My Miata quit on me on the way home a couple weeks ago, just shut off like the key was turned off while doing somewhere around 70. It was 100 degrees plus and I had nothing but a screwdriver in the way of tools. The CHP was there almost before I stopped rolling(probably clocking me) as I was cruising pretty good . He ordered a rollback tow rig and asked where I wanted to have it delivered I couldn't think of a place that I have had foreign cars worked on before so I had it towed to a local shop that had worked on my Land Cruiser, sorta a foreign car, mostly American drivetrain though. This was a big mistake. They took forever to look at it and when they did they wanted to put a new ECU in it. No problem but if you know Miatas you know there hasn't been a new ECU made for 90-93 Miatas in about 12 years and they refused to look for a rebuilt unit because they couldn't get a 5 year warranty. I told them I would take a rebuild or even a used unit and skip the warranty but what do I know they are Mechanics after all but I asked are they sure it was a ECU and did they run it for codes.... The sound of crickets.

I was getting worried when I called and the lady receptionist/owner said that their best mechanic had been working on it all day and he was pretty sure it was the ECU but he couldn't find the port for the scanner to get the codes I was getting more worried and pissed. This was not going well at all 90-93 Miatas have a OB1 scanner and it's all internal on those years. In less than a couple minutes he could have most of the info he needed and not worn out his multimeter. Well yesterday I called and the new news is the new used ECU doesn't work any better than the old one and they were looking further into the no start issue, on my dime I assume.

A call came in today and they said that the main relay was bad/ blown and no one in town has one and it will be Monday before they can get one. This is a 40 amp fuse and I can't believe this is the first time this has been checked. I'm really going to be pissed if they want two days plus labor to find a blown fuse and replace it.... Just a rant.....Tedd

 

I really believe the first cost of education for a new mechanic is by his parents, at a college or tech school. Later costs of education are from the young mechanics employer and the shops customers... I have been on both sides. I learned a lot on the customers dime- not fair but it's how in goes. I know there are Mazda forums out there like our ClassicOldsmobile. Have you run it by them? A young friend of my grandson has a 1994 that the clutch wouldn't release. He went on a Miata site and found out it was a bad clutch slave cylinder. Him and his dad replaced master and slave cylinder in their driveway after buying the parts from Rock Auto for about $50.00!! Anyway amazing how much info you can find on line!! Maybe someone will say they have had the exact problem. I really like the 1st gen MX5. Back in 95 or so my buddy and I put a supercharger on his 1990. It was a little Rocket!

 

And that Tedd is why I prefer the older cars vs the newer... Nobody knows how to troubleshoot these days, they would rather throw a bunch of parts at it until its fixed.

 

There is a lot more to this story and I'm very familiar with Miata forums, usually every day but at the time and place I thought it was best to get off the side of the road and some place where it could be looked at. By the way I was a foot you can't ride with the truck driver these days. Then when their diagnosis came up with a bad ECU it threw me off as at that time I was thinking it's a thirty year old car and a bad capacitor could be a possibility. But as time went on I realized they didn't' have a clue what or where to look and I couldn't get past the gatekeeper/ owner to tell the mechanic how to read or use the diagnostic box to read the codes, flustrating. On about my third trip there I ran into a mechanic in the waiting room and had him explain why it was taking so long. His reply was do you know how hard it was to find that ECU and the difficulty it is to get it out. He must of thought I was a idiot because it only takes 5 screws to remove the door sill trim and pull the carpet away to get at and three 10 mm bolts, maybe five minutes tops, done.

It went on from there I should of pulled the car out at this time but I was without a ride and this would entail another tow and a 50 mile round trip to get home plus I was so pissed that thinking straight was not my best suit.
Maybe today it will be done and I can get it home, who knows Oh ya they are closed on Saturdays it will be next week..... Tedd

 

Tedd just a thought, why didn't you have it towed home? I realize that if you don't have a truck that would entail another tow to a shop. But you would have been able to tinker with it yourself a little.

 

Should have, but I was into it for three days labor before I realized they hadn't a clue. and I thought if I could just talk to the mechanic and steer him to use the diagnostic tools on the Miata I would be out of there that day. I can understand not wanting customers to interfere with the shop mechanics but they admitted that they were lost and had run out of ideas. As soon as I heard the computer wasn't the issue I knew it had to be the main relay or the wiring going to it, very common Miata issue. Also when the main fuse blows it often not always takes a 15 amp fuse with it that completes the ignition circuit so now you are looking for a second issue when you have fixed what you think is the real problem. Just a few listen to words would have saved a ton of time and my money.

I have a Durango truck that will tow most anything but I do not have a trailer and my Old Man is not the towing type at 93, yes he still drives but doesn't tow, thank God...Tedd

 

Tedd - Your entire story makes the hair on my neck stand straight up. I had a similar experience with an automotive service center years ago. I was like a volcano ready to explode.

 

Thats the issue most mechanics work on every car that rolls in, while many of us long time owners of a specific make or model become familiar w the nuances of the vehicle., the mech musta had kittens w no OBD 2 , and w obd1 you have to count to decipher the code and goto a book to see what it means! Unfortunetly most shops operate on how fast can we fix the car not well first we need to understand the problem.

 

Indeed, it is. A friend (years ago) was working for an independent service garage when OBD connectors first appeared. The service garage performed service work on the newer vehicles w/ OBD connectors - troubleshooting w/o pulling codes because the owner refused to purchase OBD connector interfaces & software. My friend repeatedly asked them until he was blue in the face to purchase the software and connectors so he could read the DTC codes. They responded w/ we don't need no stink'n computers. My friend left, was sent to training school by another service garage and increased his happiness & outlook on his profession.

 

Tedd, did you get this issue solved?

 

Yep, Took a couple of days longer for them to find a relay and some hassle over the original charged price but they did make a adjustment on labor then charged me $135 dollars on a 40 amp relay which I can buy most any where for around $25 but It was finished.... Sort of.

On the way home it quit again same sinearo just like the key was turned off, they had not snapped the relay all the way in and it had backed out enough to break contact. I was on the road again in 5 minutes.

By the way the next day I bought a used fuse holder and 2 relays for $20 bucks as a back up at the Orland pick and pull...... Tedd

 

'Back the 80's the company I worked for decides to get rid of their Sun engine analyzers (big mistake ) they decided to go with a new line of Coats ( yes the tire machine people ) digital computerized engine analyzers, they wanted to make sure we were proficient on the new machines so they sent us to Coats school twice a week for about a month, the instructor was a retired auto tech/ elec. engineer Great guy he told us he didn't really want to come out of retirement but they threw to much money at him to say no.
The first thing he told us was don't be to impressed by the big bright red piece of crap sitting over there !! BECAUSE its only as good as the person using it ! and that machine is easily fooled by simply things mainly bad or poor grounds !! crucial to todays computer systems and I don't want to see a single attendee in this class to touch that machine until he has eliminated the basics power. ground, fuel, ignition and FUSES and RELAYS you know basic troubleshooting skills . turns out he was one of the smartest guys I ever met and I learned some valuable things. unfortunately the machines turned out to be crap, company was sold a bill of goods, kept them for about 2-3 years then sold them and moved on to Snap-On equip. ( he was only a trainer, he neither endorsed them or sold them)

 

Glad it's fixed, Tedd.