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Miata engine question

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14dna

14dna

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I know some of you are Miata drivers and owners, so I'd like to ask about your experiences.
Mine is a 90 with the 1.6 litre engine. There is about 215K miles on the clock. When it starts in the morning, it smokes badly.
Do these cars have a history of bad valve guides?
I'm just wondering whether or not to rebuild the engine, or just do seals.

Thanks for any advice guys (and girls)

Dave
 
They don't particularly have bad valve guides.
I'd guess it's a combo of things---specifically valve guides and rings.
At that mileage you really can't complain.

We have few of those engine in the family:

The 1.8 in my '00 Miata doesn't use a drop of smoke (but only 70K on it) and the 2.0 in the Protege we just sold (also about 70K) was tight too. Even the 1.8 Mazda mill in my Escort racer uses no oil with about 130K...and it *lives* at 6000 to 7000 RPM.

There is a way to add valve seals without pulling the head (using compressed air to hold the valves closed). Not sure if it would work on a Mazda engine though.

A leakdown test would give you a better idea if the rings are weak.
 
My dad's '89 Miata started to give up at about 250,000 miles. Sounds like yours is on roughly the same schedule. He drove his very hard all the time, but also took very good care of it using only the best products, such as Red line oils.
 
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