[Shop-talk] mazda miata issue

[Matt Trebelhorn]

The one notorious problem with the early Miatas -- that I know of --  
is crank failure.  The timing gear gets loose on the nose of the  
crank, and wobbles, giving highly erratic valve timing -- which can  
give all kinds of weird symptoms.  Try wobbling the crank pulley by  
hand.  If you can, you've found the problem.  The only fix is a new  
crank, but can be stuck together with a lot of loctite to last for a  
decent amount of time.

Matt