oil pressure issue
 

Yesterday afternoon I went to wash my car after pulling my cams to clean my hla's, they were getting pretty loud. Anyway I went to fire the car up and move the car like 20 feet, the hla's were even louder but i though it was just oil that needed to get to them. Any way I move the car, then i look down at the oil pressure gauge and it reads zero. I kill the car immediately, I check the sender and the sender wire, it seems alright. I must add that before this issue I had zero oil pressure issues. I wiggle the wire around then turn to the key to accessory to see if the gauge has changed, it hasn't. Now I start getting worried, I pull the filter to check for metal shaving, nothing I could see, that was terrible. The oil has 800 miles on it and so does the rebuilt engine, so me screwing something up or a bad bearing wouldn't be totally out of the realm of possibilities. Anyway I empty the filter and see nothing so I re-install it. Then I turn the key and find the car now has oil pressure. I start the car and run it for 20 seconds, the hla's are still really clanking so I shut it off, total run time maybe 30 seconds. I kill the car again and pull my oil feed line, which is dry. I pull the relay and pump the engine for a few seconds and nothing comes out. Now i get worried, so i pull the car into the garage and shut it off.

I know the oiling systems in these cars aren't terribly complicated, I'm planning on an oil change and a napa gold oil filter, I've been using valvoline 10w-30 for the last 800 miles, did a change after the first 10 miles of driving, all was good and clean, also replaced the filter aswell. It was replaced with the standard napa white filter, don't think its as bad as a fram, I think spec miata people swore by these. Could my sump be blocked? I think its unlikely, when i drain the oil i should be getting a good idea of the particles inside the oil. Is my pump bad? I'm not sure, I can't hear the sound of spinning broken gears, and I haven't beat on the car in a hundred miles.

So I know
-I gained oil pressure when I cleared and emptied the filter.
-still have no oil though the oil feed line
-still have a loud HLA tick

Anyone have any idea's on what the issues are?
Is there something obvious I am forgetting?

I would work on testing where all oil gets. The first is to open the plug hole on the passenger of the oil pump. It is right besides the alternator. Unplug the injectors, and coils, and remove the spark plugs. Turn the engine with key and have someone verify oil is coming out of there. After that I would check the oil pressure sender port using the same method. Then finally do it with the oil feed line. I am assuming that you are using the oil feed port on the driver side of the block.

Thanks lars, will check that next. Whats the likely hood of an oil pump failure? I'm assuming it hasn't failed if the sender is seeing pressure

Oil pumps usually don't just die unless you are going higher then 7200rpms or something goes through them. Occasionally the oil pump relief valve can stick and cause pressure issues. But if you are getting oil out the driver side turbo feed, then you have oil pressure, and I would start looking at the sender connector and such.

I just delt with this on my new engine. The wire going to the connector broke for my sender and it took me while to get that fixed.

So I opened up the oil filter, no chunks of metal, just dirt, not even a lot. I figured that my oil was probably ok so I haven't drained the oil yet. I the. Pulled the plug and turned over the engine for 15 seconds total. Still showed pressure on the gauge but nothing came out. I'm guessing I have a stuck relief valve. So does this mean I should just pull off my spare pump and swap it? Can I pull the front dressing and then pull the pump? Or will the whole engine have to be pulled?

Pulling the engine is required to swap the pump. If the gauge is showing pressure but that hole on the side is not I am a bit confused. Try pulling the oil pressure sender and cranking some to see. Or pull off oil filter and see if it shoots out.

Even though it's not a new pump, just try priming the pump beforehand. Open that spot near the allen bolt and fill with some oil.

the oil pan has to come off to take the oil pump off.

Yeah I forgot about the sump, saw all the bolts on the front and the idea piped into my head

Pulled filter nothing, bone dry I might add, tried priming the pump, still nothing. Then I pulled the wire to the pressure sender. The gauge still reads good pressure. It's a dummy gauge, the car is a 95, running on ms1 if it makes a difference

I did not realize that it was a dummy gauge. In that case I would go up to AutoZone or Advance and rent a manual OP sensor and plug that in and crank just to see. Otherwise plan on pulling the motor and swapping oil pump at the minimum. You can get new OEM ones for about $100.

I have a spare from my original 1.8, could I swap it over?

Yes it will swap over. I am not a fan of reusing oil pumps now.

What could/ would go wrong?

The oil pump relief valve sticks again is a possibility.

Stuck oil relief valve. Likely a piece of debris got sucked in the pump and it jammed up the valve open, so it won't build oil pressure now.

Best place to buy said refurbished oil pump? All I see is the fm high capacity pump and the super Miata pump. Is it an autozone item?

also I guess this is a good time to be swapping my crank because mine has a pretty bad keyway issue. Should I get acl bearings or should I just reuse the old 800 mile ones? I used oem ones before

Priority Mazda has them for around $100. If changing the crank I would plan all new bearings all around. I wouldn't bother with ACL on a street build.

I would personally use a new mazda pump, bought from a mazda dealer if I wanted a new high quality pump that I would trust to work. I've always used the old mazda pumps on my motors without issue, but if I ever put a new on in it would be a new mazda pump. But I also use mazda seals, mazda gaskets, etc. I would not use a refurbished pump, new.

I have run used oem bearings (that check out to be in tolerance and show almost no wear at all) and ACL bearings, both without issue. Both worked well.

http://prioritymazdaparts.com/oil-pump-bp4w-14-100a/
would this one work or should it be year specific, didn't they switch to a high flow pump with vvt?

99-00 and 01+ have different oil pumps, VVT pump is a higher volume pump vs 99-00.

Would the 99 pump be good for a 95 block?

I think they have the same pump, a search will confirm if that's true. Or mazda's part number for each year.

That is the correct oil pump. The 99/00 oil pump is now the part for all 90-00 miata's. You will need to order 2 more things for that pump though. This plug is required for the pump. You just knock it into the hole in the oil pump. It will make perfect sense once you have them in your hand. You will also need the o-ring for the oil pump. I don't know if it comes with the oil pump or you have to order separately. Give Priority Mazda a call and ask for Tommy. He will hook you up with everything you need.

https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Products...miata+oil+pump
I ordered this pump, I can cancel my order if needed. Just ordered it quickly because I want this thing on the road asap

Amazon does not say it fits with my 94, so not sure if it is the correct one also. Also not sure if it will require the plug or not. I would personally cancel the order and order the Mazda one. If you give Tommy a call he could probably get it out today.

cool, thanks
also what should the price be for a set of bearings? Rod and crank

I bought the cheapest ones I could find on eBay. Here is a link to them. No clue how they work, as I have not used the motor that they are in yet.

I'm pretty sure that's what i ordered and what I have in my motor currently. Intrested in seeing what they look like when I open them up

ordered the bp4w pump and plug, returned amazon pump. Will start pulling the motor Thursday.

I need a new daily

Welcome to owning a turbo miata, makes a horrible DD, unless you have a backup car, then it will always work perfectly.

I picked up my first DD about a year after turboing my miata.

What dd do you all recommend. One that won't come with a modding bug.

My first DD was a 98 Integra GSR hatch. Had zero desire to mod it. Then I moved on to a 93 miata with 300k miles. Then I bought my Mazda2. I have done nothing buy regular maintenance to any of those vehicle and have had zero desire to mod them. I even have lowering spring for my Mazda2 in the garage that I have not installed yet.

FD.

--Ian

Not sarcasm here but do you guys honestly have that many problems with street cars? I know people like soviet, fae, lars, and all the other coolsters with big numbers obviously don't daily their cars but are stock motor builds that unreliable?

It is random shit that pops up that causes issues. I drove my 94 with a Begi setup as my DD for well over a year with nothing major going wrong. Lots of small minor inconveniences though. It just got to the point where I wanted to be able to have the car down longer then a weekend for work.

It is like your engine randomly loosing oil pressure. It should not have happened, but it did.

I daily drove my MiataTurbo for two years (summer only) before putting it away last fall. I rarely had issues that brought the car down for long but I agree that having a backup daily is a huge bonus. I would have hated to be forced to fix my prior issues in an evening or over a weekend. It would have led to shittier modifications or repairs.

Now I am a little on the extreme side. I bought myself a Fiesta ST so my Miata hasn't been on the road since February when I got it out of storage. When you have a fun daily it makes it less painful when your Miata is down for upgrades. I think the Fiesta is making it a little too easy to go without my Miata right now, so in compensation I am going even more nuts with the Miata than I would have.

When done right they can be very reliable. When thrown together they can be a mess.

Mine hasn't been perfect (apart now for a turbo replacement/upgrade) but given the powerlevel I run this car at every day, it's pretty reliable. I daily mine.

The key to a reliable turbo Miata is to build it right, debug it, tune it, and then STOP FUCKING WITH IT.

I enjoy tinkering with it, so mine is often in semi-incomplete states.

--Ian

I had the odd hose go, only because they were 20 years old and I thought I didn't need to replace them. Besides the front main seal the new motor has been pretty "reliable". It just sucks that this happened, someone has a 140k 1990 for sale for like 600 bucks, sounds tempting right now

Before I start a new thread I figured I'd pop this question here first.

Tacotaco t3, manifold to turbo hardware. I've been using some short grade 8.8 bolts. Does any one know what would be acceptable to replace these with stud wise? The ones it came with were too short, I ordered 4 begi ones for the head to manifold so I can stop using bolts in that area. I believe the thread is m10x1.5

Studs from the head to the manifold are most likely a different thread pitch then whats in the taco taco. I don't remember what my T3 tacotaco was but on a street car you should be fine using studs from ACE hardware.

I used some M8 studs I bought from autozone, with no problems. They had them in stock, they were a touch longer than needed but worked fine.

I was thinking about trying to take the car to a track day in the future. Was just curious if their was any inconel stuff available, I'll have to poke around some more.
anyway both pumps came in. The Amazon pump looked like it could fit but I had to return it asap. Got the plug and pump from priority Mazda. How should the plug be installed? Does it just pressure fit in?

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...01bf667dd.jpeg

Should give you an idea of the quality of the cheaper pump, also said made in Taiwan

I just sort of pressed the plug in then hit it with a hammer a few times.

Patsmx5 should be able to give you the specs for the t3 tacotaco manifold studs tomorrow when he gets his in. If you are even going to think about tracking the car. The TSE Inconel studs are the only ones you should be looking at. Savington was the first to the market with them, and is the only person who has proven them to work. It is one of the few products that I will not recommend getting from anyone else.

Hopefully savington has them in the right size. Also should I do the reroute?
Do you happen to know what size the plug for the wastegate signal line is for on the ebay turbos that you use? Hopefully switching that to the cold side should help with spool

No clue on plug size. I go to advance and buy a little pack of various sizes. Then I use that to plug things whenever i need plugs. Reroutes are good. I would recommend it if you can afford it. Not sure if there are any cheap spacers for sale currently.