Daughter was driving her 96 to school this morning. Accessory belt broke and of course it wrapped around the other one and pulled it off. She drove another mile or so to get off the interstate. You guessed it. Was smoking hot by the time she got it shut down. What are the odds of the head getting warped from the heat. Will be looking at it this evening after work. Thanks in advance

 

If the head gasket didn't fail I wouldn't worry about the head. These heads are pretty robust.

Was it smoking or steaming? Big difference between the two.

 

Smoking hot was just a figure of speech. It did get hot enough to split the 17 year old radiator. Motor cranked up and I drove it on the trailer. No signs of damage to the internals. I believe the culprit is the alternator. After installing new belts and radiator, the alternator belt was squealing really bad when the a/c was turned on. Thinking the stator is bad. New one to be installed this evening.

 

I just had the alt. Checked. They said there was no problem with it, just need to tighten the belt a little more.

I had it pretty tight.... how tight is too tight?

 

I think there is a factory spec on deflection per lb of pressure but I always lust tighten it until it doesn't squeak. V-belts wear from the sides toward the middle and never on the bottom. They just get narrower and therefore looser over time. The multi-rib belts have more surface area and supposedly wear less over time and grip better with less tension but I find that they tend to squeal more easily than the v-belts when they are too loose.

Just keep adding a little tension until they go quiet under a load.

The stock radiators are known to have weakened tanks as they get older. Once you change it, you won't have it to worry about for another 20 years.

These are pretty robust engines. That said, I'm glad she didn't kill it. There are plenty of stock ones and even boosted ones that have well over 300k miles on them without ever being apart. Just keep the oil changed and filled, and the timing belt changed every 60-80k miles. And change the cam and crank seals when doing a timing belt. And if you ever do the clutch, change the rear main seal, the transmission input seal, and the clutch slave cylinder for good measure. It is all really cheap and is easy to do when everything has to come apart anyway. It is cheap insurance. You can't beat the parts prices on these cars. I buy many parts from rockauto.com to save money.

Good luck.

 

Man... what an ordeal. I took this thing apart 4 times. Each time, had to go a littel deeper. I now have experience working on a Miata. Anyone need a mechanic?

 

Oh by the way, its an auto with a/c.

 

But did you fix it?

 

Yep. Purring again!

 

That's what counts.