem to find the part. Anyone know off-hand maybe the Mazda part number or when I can find it? Also wondering if I should just have either Ace or Track Dog do the work and give the car the once over. I think its soon time for a timing belt and water pump anyway.

http://parts.arlingtonmazda.com/prod...52d104%29.html

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Originally Posted by wrx74

http://parts.arlingtonmazda.com/prod...52d104%29.html

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Thanks, I'll hit up a couple of Mazda dealers today to see if I can get the part local.

If you can't find one in stock, let me know. I think I have a spare new one, still in the bag. When I had to replace the one on my 93LE, I ordered 2... I don't think I ever got around to installing the second one on the 92, and that engine is getting replaced so i will have no need for it.

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Originally Posted by Titus

If you can't find one in stock, let me know. I think I have a spare new one, still in the bag. When I had to replace the one on my 93LE, I ordered 2... I don't think I ever got around to installing the second one on the 92, and that engine is getting replaced so i will have no need for it.

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Actually first dealer I went to had it, thanks for the offer though. :D

Now comes the fun of actually putting it on, hoping I can do it without removing the CAS though pretty much all that I have read says it a bear to do no matter what.

Ok, so the old plug is off and the new plug is on. My arms only look like I got into a fight with a Bobcat instead of a Tiger thanks to working in the space without taking anything else off. So far got it up to temp and took it out for a spin with no leaks so that is good. Fingers crossed that issue is fixed, now to wait for the next one to fix.

Probably one of these - or the water pump.
http://miatamecca.com/1-pix/4-sale/M...-1994-1997.jpg

Actually I was talking about another issue showing up, not so much another water leak. Though, amusing as it is, the clutch went out tonight. I knew sooner or later that would have to be done but on the way home, was getting off the highway and it would not shift into gear. So, was able to limp it the short distance home by doing the old trick of stopping at the light, putting it in first and then starting it and jumping across the intersection and then rev matching the rest of the shifts. Ah well, so much for the Miata doing Auto-X this weekend.

Good chance it is just the slave or clutch master, common failure on older Miatas.

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

Good chance it is just the slave or clutch master, common failure on older Miatas.

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What OZMDD said - BTDT

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

Good chance it is just the slave or clutch master, common failure on older Miatas.

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

What OZMDD said - BTDT

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Me, too.

Another vole for Slave/Master Cylinder.
The reference to the cooling system was from experience - once you fix one leak and the system can pressurize, the next weak spot is likely to fail.

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Originally Posted by cone-cerned

Me, too.

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Thanks, I was so annoyed when I got home I just got out of the car and went inside. I went back out and took a look and the clutch reservoir was not wholly dry, it was down to the minimum mark and the residue in there was what can only be described as "grey and smelly". Guess its a trip to Autozone tomorrow to order a new clutch master and slave cylinder for the Miata in hopes that fixes it. Thanks once again for the knowledge, I don't mind working on my own cars so long as I don't have to do it more than twice or bark up the wrong tree as such.

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Originally Posted by wrx74

Another vole for Slave/Master Cylinder.
The reference to the cooling system was from experience - once you fix one leak and the system can pressurize, the next weak spot is likely to fail.

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Yeah, when I did the Radiator it looked like the hoses at the front were not new but not old so seeing what shape the plug was in I am sure you are right that at least the heater hoses are old as well. If the issue with the Clutch winds up being as simple as replacing the master and slave cylinders I may go ahead and buy some silicone hoses along with the rest of the replacement ones and doing them as well. Though I'm thinking either doing a racing radiator or the coolant reroute since I've seen a few track/auto-x cars with one or the other.

Coolant reroute or race radiator will bump you up in class in SCCA classing. Fresh oem radiator with good hoses and fans will handle all the cooling you need.

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

Coolant reroute or race radiator will bump you up in class in SCCA classing. Fresh oem radiator with good hoses and fans will handle all the cooling you need.

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Just for curiosity's sake, what would that put me in class wise for SCCA Auto-X? I had the same dilemma with my old car. I would run it in SCCA Auto-X but also was running it in NASA TT as well. While I had points to spend in TT to keep the car in class, I know some of the mods would take me right out of the SCCA Auto-X class I was in. The plan was to buy a Miata and use it for Auto-X while running the other car in TT but after seeing what a few extra 10ths would get me time-wise I decided to ditch running that car in TT and look at new car that was well documented and first thought was this Miata as a starting point.

I guess its really moot for the moment though, until I get the car running and driving down the road worrying about TT or ANY track day for this car is an exercise in futility. I bought this car to learn and so far I have learned a lot. I did the same when I bought my non-running E30 and when I bought my non-running Mk1 MR2 so best to keep the speculation about the future of the car to a minimum. Until it can drive to a Auto-X event, run and then drive home best not to worry about lap times for a full weekend of racing. :D

I'd need to know what else is done to the car. Locally, if your only change is a coolant reroute and radiator, you would be safe running in E-Street with the consent of your competitors. I'm pretty sure that the radiator officially can't be changed to non-oem until Street Mod.

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

I'd need to know what else is done to the car. Locally, if your only change is a coolant reroute and radiator, you would be safe running in E-Street with the consent of your competitors. I'm pretty sure that the radiator officially can't be changed to non-oem until Street Mod.

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I can tell you the E Street guys can be far less forgiving that OZMDD assumes. We are a very competitive group of cone smacking yahoos. My co-driver carries a shiv, I don't ask why... ::Blink::

Step it up to a National level event and things get scrutinized in even greater detail.

Good stuff here on what you can and cannot do as Per the SCCA - http://www.scca.com/solo/content.cfm?cid=44517 ::db2::

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

I'd need to know what else is done to the car. Locally, if your only change is a coolant reroute and radiator, you would be safe running in E-Street with the consent of your competitors. I'm pretty sure that the radiator officially can't be changed to non-oem until Street Mod.

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The car came with Blisten Sport shocks as well as Tien Sport lowering springs. I did go in and replace the front lines with stainless as well as new pads but the rotors are stock. No change to the airbox or sway bars or anything else at this point. Though since the steering wheel looked like it had been chewed on by a dog, I did take one of my spare NRG wheels and quick release hubs and put them on. Plus I took the power steering belt off the pump since it was dead. I figured that pretty much put me into Street Touring as it stands.

Yep, you are close to STS unless you have a Torsen, which would be STR, though the steering wheel and radiator are not legal. Again, running one of those classes locally should not be a big problem, so long as you take the time to ask your competitors if they object.

But in sts you have all those concealed carry permit holders.... at least in ladies.

Well, its moot for now. I got new clutch slave and master cylinder yesterday and went and put on the slave this morning. Was easy enough to do, also someone had already changed the hard line going to the master cylinder to a stainless braided line. Had to bleed the system the hard way since I don't have a cap that fits the clutch reservoir for my power bleeder and the one I tried to make out of the old cap was a spectacular failure. All said and done, though could not shift into gear with the car running so might be time for a tow down to Track Dog to have them take a look.

Try this first:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAdRsMaKU1U

Its not bled then…….
http://www.miata.net/garage/clutch_bleed.html

Well, feeling industrious after getting back from Auto-X today I went ahead and replaced the Clutch master cylinder as well. It was pretty bad around where the plunger was, so put on the new one and tried bleeding again. Still think I was only half successful and doing this with one person and no power bleeder is for the birds. I did try the technique above, thanks for the link but still I'm going to have a friend help me tomorrow so I can watch the clutch action and maybe get it bleed properly.

So got home tonight and with some help re-bleed the system and still not working so looks like to me everything is working but clutch will not disengage.
https://youtu.be/nd0xPAQP_yc

I had the car towed to Track Dog Racing and they did find that the clutch was shot with a spring that had fallen out and almost no material on the clutch along with the rear main seal leaking. Got the clutch replaced along with rear main seal, new transmission seals, shifter rebuild kit and new fluid for trans and diff so she is back running and I am happy. So thanks to William and Track Dog for getting her back on the road. Now comes more fun of getting ready for TWS on the 24th thru the 26th.

So, after having the clutch done, and the rear main seal the front cam seals and crank seals start to leak. I decide to take it back to TDR for them to do the timing belt and boy did they find some fun stuff -

http://i.imgur.com/RENRWtF.jpg

Turns out someone in the past did a shoddy job on replacing the timing belt. Call it a case of "Caveat Emptor" since I had read some before I bought my 92 on the dreaded "Short Nose Crank" issue but did not read any further on the fact that short or long you can mess up the keyway with a bad timing belt replacement. Needless to say, next one I get will either have the docs on when the timing belt was done last or I will pay close attention to any type of crank wobble.

TDR also found where they had stripped out a bolt for belt tensioner so there was not real tension on the belt and the timing was off by a tooth at least. There was also a litany of other things wrong (I left the list in the car) and did not take pictures of all the other parts they replaced as part of the work. Needless to say it was not just a timing belt job but TDR at least did the loctite 660 fix on it, replaced the other parts, redid the timing on and and generally got her back on the road again. It does run a whole lot better and hopefully the fix will last for awhile cause I do plan flogging it at the track and Auto-X but I am happy as can be on buying a car with so many issues at the outset. Then again, I wanted to learn about Miatas but no so much the hard way.

That sucks...no way to know that kind of stuff when you buy a car. At least you're back on the road.