2006 Mazda MX-5 NC 2.0 Sport
Discussion
tr7v8 said:
Law of sod applies here. I replied that the only problem outside servicing had been an EGR valve. Well used it twice on Saturday & returning the second time as I reversed I felt it stop the minute I took drive off. Quick walk around feeling wheels & the NSF was red hot. Booked it into my Mazda Indie & just picked it up.
Seized NSF calliper replaced, service & A/C regas. £450 ouch.
Ouch!Seized NSF calliper replaced, service & A/C regas. £450 ouch.
Would you be into working on it yourself at all? I only say this as it seems to be such an easy (and fun) car to work on. Even rebuilding the caliper was a doddle. Rebuild kit cost £18, servicing costs £40 for parts, and A/C regas is around £50, so would come to about £108. You'd save hundreds!
It's worth thinking about, not only for the savings but for the satisfaction. Totally understand if not, but it's definitely worth considering.
geraintthomas said:
tr7v8 said:
Law of sod applies here. I replied that the only problem outside servicing had been an EGR valve. Well used it twice on Saturday & returning the second time as I reversed I felt it stop the minute I took drive off. Quick walk around feeling wheels & the NSF was red hot. Booked it into my Mazda Indie & just picked it up.
Seized NSF calliper replaced, service & A/C regas. £450 ouch.
Ouch!Seized NSF calliper replaced, service & A/C regas. £450 ouch.
Would you be into working on it yourself at all? I only say this as it seems to be such an easy (and fun) car to work on. Even rebuilding the caliper was a doddle. Rebuild kit cost £18, servicing costs £40 for parts, and A/C regas is around £50, so would come to about £108. You'd save hundreds!
It's worth thinking about, not only for the savings but for the satisfaction. Totally understand if not, but it's definitely worth considering.
tr7v8 said:
Used to work on cars, was tempted on the calliper as I'd have pulled them all off & got them painted at the same time. He put a replacement calliper on it. So problem solved, He said he's done a few in the past few months due to lack of use during COVID But these days can't be arsed to grovel around under cars. Mark updates the Mazda DSR as well. Mine is low miles under 60K
Can't argue with that! I'm certain that's why my caliper went, lack of use. It's low mileage and didn't seem to be driven enthusiastically with its setup (I don't know how they could have).Accelebrate said:
There’s a knack to it, but you should be able to raise the roof back up whilst seated by reaching behind yourself with your right hand and grabbing the edge of the roof.
Yes I was about to post the same, OP you're just not flexible enough 
My muscles get used to it in Summer and it's easy. This Spring I was wondering why my arm was aching and that was the reason, I was just out of practice
Accelebrate said:
There’s a knack to it, but you should be able to raise the roof back up whilst seated by reaching behind yourself with your right hand and grabbing the edge of the roof.
Evoluzione said:
Yes I was about to post the same, OP you're just not flexible enough
My muscles get used to it in Summer and it's easy. This Spring I was wondering why my arm was aching and that was the reason, I was just out of practice
I need to try this! I've already got one huge left leg due to the Boxster clutch...My muscles get used to it in Summer and it's easy. This Spring I was wondering why my arm was aching and that was the reason, I was just out of practice
I still haven't washed the car since buying it, all I've done is fix the brake and drive it, so I gave it a quick once over today. Literally a little bit of soapy water in a bucket with a terrible washmitt. No point in doing a two bucket posh wash with the state of the paintwork. I'll be detailing it soon anyway.
Today was a good day to do the roof of the car. This needs to be the first step as the products used for the roof, especially the protector, can stain the paintwork. Nothing a polish won't fix, but I may as well do it first if I'm machining the paintwork later on down the line.
The roof isn't in a great state. It's faded, and covered in mould. Or as us Welsh like to say: minging.
I used AutoGlym's Soft Top Renovator kit. I've had good results with this on the Boxster, so it should be fine for this.
Wet the roof, spray half (literally says to use half) of the bottle across the roof, and start scrubbing with the included sponge. The trouble is that the sponge is so soft that it doesn't really do anything to the mould. Good at cleaning the roof, terrible at removing mould as it doesn't go into the fabric of the roof.
I switched to one of these and, as you can see, it's working as my thumb is now covered in disgusting mould juice.
The results however were lovely
The soft top protector is fantastic in the rain as water doesn't stick to the roof at all. It's good to top it up from time to time,.
Today was a good day to do the roof of the car. This needs to be the first step as the products used for the roof, especially the protector, can stain the paintwork. Nothing a polish won't fix, but I may as well do it first if I'm machining the paintwork later on down the line.
The roof isn't in a great state. It's faded, and covered in mould. Or as us Welsh like to say: minging.
I used AutoGlym's Soft Top Renovator kit. I've had good results with this on the Boxster, so it should be fine for this.
Wet the roof, spray half (literally says to use half) of the bottle across the roof, and start scrubbing with the included sponge. The trouble is that the sponge is so soft that it doesn't really do anything to the mould. Good at cleaning the roof, terrible at removing mould as it doesn't go into the fabric of the roof.
I switched to one of these and, as you can see, it's working as my thumb is now covered in disgusting mould juice.
The results however were lovely
The soft top protector is fantastic in the rain as water doesn't stick to the roof at all. It's good to top it up from time to time,.
Edited by geraintthomas on Wednesday 26th August 14:23
Edited by geraintthomas on Wednesday 26th August 14:24
Edited by geraintthomas on Wednesday 26th August 14:25
geraintthomas said:
Accelebrate said:
There’s a knack to it, but you should be able to raise the roof back up whilst seated by reaching behind yourself with your right hand and grabbing the edge of the roof.
Evoluzione said:
Yes I was about to post the same, OP you're just not flexible enough
My muscles get used to it in Summer and it's easy. This Spring I was wondering why my arm was aching and that was the reason, I was just out of practice
I need to try this! I've already got one huge left leg due to the Boxster clutch...My muscles get used to it in Summer and it's easy. This Spring I was wondering why my arm was aching and that was the reason, I was just out of practice
Interesting to see how easy your caliper rebuild looked. Mine at the time had a sticky front left, but never to the point of binding.
Edit to add, saw this on Reddit earlier
Edited by Dyl on Wednesday 26th August 19:47
I've been tempted to put the original Bose head unit back in, rather than this Pioneer Apple CarPlay system.
The pro's of the Pioneer system is that I get the reverse camera feed, Bluetooth, and the Apple CarPlay system (which in itself is a phone, GPS, Spotify, etc), and that's about it.
The cons is that it's just a boring big screen, which doesn't seem to sit right in the interior of an MX-5. It screams 'aftermarket', which I hate. I'm a sucker for good UI design and the Pioneer's UI design is shocking, and doesn't suite the Mazda. I like things to look like they were intended to be there, but the Pioneer's head unit is just trying to be 'cool' with fancy backgrounds and weirdly laid out UI buttons. If I turn the screen off, I'm left with a blank space and, at night, it's just black with nothing there. I also loose the clock by turning off the screen. It's also causing a constant hiss due to this and the Bose amp both amplifying the signal.
Reverse camera, I'm really not bothered. I'd happily install parking sensors instead. I could simply get a Bluetooth module for the original Bose head unit, then get a phone holder for my iPhone (one that sits in the CD slot). That way I get navigation directly on my phone whenever I need it, and I can still use Bluetooth audio whenever I want. When it comes to using the phone, the caller's voice would come through the speakers via the Bluetooth module, and the microphone would be the phone's internal mic as opposed to an aftermarket microphone up by the sun visor. It'll be a lot neater, and a lot less fussy.
https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=475015
That guide shows how to custom make your own AUX input that works with the Bose system. I'd make one of those, and buy an 3.5mm to Bluetooth dongle for it, and will hide it behind the dash. Voila, factory Bluetooth.
I'll have a think about it because the Apple CarPlay is the only reason why I'd want it to stay there. If it didn't have this, then I'd have absolutely no use for a big screen in the dashboard.
Also, one more thing I've found that I don't like about NC MX-5's is how hard it is to heel & toe compared to other cars. I wonder if there's an extension I can install for the throttle pedal.
The pro's of the Pioneer system is that I get the reverse camera feed, Bluetooth, and the Apple CarPlay system (which in itself is a phone, GPS, Spotify, etc), and that's about it.
The cons is that it's just a boring big screen, which doesn't seem to sit right in the interior of an MX-5. It screams 'aftermarket', which I hate. I'm a sucker for good UI design and the Pioneer's UI design is shocking, and doesn't suite the Mazda. I like things to look like they were intended to be there, but the Pioneer's head unit is just trying to be 'cool' with fancy backgrounds and weirdly laid out UI buttons. If I turn the screen off, I'm left with a blank space and, at night, it's just black with nothing there. I also loose the clock by turning off the screen. It's also causing a constant hiss due to this and the Bose amp both amplifying the signal.
Reverse camera, I'm really not bothered. I'd happily install parking sensors instead. I could simply get a Bluetooth module for the original Bose head unit, then get a phone holder for my iPhone (one that sits in the CD slot). That way I get navigation directly on my phone whenever I need it, and I can still use Bluetooth audio whenever I want. When it comes to using the phone, the caller's voice would come through the speakers via the Bluetooth module, and the microphone would be the phone's internal mic as opposed to an aftermarket microphone up by the sun visor. It'll be a lot neater, and a lot less fussy.
https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=475015
That guide shows how to custom make your own AUX input that works with the Bose system. I'd make one of those, and buy an 3.5mm to Bluetooth dongle for it, and will hide it behind the dash. Voila, factory Bluetooth.
I'll have a think about it because the Apple CarPlay is the only reason why I'd want it to stay there. If it didn't have this, then I'd have absolutely no use for a big screen in the dashboard.
Also, one more thing I've found that I don't like about NC MX-5's is how hard it is to heel & toe compared to other cars. I wonder if there's an extension I can install for the throttle pedal.
Edited by geraintthomas on Thursday 27th August 13:54
I kept looking at this, convincing myself that the original Bose unit would look better. With what I explained in a previous post, I could always add in a line-in for the phone audio, and a phone stand to use my phone for the sat nav. I wouldn't be missing out on features, and I'd be having the original look, setup and sound.
I decided to go for it. I pulled the head unit out, then wanted to pull my hair out.
I've never seen so much of a mess of wires just for ICE in my life. All this just for a touch screen?
What's this for?! Why is this even here!
This was intriguing. Seems to be stereo speaker wires coming from somewhere, soldered into a loom that they've used. There's no 'extra' speakers other than the subwoofer, that I know of.
In a classic "JML" TV advertising voice: "But wait, there's more!" These wires are coming from the left behind the HU. The blue is labelled "P.Cont", which I assume is to do with the sub and its power. The silver lead on the right is definitely coming from the sub as I saw it back there. But the grey and white leads make me think that there's another set of speakers somewhere.
They go along the glove box area
Down the kick plates
Up behind the passenger seat, and behind the plastics.
Now then. Behind the driver seat was the sub.
I took it out, and these are the wires. Power (that connects to the battery), the blue lead, and the silver lead. But where's the white and grey? I have a feeling there's something behind the passenger seat, and I have a feeling it's an amplifier.
If that's true, then this car would essentially have three amps. The Pioneer unit itself, this mystery amp, and the car's Bose amp. No wonder it was hissing.
What an awful setup, it all had to go back to factory.
I disconnected the leads coming from behind the glove box and wrapped them up for now. I'll eventually take the interior plastics out and will remove this properly, when the weather permits. For now, it stays disconnected and wrapped up behind the glove box.
All of this came out, and there's a lot more to come that's cable tied in. I'll need to re-visit it to pull the remaining wires out. Anyone fancy a sub?
Bose unit back in.
Finished.
The sound is FAR better! No hiss, lots of clarity, plenty of mid-range (rather than just bass and tin-sounding treble), and it looks the part in the night too. Also, I now have a clock!
The in-dash 6-CD changer is cool. I've put a few CD's in already, but I want to start setting this up for AUX input. As I mentioned in a previous post, you can trick the car into thinking that it has the original media 3.5mm adapter, after soldering a few wires etc, so that was the plan.
And then I found this in that big box of trinkets:
Perfect!
The plan is to turn that USB port I made in the cubby holder back into a 12V socket, then turn the original Mazda 12v socket under the climate controls into one of these:
I'll put a female end on the 3.5mm lead that I have, and will link it up to this. This should make it look lovely and factory.
We visited my parents that evening, and took advantage of the misty Welsh mountain roads on the way.
That radio is far better.
geraintthomas said:
I kept looking at this, convincing myself that the original Bose unit would look better. With what I explained in a previous post, I could always add in a line-in for the phone audio, and a phone stand to use my phone for the sat nav. I wouldn't be missing out on features, and I'd be having the original look, setup and sound.
I decided to go for it. I pulled the head unit out, then wanted to pull my hair out.
I've never seen so much of a mess of wires just for ICE in my life. All this just for a touch screen?
What's this for?! Why is this even here!
This was intriguing. Seems to be stereo speaker wires coming from somewhere, soldered into a loom that they've used. There's no 'extra' speakers other than the subwoofer, that I know of.
In a classic "JML" TV advertising voice: "But wait, there's more!" These wires are coming from the left behind the HU. The blue is labelled "P.Cont", which I assume is to do with the sub and its power. The silver lead on the right is definitely coming from the sub as I saw it back there. But the grey and white leads make me think that there's another set of speakers somewhere.
They go along the glove box area
Down the kick plates
Up behind the passenger seat, and behind the plastics.
Now then. Behind the driver seat was the sub.
I took it out, and these are the wires. Power (that connects to the battery), the blue lead, and the silver lead. But where's the white and grey? I have a feeling there's something behind the passenger seat, and I have a feeling it's an amplifier.
If that's true, then this car would essentially have three amps. The Pioneer unit itself, this mystery amp, and the car's Bose amp. No wonder it was hissing.
What an awful setup, it all had to go back to factory.
I disconnected the leads coming from behind the glove box and wrapped them up for now. I'll eventually take the interior plastics out and will remove this properly, when the weather permits. For now, it stays disconnected and wrapped up behind the glove box.
All of this came out, and there's a lot more to come that's cable tied in. I'll need to re-visit it to pull the remaining wires out. Anyone fancy a sub?
Bose unit back in.
Finished.
The sound is FAR better! No hiss, lots of clarity, plenty of mid-range (rather than just bass and tin-sounding treble), and it looks the part in the night too. Also, I now have a clock!
The in-dash 6-CD changer is cool. I've put a few CD's in already, but I want to start setting this up for AUX input. As I mentioned in a previous post, you can trick the car into thinking that it has the original media 3.5mm adapter, after soldering a few wires etc, so that was the plan.
And then I found this in that big box of trinkets:
Perfect!
The plan is to turn that USB port I made in the cubby holder back into a 12V socket, then turn the original Mazda 12v socket under the climate controls into one of these:
I'll put a female end on the 3.5mm lead that I have, and will link it up to this. This should make it look lovely and factory.
We visited my parents that evening, and took advantage of the misty Welsh mountain roads on the way.
That radio is far better.
I’ve just gone the other way, had an Alpine double din sat there doing nothing and wanted phone/nav/CarPlay.
The interface to convert for the Bose speakers did need a couple of attempts to get a decent sound but happy with it now.
Interesting - looks like a very sub-standard install. Bose equipped cars can be fiddly to get this right, and I chickened out and had mine professionally installed. Not sure if you're aware, but the 6-CD changer on these does have a tendency to fail and will end up not playing back the discs inserted, so you may want to look into a spare in case that happens.
robf1uk said:
Interesting - looks like a very sub-standard install. Bose equipped cars can be fiddly to get this right, and I chickened out and had mine professionally installed. Not sure if you're aware, but the 6-CD changer on these does have a tendency to fail and will end up not playing back the discs inserted, so you may want to look into a spare in case that happens.
Thanks for the heads up, I'll certainly keep it in mind.Day 2 of old radio removal. It's actually done, and I still can't believe the amount of wires that has just come out.
This was the cable I wanted to tackle first.
One huge lead, along with about a million zip ties. Which lead me to the next wires.
These are the GPS, microphone and rear camera wires.
Pulled them out of the HU area and removed all cable ties (they were hanging off the steering rack).
Had to remove the a-pillars and sun visor plastics to get to these, but eventually got them out.
Rear camera was next.
All by the boot lock. Bit of a mess. I disconnected the (bodged) wires, and went about removing the camera.
Came out easy enough, but needed to cover the hole.
Then I walked past my Focus brake caliper on the floor...
Those caliper slide bolt boots look interesting.
Especially since it could reach that inside hole that you see too.
Well I'll be damned, a perfect fit. I could trim a little off, but it's fine for now.
Lastly, this huge pile of wires
What have I gotten myself into...
Behind the seat plastics, I found it's not even connected! No wonder the sub didn't work.
It all came out, with an alarming amount of wires in total
And for the grand finale...
All of that came out of the Mazda (not the Lego technics car, points to guess what it is), and was for the head unit install. Absolutely shocked with the unnecessary length of wire.
It's a lot quieter with no tiny taps and clinks that I thought was just part of the car. I also found a brand new bag of plastic trim clips, which I used on all of the missing/snapped clips.
Gives me much better peace of mind knowing I'm driving the car without all of that rubbish in there.
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