Miata Mailing List: September 1996, Message #0143
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   From: Greg Bassett 

Subject: Re: Redline report & 30K self-service

   Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 11:06:47 -0500



Just got through the 30k fluid service treatment on Salsa.  Thanks for all

the help and suggestions and net.wisdom!  The results:



>flush-n-fill (no problem here)  (4 liters total right?)



Nope, 6 liters.  The old coolant was in pretty good shape.  Not a lot of

crap in there.  



>oil change (no problem here)

This gets easier every time I do it.  Many thanks to Drake Daum's EXCELLENT

instructions (available on the miata.net garage)



>MTL and Diff change. (problem here!)



2.1 qts of Redline!  I finally found (or was shown) the filler plug.  I

didn't see it originally because I had not wiggled far enough under the

car.  Sho 'nuff, it's on the drivers side, at about the 3:00 position, It's

not as far up the side of the trans as I suggested.  



I took the advise of the folks here and purchased a small hand pump, w/two

long tubes (intake and outflow).  This made the job a real breeze!



I didn't get around to the diff fluid.  Next weekend!



I finally found out why the check engine light won't go off.  The diag

codes that I'm gettting indicate a throttle position sensor problem.  Sho

'nuff, one of the wires out of the sensor is broken.  Corky and I had

attempted to install a TPS gadget on the car right off this plug.  (which

had the ultimate result of knocking out the A/C except in a very narrow RPM

band. ) We evenutually removed this device.  One of the connections that we

made here had finally broken.  Should be pretty simple to fix.



Other work:



O2 Sensor.  The original sesor leads look like they had run up against

something REAL hot (ie: exhaust manifold?) and melted through the outer

covering, and looks like it may have damaged the wires.  If you need to

change this in your jack the drivers side front of the car WAY up, and

remove the front wheel.  This will allow you to crawl into the wheel well

and get to the O2 sensor.  It's a tight fit to get the large wrench in

their to break the sensor loose.  Also, a little contortionism is required

to thread the wire leads back up into the engine compartment.



JR Catalytic converter:

REAL easy installation.  When I removed my stock cat, there was hardly

anything left inside.  The screens at the ends of the cat were busted up

and one was even flopping around inside the cat itself.  BAD.  The new cat

seems to flow a little better (hard to tell). 



The car is running REAL well.  I haven't had a lot of miles to check the

difference in the Redline oil vs OEM gear juice, but the shifting seems

more precise, less notchy.  We're heading out for a longish drive this

afternoon!



Thanks again to everyone for the guidance and pointers.  My next garage

will have a 'net connected PC in easy reach of the creeper!



Greg















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