[Miata] '02 Miata Bucking Without CEL - Big Mystery!

[Bryan Wyatt]

I've been thinking of changing the wires to Magnacores anyway, so this might be an excuse.  They seem to cost almost twice as much as the old reliable NGK Blues, though.  Everyone I've talked to says they're worth it, but I'm a little skeptical.
 
As hot as my car seems to be (seriously, I don't remember Junior getting this hot), the exposed wires near the harness points just seems like an all too likely candidate for shorting out at high temps.
 
You had an experience like this one, Mark?  Was there anything different about it?
 
-Bryan

--- On Tue, 5/27/08, mark moore <miata at bwr.eastlink.ca> wrote:

From: mark moore <miata at bwr.eastlink.ca>
Subject: Re: [Miata] '02 Miata Bucking Without CEL - Big Mystery!
To: "Bryan Wyatt" <bryanewyatt at yahoo.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 5:33 AM





Bryan for what it's worth the wires can fail. I have had to replace the OEM set and a set of the RB Ultras. We have a lot more miles on our car though. We had an issue somewhat like yours when we were a long way from home (southern US) and it scared the wits out of me as it happened on the highway in traffic. We made it back home to Canada with the issue reoccurring only once I believe. In our case it was the wires and a very occasional thing.


I don't recall the exact circumstances at the time but don't rule them out as a potential cause. Maybe consider all the other advice first and get new ones if you have to. NGK make them now and the price is reasonable. I haven't heard of coils on an 01+ being a problem.


One other odd thing we had happen to a club member was the immobilizer in the key causing the car to shut down but then it could be restarted. Again an erratic thing. That one took the owner about six months to track down and correct!


Mark




My car is an '02, which means that I don't have coil packs--just the coils on plugs 2 and 4.  I checked the wires and ensured that they locked in place both at the coils and on top of the plugs.

 

As for wires, I was under the impression that 01+ wires seldom need replacing.  How about the coils?  That's $235 or so to replace 4 parts!

 

-Bryan

--- On Mon, 5/26/08, Hank <Subhunter at verizon.net> wrote:

 

Don't know about your year car but plug wires going bad at around 20 - 25Kmiles regardless of appearance is a very common problem common to Miatas and when they go bad you get some strange indications.  Those that you mention aren't out of the ball park.  Also possible that you've cracked the insulator on a plug or that for some other reason one of them's shorting out under heat.  Other then that there's always a possibility of an electrical short under the hood due to heat and vibration, give all the plugs and wiring under the bonnet a good physical check for security seems in order. 




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