The Emperor Is Acting Like A LBC ¹

He’s got an oil leak. Wednesday when we left Vicksburg, MS in the morning the car clattered a little longer than usual, but I chalked it up to the fact that is was parked nose up at about a 20° because of the slope of the lot. At our first stop of the morning I smelled a little cooked motor oil, but chalked that up to the ratty pickup truck we were next to in the quick stop lot. At the second stop I smelled it again. This time we were all alone in the lot.

I popped the hood and, oh yeah, the smell is coming from there. I checked the oil. The bottom of the dip stick was dry! Added two quarts of oil and it brought it up to full. At least it only needed two…the car only holds four. From then on for the next day and a half and 650 miles we carried around a quart of oil in trunk. Every couple miles I’d add a 1/2 quart or so.

Yesterday I jacked up the car and boy was it oily. I bet half of what I lost was coating the underside of the car. I was more on the right side than the left and it really seemed to be coming from around the oil filter. But when I went to see if it was loose, it wasn’t, it was still tight.

I sprayed Simple Green around the bottom of the car and pressure washed it as best I could using my lame homeowner weekend washer. Changed the oil and filled it up again. Then I washed the car and gave it a quick spray wax. I then laid a towel down in the garage and parked the Miata over it.

This morning we went to breakfast at Steak & Shake in Augusta with the MMC. When I backed out of the garage the towel didn’t look dirty at all. The leak went away? Highly unlikely. On the way to breakfast we stopped on I-520 going into Georgia to get the last State we’ll get for the Motoring Challenge, bringing this year’s tally to 22 (if you count DC as one & they do), this is exactly twice last year’s eleven. When we got home at about 11:00 AM the Emperor got parked back in the garage.

We went out this evening in the Purple Whale to fill it with gas and get an ice cream cone. On returning home I backed the Miata out of the garage and looked at the floor. There was a pool of of about 5 or 6 ounces of clean oil on the floor. I guess the leak is still there. My guess now on the source is near the upper front right, probably the valve cover gasket. It leaks out during operation and falls down on to the plastic under tray and then during that 8 hours of down time drips slowly onto the floor. The dip stick was down a half a quart.

I think it is time for another visit to the Miata Doctors at Panic Motorsports.