Miatatude

Last night I looked in on the hot water heater that for reasons unknown had started to drip at drain outlet and just as mysteriously as it started, it stopped. Tonight, hoping that that same magic might have worked on my leaking differential, I didn’t pull into the garage, but got out and checked the floor. Still leaking. Maybe I’ll get some regular oil and start adding it a bit at a time until the leak stops.

Yeah, I know, don’t be so cheap, drain the $10 a quart synthetic and fill it back up with dino, already.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2597.67
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 267

The garage smells of Simple Green. Tonight after work I put the car up on jackstands and squirted the stuff everywhere on the differential and transmission (and the bottom of the engine for good measure.) After about 10 minutes I sprayed it all off using a garden hose. During those 10 minutes I took the time to sweep out the dust, acorns, leaves and dead roaches from the garage. The bottom of the car is clean and now I will check it on the weekend and see where my leak(s) is coming from. I say it like that because I noticed that there were some oily drops on the floor near the middle of the car to go along with the ones at the rear.

Purchased Today: $0
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Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 261

If it is in the upper 80s and it is November, is it too late to refer to it as Indian Summer? Beautiful day. We spent a big chunk of it blasting hither and yon on Lake Thurman with friends from the Miata Club. To and from the lake were spent enjoying the beautiful day.

When I got home I peeked under the car to see if I could see where the leak is coming from. It doesn’t look like it is at either the fill or drain plug. Must be coming from the front seal. If that is the case, I may have to go back to plain ol’ oil. Tomorrow after work I’ll put the car on jack stands and clean it all off, then check again in a couple of days.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2597.67
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Bad Gas part 2. Maybe it wasn’t bad gas before that was causing the engine knock. It was back today under hard acceleration. The gas level was low so I filled it with high test again. Maybe the knock only appears when I get to the bottom of the tank?

Didn’t pull all the way into the garage when we got home from work today as I needed the aforementioned gas and we needed gas for the lawn mower. As I walked through the garage into the house I noticed a couple of oily looking spots on the floor. They were towards where the rear of the car sits. I just switched to synthetic and from what I’ve read on Miata.net sometimes this leaking is because synthetic has smaller molecules that sneak by where the bigger dino oil molecules can’t. May have to switch back.

Not car related but annoying none the less, the water heater now has a small drip coming from the place where you hook up a hose to drain it. About a 1/4 cup in the last 24 hours…

Purchased Today: $14.00 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2597.67
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 261

Someone suggested that the Miata Club meet at this new place that opened up in North Augusta, Vinny’s Pizzeria. The meeting is next Thursday at 7:00 PM, so as a recon mission, Donna, myself and her mother went over tonight around 7:00 PM to eat. The place is cobbled together out of who knows what it used to be. Very small and if we get a big turnout we might overwhelm the place. As it is the owner mentioned we could have the back room all to ourselves. Well the back room had 3 tables in it. Plus the pool table and an air hockey table. Going to be tough to hold a meeting while somebody is playing air hockey. I’ll let you know.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2583.67
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 261

Stopped on the way home from work and picked some oil. Changed the oil and rotated the tires at 123,527. With the return of daylight standard time, I barely got through before it was too dark to see. Next scheduled change is at 127,000.

Purchased Today: $10.12 in oil
Money spent since 03/03/03: $2583.67
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 261