This is my first Mazda; what a sweet little car. As I do with every car I buy, new or used, I bought the service manual and wiring diagram. Compared to the GM or Ford service manuals, though, there's virtually nothing in there about how the systems work. For instance I was hoping to learn about the Xenon headlamps, the variable valve timing, but there's nothing except what bolts to take off in what order. Seems pretty lame to me. Is this kind of info in another manual?
I doubt it. Dealership mechanics don't have to know how stuff works, just how to diagnose and repair it. It's just a cookbook, not a treatise on food chemistry.
I agree w/ the OP, on my '99 shop manual there's very little helpful / insightful info. The Chilton's manuals that I have (on many cars) are much better even if they might not give you direction as to how to do every last thing, it tends to be the stuff that you really need and a bit of an overview on the particular part of the car your working on.
Bruce, I agree with you completely. We weren't saying they were improperly done just, not the most helpful. I think your explanation is probably exactly right.
Chris
99BBB
Fwiw, I think the Mazda manuals are written for the Mazda mechanic that knows what he is working with. Not belittle you, but I think they asume you have been trained on the Mazda cars and are not new to the workings. The VVT section in my 2003 manual explains how to remove, test and replace the unit, not how how it works. Chilton manuals, expect to be able to repair the car that is owned by the homeowner in his yard or garage, not in a dealers shop. In the past, when I started out on Miatas, I used the two manuals for my '91 Miata. You just can't have enough info. at your finger tips when you start working on something that is new for you.
Interesting difference in approach between GM and Mazda, with GM starting every section with a "Description and Operation" subsection. So where do the Mazda dealership mechanics learn how the stuff works?
LOL! that's a good one. Might even be some truth to it. I'm sure the guys do get schooling for all that stuff but I like GM's approach to include a brief overview (refresher) on the system in question, right there before you dive in.
The enthusiasts manual covers everything I do on the car in a way that is much easier to understand and reference, at least to a shade-tree parts-swapper like myself.
My last Miata came with factory manuals for 1991, 1994, 1999 & 2001 in the trunk. I had a 1996 manual for my first Miata. Those all sold nicely, I could not find anything useful, (to me), in them that was not available with a better explanation online for free.
Actually, with the resources available at Miata.net, I don't really need the enthusiasts manual either, at least not for anything that I have done to the car for over 4 years.
as i remember, in every fix-it section of the GM manual, the first thing they say to do it "verify the complaint". i have carried this over into many other areas of life, (e.g. UNIX) \peter
It depends. If bodywork is involved, that almost automatically knocks it out as a practical restoration project since both bodywork and paint are so terribly high.
I have seen this two times, where the bodywork/paint repair costs would have come close to or even exceeded the value of the car when after it was fixed.
If the problem is just some parts that have worn out, then that can be a deal depending on what is wrong with it, especially if you have extra parts sitting around. A lot of Miatas are finally getting old enough that people will dump them for next to nothing rather than do that $800.00 transmission job, $800.00 top replacement, high-dollar head gasket repair, etc.
Obviously labor is saved from doing the job yourself, and used parts in good condition are available in high quantities because there are so many of these cars, and it appears that a fair percentage are wrecked.
There was a '94 listed as having steering damage and a bad top for $600.00, just over 100K miles. It looked great in the pictures, but who knows without a good look-over?
It was worth far more than $600.00 in parts, especially if it had a torsen differential, but it was also a possible candidate for getting back on the road.
It was gone within 2 hours of the seller posting it on Craigslist.
If those two issues were the only major problems, I could have put a cheap top on it using my own labor, replaced the steering with a unit that I already have, (or I could have bought one for $125.00 at the time if I had needed it), and then sold the car for something in the $3000.00 range, possibly as high as $3500.00 if it drove as nice as it looked in the pictures after being fixed.
Car - $600.00 Top - $400.00ish steering - $150.00ish, or free in this case. My labor- priceless, maybe 12 hours total.
So, for two days work, or one long day, it might have been possible to make over $2000.00 turning this car around. It might have also had a nightmare list of other problems, but with the parts value as an alternative, I would have checked it out.
Still, in so many cases, it does not makes sense to restore them. Why spend $5000.00 reconditioning a car that has a blue book value of $3000.00 when you are done?
I would rather find a 5-speed version of that cherry-looking white 1993 Miata that I linked you to the other day and just pay the extra money at the time, it's not like a bank is going to finance "me" on a 16 year old car anyway.
I might do that with a low-mileage '96M one day. That is still the best car that I have ever owned, nothing else has ever come close to the combination of fun and reliability for 5 years. There were literally zero problems that were not caused by aftermarket parts giving out or by running into something. The '95M is also a consideration, they are my two favorite Miata models.
If you are still reading this, you must be really bored today........ :-)
Before I got mine, I looked at an "M" edition, the Merlot one. Mechanically excellent but some body damage in more than one area. I
*KNOW* from experience I cannot do body work (no patience at all) so I didn't waste time on it. The seller, realizing how much work was required, had dropped the price to only $1,000 over high book for that model(!).
Ya, I guess I was bored ;-) Whatever! Hey, I have to agree that I like the
95-96 M-Edition quite a bit but mostly because of the seats (separate headrests, as good functionally as all of the NA seats but better looking with those headrests) of course, you lose the headrest speakers :-(
It's the '95M that has seats without the attached headrests or speakers, the '96M has the same seats as the other leather packages, just with the "M" logo embroidered into it.
I'm not really worried about having the headrest speakers, but I do like the color of the '96 better. The shift knob is much better on the '95M than the '96M, imo, but I would replace either one with a round voodoo so that is not a factor for me.
Wouldn't turn down either one with low, but not too low miles.....I do like the Merlot color a lot as well.
New shocks, FM sways, good tires, a rollbar, and a real oil pressure gauge and it would be ready to go.
Agreed, that would be a nice ride! I'll have to keep that in mind that my favorite miata seats are only '95 M Edition' seats! Hey, I really liked the headrest speakers. I replaced the factory ones with the Max-5's IIRC and they were very functional.
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