We've put about 40,000 miles on our Miata in the last 15 or 16 months. So, having problems at an increased rate is really now surprise. A couple of weeks ago, the Miata decided to throw a rod. The rod then proceeded to try to get out of the engine block in a number of different directions, poking numerous holes in the block and leaving many, many bits of metal on the road -- not to mention oil.

The rod is one of the weaker parts of the Miata engine. The shop that does most of the Miata work has seen this happen one other time on a FM Turbo'd Miata.

We also drive it anywhere between 4 and 20 times as much as other people do when they do such a thing to their cars. So, it's no surprise that we'd see every problem in the book.

Naturally, the car is up in the shop. The block was replaced and sent off to Colorado with the head for forged pistons and rods and some head cleaning,I think; I was a bit unclear on exactly what work was being done to the head.

I was told it would all take about 3-4 weeks. I'm betting we'll see it first half of January. It's been in for a couple of weeks already, but shipping takes a while this time of year.

Luckily, a friend of ours is out of the country so we have a car to borrow for a while...

Posted by Shane on December 1, 2004 12:54 PM | Permalink