Hi guys, mom is ready to put her Miata into storage for the winter but it's developed a problem she wants to fix first. Her description:

the symptoms: started by missing, esp at higher speeds. check engine light went on. the did change one faulty spark plug. others seemed OK. it kept doing it; light on, missing.
then, just recently, i drove it a couple of short trips, and it had a ghastly noise, esp when it was cold (starting up, first few miles). sounded like gears grinding but not doing it when i changed gears. also continued to miss. the other thing was that the check engine light would flash on-off (before, it would come on and stay on). i took that to mean: hey, look at me! i'm ON. scary. they said that sound is what made them check the cat conv. i asked if the "problem" caused the CC to go bad, or was the CC the initial problem, and he couldn't really say.

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I think when she says "missing", it's like in the middle of the gear and it loses power - almost like a clutch slipping.
Could this be the CC? The shop quoted her $800 which seems insane, I think the car has 30K on it. Other ideas?

 

Is it under warranty? I'm assuming not.

Has she overreved it? Run it without oil? Constantly slipped the clutch?

If it makes noise when cold that goes away when it warms up, then I suspect an oil pressure problem.

If the check engine light is on, have they pulled the code to see what it says?

 

No warranty, no over-revs, never w/o oil, never slip the clutch. Baby's the car.

I don't think it makes any noise, just a lethargic engine at random times ("slipping") in mid-gear at all speeds.
CEL for sure, but the code didn't say shit. Specialty shop and Mazda dealer said same thing.

Thanks, Mike.

 

change the oil. check the cel. no cel meaning???? and sparkplugs are something you want to change all together its preventative maintenance.

 

Well, if the cat is busted up, it could be blocking the exhaust.

But really, you haven't given us enough to work with.

 

Miatas go through plug wires for some odd reason ..... if we're going for stabs in the dark tuning/fixing then that's my stab!!!!

 

..... side note, if the CC is suspect take it off and test tube it for a day or three ..... that's actually what those test tubes are supposed to be for

 

..... wait, your Mom drives a Miata?

 

Yeah, that's weird. Everybody knows Miatas are chick cars.

... Oh, wait. Nevermind. Not so weird.

 

.... if Wyatt's Mom is a chick I guess