Austen

91 miata.

The head was ticking while idling and I could see some white smoke while revving or under some acceleration.

Stay away? Common? Need some opinions please. Thanks

supercooper

Miata engines have noisy valvetrains. But, the smoke... was the car at operating temp? if it was a cold idle, it may have just been moisture in the exhaust

is the smoke heavy?

FRT_Fun

iTrader: (19)

all of it.


oh. It's a 91' man, what do you expect? Low ball offer, then swap in a 1.8.

Lee04vr

iTrader: (1)

The ticking is normal as long as isn't to loud, the smoke could be a sing of a motor thats getting tired.

Erat

iTrader: (5)

+1 on lowball offer, then "all of it" until "bang".

evank

iTrader: (2)

I don't know if this applies to earlier cars, however, on my 04 there was once white smoke during acceleration -- turned out to be just a blown PCV valve.

fooger03

iTrader: (2)

ticking is normal for the valvetrain. Try this: Start the car for 5 or 10 seconds, then turn the car off and wait 5 or 10 seconds, then start it again. Repeat if necessary until the ticking stops. If it does indeed stop, it's just a common HLA tick.

how many hundred thousand miles are on the car? 2 and a half? 3?

FRT_Fun

iTrader: (19)

The engine is 22 years old, it smokes
I'd worry more about the diff.
/thread

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Buy it for cheap, build a motor, boost it to the moon.

Edit: Man, I ******' love miatas.