| Okay, most of you came for head porting and custom catbacks, so this is pretty simple, but I figured I was doing it anyway and lots of people are just baby "gearheads". I'll add the regular engine oil change soon.... |
| Standard tool required. Especially the jackstand. DON'T get under your car with a only tire jack!!! PLEASE! |
| The basic engine oil change: That bolt up there is to drain the oil. Make sure you have the something to catch the oil in FIRST! A warm, but not hot engine drains better. Well, hot is better, but it burns! |
| Drain completely and replace the plug with a new washer. |
| That oil filter is NOT fun to get at. My hands and forearms won't fit in there! I like to remove the passenger side (US) wheel and reach up from under the car. |
| If you object to taking off the wheel, you can get a tool to remove the filter. Unfortunately you need a Mazda filter. Aftermarket sizes are different. I found the Mobil 1 filter M1-104 fits both 1.6 and 1.8L M1 Miata's....and it usually in stock, unlike the one recommended by the Mobil 1 catalog. |
| Open the filler and put in 3.6 quarts of new oil. Personally I use Mobil 1 10-30 synthetic, but Redline would be my choice if I weren't living on a teacher's salary! ;-) Now you have a happy car. WTG! |
This is the fill hole. The fluid drains better if you warm up the transmission by driving some prior to draining. Then wait thirty minutes or else that pipe on the left WILL burn you...really! Unscrew the bolt here. |
| Here is the drain hole with the fluid draining out. Spectacular huh? (not!) |
| The one on the right has a magnetic core. Should be VERY fine metal on it, not chunks or giant filings. The former is normal, the latter is expensive. Put the drain plug back in. |
| I think I paid three bucks at Pep/Kragen/Auto/K-Mart for this oil pump. ABSOLUTELY the way to go. Just pump 2 bottle in till it leaks out the fill hole. Then put the plug back...DONE! |
| Redline. $8.50 a bottle. DO it! I used MTL for the tranny but some would argue for heavier..oh well, works for me. I put 75W90 in the differential. |
| Lower plug is the drain, upper is the fill/level plug. |
| Spectacular, huh? (not!) |
| Make sure you leave it for a while to drain, and that the car is level. |
| Wow, this Redline is yellow! It won't take a whole bottle. When it comes out the fill hole it's full. |
| Finished! Piece of cake! Cool exhaust huh? ;-P |
| Moving to the shift turret. Remove these three screws. |
| Unscrew the shift knob and the two screws on either side at the front of the console. |
| Unplug. |
| Move the insulation out of the way. |
| Four 10mm bolts hold the shift boot. |
| You DON'T need to remove the boot from the shifter, just lift it up. |
| If you don't have a new car, your's probably looks like mine...torn! |
| Lifting up the boot and plate shows the three bolts holding the shifter in. Unbolt them. |
| Everyone said my oil would be gone at 97,000 miles...guess what? Well I guess you can see.... |
| Use your wife's best turkey baster if you want, but it was YOUR idea, not mine!!!! |
| Refill w/90cc of Redline...or until full. |
| Put the shifter back and you are DONE! Congrats! |
| Copyright Gary M. and Hakuna, 1999-2000. All rights reserved. |