Miata's and Valve???

Solid.

Yes.

Dang it, and here I thought that I had gotten away from that BULLCRAP :-). Well at least I have till 60,000 miles and only at around 36,000, one of three cars, and only my good weather, head to the beach, vehicle. And being retired, don't put that many miles on any of the three anymore.

It's very easy to do as is all Miata mantainence, just open the trunk, pack it with money and drive to your dealer. You'll get the car back with an empty trunk and the valves adjusted.

Once I became unable to do any of this myself I was amazed to find how easy and painless it is to have it done, sure, my wallet screams in agony but the 2 week of healing after an oil change is no longer and I'd really rather spend the money than have the hurt.

LOL>>Funny, but true, but now sort of a related question due around the same

60,000 miles. I also noted in the scheduled maintenance list that it says to change the timing belt at 60K, which I have always been aware of, having owned several Japanese 4 bangers. BUT there is a couple of footnotes #s 2 &3 that says if initially sold in several states, including mine, California, to change it at 105,000 instead. My question, in those few states, did Mazda use a heavier duty type belt??? Because if not and the same belt, that doesn't make any sense to me.

By the way, my email addy>>I haven't had Webtv service since Feb 2010, finally giving that up. I just prefer using this now defunct addy, since it is 100% NON spammable. So all you PC users (Like myself) Please don't hate on me>>LOL LOL :-)

No, California law required Mazda to make that change, it's the same belt for all. General consensus here seems to be that 100,000 miles is a safe figure to use.

NOTE: The Miata is a non-interference engine so if the belt breaks you will NOT damage the engine.

Next note: Change belt AND idler pulleys, cam shaft seals, crank seal and water pump since you're already in there and almost all of the labor is already done. It costs more but the peace of mind is worth it!

Thanks for that advice. I knew about the water pump, but not all the rest. I am C&P'g that to myself in an email, for future reference. But even though it is a non-interference engine, I will play it safe when the time comes and do it right at or near 60K. It would be just my luck to crap out on the way to or returning from Pismo Beach a 4.5 hr. drive. At my amount of Miata driving, mileage collecting, I'm safe for around another 10 yrs>>LOL.

Too often won't hurt anything and unless you drive much more than most, it won't cost enough extra to worry about.

i think you are safe with holding off on the timing belt. this has been discussed at length and you can search the web or miata.net to find any number of discussions on the topic. for example i picked up my 95 miata in 2005 with 105k on it from someone that had it since 30k and who never replaced the timing belt. it was confirmed with the dealer maintenance history that it had never been done. of course i had it done right away but i would not of done it at 60k. probably 90k would have fit my conform level. worse case I would have been looking at a little inconvenience and tow should it go out prematurely, but i don't think anyone ever reported the original belt snapping on them under 100k. but with your car now 11 years old i would be looking at replacing the complete set of hoses on the engine (including the often overlooked small houses) as preventative maintenance as a much higher priority. overheating can cause inconvenience as well as serious damage to the engine, a snapped timing belt only causes inconvenience. just my 2¢.

Yes 11 yrs old, but only 36, 700 miles on it, and well maintained. Oil changed every year whether it has gone 3,000 miles or not. Only made about

1,600 this last year. Always had the coolant changed/flushed. Just had that done on Thursday, the complete flush with the extended 5 yr/100,000 mile coolant. Hoses are like new. Car is ALWAYS garaged when home, not on a trip, say to the beach. I am told with todays hoses (Rubber/material used) not to worry about the period of time. Could go well over 100,000 miles

P.S. My Wife's Chevy 97 Monte Carlo is 14 yrs. old this month, and the hoses all look excellent, also getting maintained, cooling system flushes ON TIME, etc. My 94 Chevy S10 PU, had its' hoses replaced at the 14 yr. mark, simply because the head gasket got repaired. So since I was already paying to have that done, having the hoses replaced wasn't much of a stretch. A good friend of mine who has been working on cars since he was 12, now like 73 or there abouts, tells me not to worry about them, that they are way different (Much better quality material/rubber) than the hoses back in olden times. I believe his Chevy full size PU is an 89, and still on the original hoses. This guy can rebuild anything to do with ANY car, motor transmission, anything.

modern days hoses are certainly better than those of yesteryear but they still fail. i had one of the heater hoses blow out with a glorious cloud of steam emerging from the engine compartment while stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. fortunately i got through it by turning the heater on full blast and kept an eye on the temperature gauge and made it to a garage without any damage. this was in november 2005 and my car is a 95 (probably acutally made/sold in 94 - making it the same age as your car). when you get the timing belt replaced everybody is quick to replace the upper and lower radiator hoses since they come off as part of the timing belt installation, but they don't suggest the two firewall heater hoses or the other four small hoses on the engine. funny how you are comfortable running the car with 11 year old coolant hoses but uncomfortable about letting the timing belt get over 60k before replacing it... and that i feel completely differently about it. to each his/her own. regards,

Strangely enough my local Mazda dealer, upon changing the timing belt at

60K, recommended just checking the water pump for leaks and not just changing in prophylactically. Though this was contrary to all the advice in RMCR, I listened to him and didn't change the pump because it seemed OK. Two weeks later the pump went out.

Now I am considering NEXT July having the 97 Monte Carlo's hoses done, radiators, heaters, as well as this one that is about the diameter of my little finger, and one other short one. But I dread what that sucker will cost me. Shining a flashlight behind that 3.1 liter V6, there is hardly any space to get at those heater hoses/clamps. I have no idea how those guys will do that. Not to mention one of the clamps on that tiny hose. My good car expert guy insists that I not worry about it, even at 14 yrs. old, with only less than 52,000. He says his 89 Chevy PU was over 100,000 miles. And he only did it because the heads needed to be worked on. Otherwise he wouldn't have done it yet. And when he took the hoses off (He does ALL his own stuff), can even rebuild an automatic tranny etc, he said the hoses were in great shape.

As far as my Miata, those seriously look near new. But I only see the radiator hoses and the two heater hoses that go directly from the firewall onto the engine block. I don't notice any other small ones. Will take a much better look, when the time comes.

Both the 97 Monte Carlo and 2000 Miata are always garaged, rear round, except of course when being used :-). Now my 94 S10 PU is parked out front, and like I said earlier, that one had all its' hoses done with the head gasket job, a good reason to have it done at that time, but was 14 yrs. old at that time, but they all also looked great.

We changed the timing belt on my 99 at about 60k, since the engine is turbo'd. The only visible wear was a slight rounding of the teeth on the belt. The water pump and idlers were also changed. One idler's bearings felt like it was getting time to change, the other was OK. As to hoses - - at least change the heater hoses and upper and lower hoses when things are apart. The hoses to the oil filter mount should also be changed when you change the other hoses.

As to valve clearance. Usually, just measuring it will tell you that things are OK. If not, things can get messy, since many of the dealers don't bother to keep the shims in stock. Some have had success in switching shims around.

Finally - - Replacing the timing belt involves the possibility of creating a problem on some NB's. The original torque values for the crank bolt and the procedure in the manuals was not always adequate to prevent eventual pulley and damper wobble. You will need a new "key" and Locktite. Mazda issued a service note about the problem some time ago. I'd likely wait and change the belt at about 80k instead of 60k(miles).

Charlie>>I definitely can't/won't wait till the time belt change to get the radiator/heater hoses done. At the amount of mileage that I put on the Miata, it will take an estimated ten more yrs. just to hit 60,000. If I wait till 90K, it could be someone else's problem, based on the fact that my Dad gave up driving at 80>>LOL. Also, last night B4 going to bed, I took a flashlight and found those two other coolant (Small diameter) hoses that was mentioned in this thread, coming off near what I assume is the thermostat housing area. What they are for I have no idea. But they also look great. You can see the dimpled type material/rubber used these days, obviously some sort of new space age rubber composite material.

Never knew about hoses to the oil mount. Will check that out next time I have to hood open for whatever reason. Also forget going to a DEALER. I won't be ripped off by one. I certainly hope that a NON dealer shop is knowledgeable enough to, "GET ER DONE," as Larry the Cable Guy would say :-). I go to a nearby (Within walking) distance shop, that is recommended on, "Click & Clack's" (The car talk guys), "Mechanic Files,"//cartalk.com, where you can also catch their very informative/great/funny radio program (Listen now is FREE).

Also a dealer footnote, we have no Mazda dealer within reasonable distance. The dealer I bought mine from in the next town up the freeway stopped being a Mazda dealer (Must have been the economy). And the next town DOWN the freeway has one, but is between 15>20 miles away. Not that convenient.

I found a proceedure on-line years back for measuring valve clearances, recording them on a chart, then pulling shims and listing them on a chart, then figuring which shim needed to go with which valve.

Doing this on Kawasaki and Yamaha motorcycle engines resulted in being able to get everything right with the purchase of only one shim! All the other clearances were corrected by swapping.

It's well worth the extra time.

NOTE: It helps to have a good micrometer, sometimes the markings on a shim are very hard to read...