New owner - misfire

I still recomend the NAPA lifetime wires, the way miatas eat up wires (even
good ones) you can't beat it. Someone else suggested it to me and I'm glad I
did it.

Chris
99BBB

"Dana H. Myers" > wrote in message
...
> miker wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Just bought a '96 with 45M on it. Fun car! (And that's at 10 degrees...
>> can't wait for summer.
>>
>> After about 20 min of driving I get a misfire on accelleration... the car
>> idles fine, runs a steady speed fine, but when I push on the gas
>> (moderately) it "stutters" for a bit, mostly in the lower gears. Is this
>> likely the plug wire issue I've read about on the net? The wires on it
>> are
>> plain dull black and appear original.
>
> Heavens yes. My '02 SE had 31k miles on it when I replaced the plug
> wires and was rewarded with what felt like a new engine.
>
> Dana

Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
> I still recomend the NAPA lifetime wires, the way miatas eat up wires (even
> good ones) you can't beat it. Someone else suggested it to me and I'm glad I
> did it.

Hah! The only wires that fit my '02 were the NAPA lifetime wires...

;-)

> 96, 45M on it
> After about 20 min of driving I get a misfire on accelleration... the car
> idles fine, runs a steady speed fine, but when I push on the gas
> (moderately) it "stutters" for a bit, mostly in the lower gears. Is this
> likely the plug wire issue I've read about on the net?

Ok, a day later it's misfiring much more of the time... another day and now
its misfiring and popping/backfiring all the time and the "check engine"
light was flashing and is now on steady. I don't feel like this rapid
deterioration would be just plug wires. The only change is it's warmed up
slightly here, not as cold as it was.

Appreciate some ideas before I go beat up on the dealer.

TIA

miker

Mike R wrote:
>> 96, 45M on it
>> After about 20 min of driving I get a misfire on accelleration... the car
>> idles fine, runs a steady speed fine, but when I push on the gas
>> (moderately) it "stutters" for a bit, mostly in the lower gears. Is this
>> likely the plug wire issue I've read about on the net?
>
> Ok, a day later it's misfiring much more of the time... another day and now
> its misfiring and popping/backfiring all the time and the "check engine"
> light was flashing and is now on steady. I don't feel like this rapid
> deterioration would be just plug wires. The only change is it's warmed up
> slightly here, not as cold as it was.
>
> Appreciate some ideas before I go beat up on the dealer.

Have you tested the plug wires already or are you just guessing?

Dana

> Have you tested the plug wires already or are you just guessing?

Just guessing... seemed like a common thing and would have easily caused the
original limited missing. I'd have to have swapped or missing wires for it
to run like it was today.

May have gotten some bad gas - I refilled a half full tank and it seems
somewhat improved.

miker

miker wrote:
>>Have you tested the plug wires already or are you just guessing?
>
>
> Just guessing... seemed like a common thing and would have easily caused the
> original limited missing. I'd have to have swapped or missing wires for it
> to run like it was today.
>
> May have gotten some bad gas - I refilled a half full tank and it seems
> somewhat improved.
>
> miker
>
>
>

The plug wires are a problem so often on the miata that I keep a spare
set. If there is ever any question, I swap them out with the new ones
and see what happens.

Usually it is the #1 wire, the short one, that is the problem. This is
on the M1, I do not have experience with the plug wires on the later models.


Pat

"miker" > wrote in
ink.net:

>> Have you tested the plug wires already or are you just guessing?
>
> Just guessing... seemed like a common thing and would have easily
> caused the original limited missing. I'd have to have swapped or
> missing wires for it to run like it was today.

Simple easy test for bad wires, on a really dark night start engine,
raise hood and watch for little blue sparkly things jumping from the
wires to the engine! Sometimes you can see the sparks before the car
even begins to run badly, sometimes you can't but it doesn't cost
anything so it's worth a try....

seems like you have a choice... try a set of $35 cables or bring it to the
shop and have them charge you $80 for them plus labor to install... also, to
be through, the shop will install new plugs at $6 each (instead of $2) plus
labor. i read something pretty alarming on miata.net yesterday about
ignition... when testing compression, a wire was disconnected from a plug
and in the processes his coil... now that can be expensive. so before your
problem goes from simple to really bad, listen to your car (and us) and try
the cables already!

"miker" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>> Have you tested the plug wires already or are you just guessing?
>
> Just guessing... seemed like a common thing and would have easily caused
> the
> original limited missing. I'd have to have swapped or missing wires for it
> to run like it was today.
>
> May have gotten some bad gas - I refilled a half full tank and it seems
> somewhat improved.
>
> miker
>
>
>

miker wrote:
>> Have you tested the plug wires already or are you just guessing?
>
> Just guessing... seemed like a common thing and would have easily caused the
> original limited missing. I'd have to have swapped or missing wires for it
> to run like it was today.
>
> May have gotten some bad gas - I refilled a half full tank and it seems
> somewhat improved.

If you have a volt-ohm meter, try measuring the resistance of the
wires. Around 300 ohms/foot resistance is normal. If the resistance
is substantially higher, replace the wires. You can get a set of
NGK Blue from Sparkplugs.com for $35...

Dana

Pulled the plug wires, found water in 3 & 4. Dried, runs like a champ.

Clues I missed:

1) In real cold weather the car was ok until it got good and warmed up.

2) When the weather turned warmer, the problem occured right away and was
much worse.

In my own defense, I wasn't the one that washed the engine (and don't
usually wash engines, and didn't even know they'd washed it), and I haven't
had a twin-cam car since a Europa I had in the mid-70's, so I wasn't
thinking about the way them plug holes can hold water.

New NGK wires coming anyway, and I'll also uncork it down in the heated
garage for a while to let it dry out overnight.

Thanks very much to all that posted!

miker