Well, after several flushes with ATF/ seafoam and oil last night, I think we were able to clear most all of the sludge (coolant mixed almost 1:1 with the oil) out of the engine. Hopefully no lasting damage was done. Unfortunately now that the coolant system is actually being pressurized a leak has presented itself on the back of the head. Going to try to drain the coolant and remove the T-stat housing from the rear of the head and see if the leak becomes apparent.


All in all were making decent progress and it seems to be driving relatively nicely so far with the limited ~12miles I have put on it

 

Finally got the exhaust fabbed up, full 3" all the way to the muffler!
Also a few other random pics of the progress this far

 

Hai guys! Im back, with a question for whoever may be following this thread still. I have been trying to track down an oil leak on the driver side of the block that I cannot for the life of me locate. I have replaced the rear main seal, and re sealed the oil pan gasket, cleaned everything up and it is still leaking, I am going to check the valve cover gasket and the section of the oil pump where it meets the block as well as replace the oil feed/ drain to the turbo. It only presents itself after driving the car, and will not do it while idling, not matter how long I allow it to idle. Anyone have any other potential spots to check on the driver side of the block that could potentially be the culprit to this oil leak?

 

I would check the water pump outlet where the tube runs along the side of the block. I know you said oil leak but coolant can have a similar residue. Id also check the CAS at the back of the head.

 

Dipstick o-ring. Nearly the same symptoms.

 

I will add those to the list, thankfully I don't have the CAS back there anymore so I can check that off the list. I recently replaced the dipstick tube as well, but I will double check the dipstick o ring and make sure its seated correctly. Thanks for the recommendations!

 

yeah, that o-ring can be damaged or improperly seated. Mine was new OEM and leaked. Replaced and it stopped.

 

Dip stick O-ring. It happened to mine, I finally found it, $7 from mazda. Replaced it and no more oil leakage.

 

Adding the front main seal to the list of likely suspects for my oil leak after reading through this thread....

 

Did you end up having this tuned?

 

Unfortunately at this time it has not been formally tuned yet short of just drivability tuning. I moved into a new house about two months ago, one with a proper shop/ lift and I still need to replace a few seals to try and resolve this oil leak I have. Once that is done (should be soon) I will be taking it off to the dyno for tuning. I will keep this updated once any progress has been made, I know it seems like this build has died but I am slowly getting back at it!

 

Hello folks, so I recently purchase another Miata, this time a clean bone stock NB2 with 269k miles and after getting it home, I drove it around the neighborhood for a few and put maybe 15 miles on it. I swapped the spark plugs, gave it a fresh oil change and then drove it to work yesterday. Today on my way to work I get a check engine light for codes- p0012, p0340, p0128. P0340 and 0128 refer to cam position sensor and intake cam over retarded. The car seems to run just fine and doesnt appear to have any issues. After reading a few (seemingly) useless threads on the issue I have seen a range of culprits mentioned, from bad oil, to VVT Actuator oil tubes being clogged, to a bad sensor or shorted wire to the sensor. When I get home today im going to test the sensor and do a visual inspection of the area, however id rather not just go into blindly replacing sensors so I wanted to get some input from you lovely folks.

Any help is appreciated

 

Well I pulled the crank sensor off, cleaned it (the front of this engine is covered in the nastiest gunk in the world) and put it back on. No more issues with that code, but the Intake cam over retarded code came back after about 55minutes of driving to work this morning. After some more research, DTC P0012 seems to be a rather common code on VVT Miatas, mostly resulting from oil choice causing the VVT actuator to stick. Gonna give some Rotella T6 a shot and see if that resolves the problem.

 

I will be up that way in a week or two delivering another NB setup to Alexandria. Then getting pipes up in MD. Need me to bring you up a nb2 turbo setup?

 

HAHAHA as nice of a gesture as that is, this is my fuel efficient daily now that I commute 500 miles a week. The last thing I need is a turbo causing my daily more trouble. The NA is going off for paint here shortly and then to the dyno so that will occupy enough of my mod/ boost itch for a while. But if you wanted to you are welcome to come over and check the two out

 

So I've shifted focus to the turbo build once again and have been trying to get everything right on it for an upcoming dyno day to finally get the car tuned. I've been having some weird fuel trim behavior that I suspect is due to an air leak of some type. I smoke tested the engine with zero visible leaks which leads me to believe I have my valve cover vented incorrectly through this catch can I have.

In the pic the PCV goes straight to the vented portion of the catch can, with the exhaust side of the valve cover T'd into that same line. While the other port on the catch can is left open. Initially I dont think I put much thought into this, and mainly just tossed it on in its current configuration as a band aid. Do any of you see anything glaringly incorrect about this configuration? (not sure why pics double posted, dunno how to remove the extra one)

 

Chances are your pcv side will not vent as a pcv requires a specific positive differential pressure, crankcase to outlet.

 

Well, despite still not knowing for sure where tf my oil leak is coming from (i suspect front main seal, but im not interested in ripping the front of the motor apart just yet) I have gotten the turd out to stretch her legs a bit. Been working with the tuner a bit lately and finally seeing some boost, about 11psi which feels wonderful. Recently discovered that my AEM WBo2 sensor had fouled out which was ******* up everything, so I swapped over to the Haltech WBo2 module/ sensor and all is right with the world. I do have a new dual catch can setup that I will be installing soon, gotta drill/ tap the valve cover for it so that will be nice. Thankfully no additional issues to report just yet. Ideally the car will go on the dyno this month for a "final" tune, I have decided to keep everything a bit moderate and not crank it up to 11 anytime soon.
The other car in the pic is a Factory Five 818 kit car that uses a WRX donor.

 

In that catch can photo, you've got x2 3/8 lines T'd into a single one. Reducing each breather to the size of about a small vacuum line. Take the PCV line and run it directly to that catch can. Then take the outlet and run it to the inlet manifold. Then take the exhaust side and run it to a 2nd catch can. Your PCV will function not only with full 3/8 ID hoses, but it'll also open under vacuum and help your seals/turbo, and then your exhaust side will also benefit from it's own 3/8 line. You've got some other fuckery going on with your vacuum lines there, so you might have to change some other things to make this all work.

 

yea I’m going to be completely redoing all of said fuckery. I got a radium dual catch can setup and each side will have its own can essentially with one being a sealed can and the other being vented. The can that’s in there now was always meant to be temporary, so now is as good a time as any to pull the VC off, drill/tap and then throw the new cans in.