Knock Knock. Rod’s Here.
A good friends NA miata has finally suffered from oil starvation. Two months back he stopped by for a visit and some help to change oil. During the visit we noticed there was a bit too much ticking in the engine even though it has hydraulic lifters known to make a bit of noise when not at perfect oil levels. During our oil change we found the tell tale signs of engine death… metal flakes.
We found this lovely artistic oil sculpture attached to the drain plug.
At this point we filled it back up with oil and parked it out front until another day when we could pull the engine for proper diagnosis.
It’s so sparkly! Never ever want the oil to look like this even if it is pretty.
Step 1
Clean this filthy car. Gave Sam the power of pressured water and a headlamp. Blasting away as much oil and dirt as possible before we pulled the engine tomorrow.
Friday night fun.
Step 2
Remove that broken shit. A good day with the buddies working on removing all the subframe and finally getting the engine and transmission out of the car.
It is much easier to do this with an hoist that has angle adjustments. The Miata effectively requires a 35° angle to snake from the chassis.
Overall not too hard. Even with the 90+ °F day.
Remember the key to a happy engine is good hygiene. Brush at least once per engine pull.
Finally breaking into the bottom end to see out damage
Overall the engine was pretty clean. The crank, pistons, rods and lower half of the engine looked clean. Our damage was found after pulling rod caps. But even before pulling them it was obvious we had major failure. There was a significant movement from rod #2 & #3 when I slowly rotated the crank. We weren’t going to be that lucky to avoid actual damage. Below is the clunk from rod #2 while still torqued down.
Usually when you pull a rod cap you don’t find the bearing split to be visible… Ooops on #2 & #3.
Full Bottom End Tear Down
Going to pull the crank out along with all the bearings. My hope is our rods aren’t ruined and likewise the main journals are okay. With two rod bearings spun I might need to crack off the head. This was supposed to be an easy quick bearing replacement.
Main journals looked good and we won’t need to do anything to the block.
Took the crank to my local machine shop, they do great work and referred me directly to the shop that has been doing all their crank work.
http://www.edscrankshafts.com/
Can’t wait to get everything bank and start the assembly. Until then our parts list includes:
Front crank seal (FEL 65182)
Oil pump gaskets (FEL 65182)
Rear crank seal (FEL BS40634)
Oil pump o-ring (OEM FE1H14122A)
Oil Pan gasket (NAT 710355)
Main bearings [0.010” undersized] (ITM 5M92323)
Rod bearings [0.020” undersized] (ITM 4B9422)
Valve cover gasket (FEL VS50569R)
Exhaust manifold gasket (FEL 60866)
Exhaust gasket (FEL 60831)
Oil Filter (WIX 51356)
