Drip Drip Drip

While rolling around under the Miata Friday morning doing a visual inspection, I decided that the oil leak from the CAS O-ring was not the only leak. There was a drop of oil on the front of the oil pan. (I cleaned up the oil pan while I was working on the clutch last week.) So it appears either the pan seal or the front main seal.

I thought I had replaced the front seal last year when I did the timing belt, but after reviewing last years write up, it appears I skipped it. I guess I didn't want to loosen the oil pan at the time for fear of creating an oil leak. Doh! Here's to hoping this is the only leak. I am currently debating whether I want to fix this one any time soon. The parts cost will be negligible but time wise it could kill a day.

I also had a drop of anti-freeze on the radiator drain valve. I had noticed this before also. I think the drain plug just needs to be replaced. This can wait until I replace the front seal, assuming I do, as the radiator needs to be removed during that procedure.

I keep asking myself why I am so obsessed with the car leaking. Why can't I be satisfied just sliding a pan under the car? Myself never answers.

About the time I was finishing up the inspection of my car, David arrived and we replaced the o-ring on his '91 Miata also. Having done the replacement on both a 1.6 and 1.8 liter engine, I believe the 1.6 is a slightly easier task. (It is actually possible to get the CAS out from between the engine and firewall.)

MMM

(Common Miata Oil Leak)

While replacing the pilot bearing, clutch, etc. on the Lil' Zoom-Zoom I determined my oil leak was located somewhere high on the block, probably near the rear. Googling for common Miata oil leak clued me in to the CAS O-Ring. And the location was exactly in the general neighborhood of where the oil appeared to be originating.

This evening I replaced the Cam Angle Sensor O-Ring on the Miata. After removing the CAS a quick inspection of the underside revealed black gold. The sensor was definitely dripping oil. Jackpot! Hopefully this was my only leak. I will let you know.

The entire procedure took about 2 hours including a trip to the parts store and dinner. Actual under the hood time was probably between 20 - 45 minutes. The instructions over yonder say 10 minutes. It didn't happen like that here.

Total cost including two o-rings and one of this little mirror on a stick thingies was less than $5.

Why two o-rings? Because tomorrow David M. will be bringing his car over for a little More Miata Maintenance. I bet we don't get his done in 10 minutes either.

Odometer: 107K and some change.

Woo Hoo! The clutch is done, tires are rotated, and the oil and filter has been changed. No more funny pilot bearing sounds. Yes, after disassembling every thing, I determined that the problem was indeed the pilot bearing. And it is all good now.

Props to guys (David M, Brian B.) that helped me out. I couldn't have done it without their help.

Miata Clutch: A New Hope

This afternoon following a short two hour nap, I resumed work on the car. A gentle breeze and the afternoon shade made the garage cooler than it had been in several days.

I finished bolting up the transmission and hydraulic clutch lines. Next in was the drive shaft, followed by the complete exhaust system from the exhaust manifold all the way back to the tail pipe. Finally a couple of support bars.

At this point I need to replace the fluid and reinstall the shifter, however I don't have a small hand pump needed to pump the oil back into the transmission. One more part store trip is in order.

Since the car was already on jacks, I decided to rotate the tires and change the oil. Draining the oil and removing the tires was uneventful. Removing the oil filter however was another story.

The filter is difficult to get access to. The easiest way for me had been removing the right front tire and reaching in. Even with the tire off, I could not get the thing to budge. In the past I have just hand tightened it, unfortunately, I was not the last person to change the oil. I decided this would wait until tomorrow. It was 8:30 PM and I had not fed the kids yet. They had been so busy playing, they hadn't noticed.

Tomorrow after finding a hand pump, I will fill the tranny, install a new oil filter(assuming I can get the old one off), and fill it with oil. After putting the tires back on and doing a final bolt check, I will hopefully have the car out for a victory lap.

881

A couple of weeks ago our digital camera called it quits. I was tasked with selection a new one. This turned into another obsession for me. Originally I planned to petition the finance committee for a digital SLR. I have wanted a Canon Rebel XT for a while. After thinking about it thought, I decided that it would not be very practical, what I actually needed was a sub-compact - something that would fit in my pocket. This was also the only requirement provided by the other member of the Obsession A/V club.

I consults with several friends who had recently purchased cameras, Consumer Reports, CNET, and the reviews on Amazon. I made trips to Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy to investigate the cameras in person. I made a spreadsheet and listed several features I felt were important, maximum cost, minimum resolution, maximum size, power up up time, etc. After about a week of investigating I had it narrowed down to one. And then back up to three, and then back down to one again. And then it was time to scour the net for a good price.

Today I placed the order. The new camera should be here in plenty of time for Turkey day.

The Charger had its oil changed yesterday. 10500 Miles

Test Drive

Yesterday was indeed a success. I managed to get the Miata's oil changed. Something weird happened in the process.

For some reason, the oil changing guy sprayed brake cleaner under the hood in the approximate location of the oil filter. A few minutes later he sprayed some water in the same location. I would have suspected they simply washed the filter instead of replacing it, but the mark I put on the filter with a Sharpie was no longer there afterwards. For that reason I think they actually replaced the filter.

Yes, very odd.

I left work Friday about a half hour early to go drive the beamers at the Century BMW Ultimate Drive charity event. I didn't have much time so I only got to drive 3 cars.

1. BMW 328XI - All wheel drive. I drove this one first because when I first got in line the line was about 50 folks long. Because I had just arrived they offered it to me no waiting. I had wanted to drive a 335XI last year, when I drove the 335 but they didn't have one one the lot. The loop was 7.4 miles long. The sun roof was open. I improved the environment by dropping the front windows and turning off the radio. And I pressed the Sport button for the transmission. Zoom-a-zoom-a-zoom. This car was OK, but not for me. It has always been my impression that BMWs are geared fairly low with very responsive brakes. This car matched my previous impression.

2. BMW Z4 Coupe - I took this car next again because it was offered to me while I was still pretty far back in line. I would have preferred the convertible, but all the convertibles were in high demand. The Z4 Couple seemed like a tight fit for little ole me. I again drove with the radio off and the windows down. Unfortunately it had no sun roof. While merging onto I565 I was passed two lanes out by a guy in a 328. Later he told me he hit 135 during this sprint. This part of the loop was essentially an on ramp, about a quarter mile, and then an on ramp. During this drive I was very fortunate not to get hit by some crazy guy driving an older gray Century with a couple of dents in it. For some reason this guy started to swerve over in front of me before realizing I was there. He then swerved back into his lane and locked up his brakes momentarily. The guy behind him nearly rear ended the century. This all happened in a matter of a couple of seconds. All this time I was driving at a constant law abiding speed, sticking to lane 3 of 4. Honest.

Back in line again, I decided to wait for my choice of cars this time. The girl passing out the cars continued to remind us we had time for one more loop. A woman who had been driving all day, literally 7 hours, recommended I go for the 650 convertible. Brian had recommended this car also. I was ready, I was at the front of the line, and the car was driving into the parking lot. Pay dirt! Not so fast. At precisely this moment, a dude walked up that had pre-registered to drive this car. The pre-registered folks had priority. Doh!

They offered me a 750 at this point. I had been eyeing the 750 just because it was so big and I had not been in a car of this magnitude. But I decided to stick to my guns. I was waiting on the 650. And wait I did. At the front of the line. About 15 minutes later the 650 was back. It was mine this time.

3. 650 Convertible. Sweet. Topless, 2 doors, and four seats. This was a very drivable car. At this point Friday afternoons rush hour traffic was in full force.
At every light along the loop I got to sit through one more more light cycles. No worries though, I was stylin' in the big-ole-beamer with the top down and it was a very pleasant 70 F. Again the radio was off. I preferred the peace and quiet over top-forty commercials on the radio. When I returned to the dealer ship, I passed the car to the next guy, who was also the last guy to go out in a car that day. I really enjoyed driving this car.

Had I had the opportunity to drive one more car, I thing I would have gone with the 750 over the other convertibles.

After finishing up the drive, they sent me inside to grab a t-shirt and sign the SUV. They only had L sized shirts remaining. I took one anyway thinking I could give it to Ginger. I also signed the SUV. I looked for Mr. Miata's signature but I didn't find it.

And then I drove home in my shiney red Miata with white racing stripes.

I know you must be concerned that I left work early yesterday. Don't worry about it. I made up for it by putting in a full day today. And tomorrow.

Posts have been somewhat scarce around here lately. I would blame it on work, but work is not the direct cause, it is merely an indirect cause.

The increased amount of work time recently has decreased my extra-curricular activities.

No truck time means no posts about the GMC.

No cruising time, no rambling about the Miata.

No call from the pottery supply store, means no write up about back yard metal casting.

Tomorrow is looking like 70 and a mere 20 percent chance of rain.

Perhaps tomorrow I will write about an oil change for the Miata, or a test drive in a beamer convertible. And the Charger still needs to have the tires rotated.

Four days and counting, No diet drinks. This afternoon I tried a cup of hot peach flavored green tea. How is that for different?

Super-Ultra-Uber-Meta-Misc

Glad to see Brian got his blogger's license renews. And who would have thought a lame entry on cookies and milk would have generated any comments.

Sometimes I leave myself cryptic messages in my blog to remind me about things later when I look back. For instance today's message is "Friday the Thirteenth". Want to guess what that means? Go ahead, I dare you.

In the mean time I will bring you up to date on the milk and cookies. Several months ago a gallon of used automotive oil mysterious showed up in the back of my Dodge truck. I eventually tracked down the source and recently I finally sent it back to the dinosaurs.

Last night on the way to school, David #17 and I stopped at a gas station to grab something to drink. He had a DP, I selected some white milk. We also bought a snack size package of no-name cookies to share. The cookies were not very good so we didn't eat them all. After arriving at the university, we parked the car and started walking to class. At that point we spot Chad's Pontiac Solstice with the top down. It was decided that instead of depositing my empty milk bottle in the trash I should place it in his car. Sort of a lame attempt at returning the used-oil-prank. After depositing the no-deposit-no-return bottle in his car we continued walking. A few minutes later David has a fabulous idea. "Don't you think Chad would enjoy some cookie with his milk." Genius idea. We turn around to head back to the car to get the cookies. About the time we are passing Chads car a second time, we here him call out behind us. We stop and talk with him a few minutes before heading on to finish our chore. David thinks we lucked out that Chad ran into us before we had retrieved the cookies. As we pass the car a third time, the cookies are deposited with the milk bottle.

Chad was gone when I got out of class. I doubt he knew who left him his gifts. Occasionally he reads my blog. I left the cookie and milk post as a hint to him. I did not hear from him today so I am guessing he did not drop by Obsession today. He will figure it out soon enough.

Chad should be glad David doesn't behave the way a friend of his did in high school. Don't ask.

Bombs Away

I went by Express Oil to have the oil and filter changed in the Charger today. Total miles on the clock: 6171. They even cleaned the bird droppings off the windshield. Nice.

It seems this car is a bird magnet. It has already been targeted more times than the Dodge pickup was in the 8 years I had it.

Birds prefer reds.

Blamo!

You know how it is. One minute you have a grovy topic to type up for you blog, and the next minute blamo! Your considering posting the subject lines from most interesting spam you received and what the weather is supposed to be like. How droll. What next, female bandits? Yes, we have all been there.

Here goes the weather. At lunch today the weather must have been up into the 40. Time to drop the lid for sure. I had definitely been experiencing withdrawal.

I finished up my homework today. Two days early. Simply amazing.

Ah, yes, it has returned. And not nearly as interesting as I remembed it being. As of yesterday, the oil is now gone. (Only 15 months later.) Happy Birthday Chad.