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FC · 10-05-2019, 03:57 PM

I’m coming up on 3 years with the Miata, so I decided to take care of a few things:

- oil change and filter (yearly)
- spark plugs (no record of them having been done)
- preemptive replacement of coolant expansion tank (they dry and fail catastrophically at around 10 years/100k apparently)
- brake fluid flush
- air filter

A few other items the previous owner had done at a mechanic and I have the receipt. I will re-do those next year.

The previous owner was an Autox guy so I figured he must have taken good care of the car. Indeed he had the receipt for the big 60k mile service.

I also could see he had ATE Blue brake fluid on the reservoir, but I have no record of when he did that, so it has probably been at least 4 years. I got new fluid and started to drain from the calipers and to my shock, the fluid coming out was not blue as in the reservoir, but rather nasty orange/yellow fluid. It took a decent amount of flushing to get to greenish stuff and eventually the new stuff I added.

Did this guy just top off the reservoir with ATE blue? WTF? It seems the brakes were not properly flushed.

Anyhow, I the flushed the heck out of the brake lines and the brakes feel much better, though they were never bad.

Also he had put in a K&N filter (not a fan and consensus is also not to use it on NC’s) and it was nasty. I’m sure it’s placebo, but with the OEM filter car seems to run better.

My work was interrupted, but I’ll do the plugs tonight.

10-05-2019, 03:57 PM	#1
FC Solving problems Join Date: Oct 2003 Carmudgeonly Ride: M5 / 718 GTS / Cooper S / GTI / LR4 Location: Metro Boston Posts: 25,248	You can’t trust other people’s work I’m coming up on 3 years with the Miata, so I decided to take care of a few things: - oil change and filter (yearly) - spark plugs (no record of them having been done) - preemptive replacement of coolant expansion tank (they dry and fail catastrophically at around 10 years/100k apparently) - brake fluid flush - air filter A few other items the previous owner had done at a mechanic and I have the receipt. I will re-do those next year. The previous owner was an Autox guy so I figured he must have taken good care of the car. Indeed he had the receipt for the big 60k mile service. I also could see he had ATE Blue brake fluid on the reservoir, but I have no record of when he did that, so it has probably been at least 4 years. I got new fluid and started to drain from the calipers and to my shock, the fluid coming out was not blue as in the reservoir, but rather nasty orange/yellow fluid. It took a decent amount of flushing to get to greenish stuff and eventually the new stuff I added. Did this guy just top off the reservoir with ATE blue? WTF? It seems the brakes were not properly flushed. Anyhow, I the flushed the heck out of the brake lines and the brakes feel much better, though they were never bad. Also he had put in a K&N filter (not a fan and consensus is also not to use it on NC’s) and it was nasty. I’m sure it’s placebo, but with the OEM filter car seems to run better. My work was interrupted, but I’ll do the plugs tonight. Last edited by FC; 10-06-2019 at 02:13 AM.