2006 Mazda MX-5 NC 2.0 Sport

Pour a small amount of water down the drain and see if it comes out underneath, If it does you know it's not that.

Thanks, will try that later. If they are clear somewhere around the scuttle?

Goodies!



Inside is this lot:



AutoGlym roof renovator, Meguiars 105, indicator bulbs, USB socket, a Ford Focus caliper (my other thread), and the MX-5 caliper sliders and re-build kit with piston.



There's something about brand new machined metal parts with rubber. I don't know why, just makes me very happy...

The other thing that arrived was a new keyfob and keyring.



That's it currently, I keep forgetting which is lock and unlock.



That's it now



And a keyring. Just in case I forget what car I'm driving.

Whilst I was moving the Mazda off the driveway to work on the Focus, I thought I'd quickly tackle this mess:





Managed to get the subwoofer remote out. Such a huge lead. I'll take the rest of the subwoofer out when I get round to removing the power line that goes to the battery too.



Lifting up the center console revealed the USB socket that I thought was close by.



So this could be plugged into it



Looks lovely and flush. However, there's a problem. That's with the center console lifted slightly. I can't lower it due to wires being in the way inside.



Those. Lifting the console again reveals the following box that they're plugged in:



What is that? Either way, it's held down by two (what looks like) 10mm bolts. If I take one bolt out, I could swivel it on an angle, and there should be enough room for my USB socket. I'm not sure what this is though, so before I start fiddling, could someone tell me what it is?

I've been enjoying this thread until I saw this -


Buy some decent coffee man!

We have a real coffee machine with ground coffee, but that's for any coffee we need to make quick or for when we can't be bothered to steam any milk!

I see. Think it would still work if it was pointed to the left or right slightly?

Hmm, looks like I'll have to blank off the hole and use the 12V hole instead, seeing this car has two.

What a find. Top job. Pleased about the rust too. They can go horribly, as you found out.

On the wheel alignment, did you specify a setup with A&A, or did they do it "by the book" so to speak? I've a friend in Caerleon with a new MX5 who needs an alignment. What did you pay, if you don't mind me asking?

Cheers - looking forward to the updates.

So I took a close inspection of the caliper today.

First things first, I removed the bolts for the sliders, and I could slide the sliding pins by hand freely. One was a little stiff (the one with the rubber boot), but I could still move it by hand. The other slider was completely free.

After removing the carrier bolts, the caliper itself was stuck to the disc. This instantly made me think that it's the piston.

One slider looks like this:



The other looks like this (the stiffer one but still moveable by hand):



I got the caliper off, and pumped the pedal a few times to get the piston out a little. Pulling back the rubber showed this:



I thought that was quite clean, but could be mistaken. Now the way it acted with the caliper stuck to the brake disc made me think it's the piston, but that's telling me otherwise.

The carrier itself isn't in great condition, and the pads were very stuck in the carrier. I had to give them a good knock to get them out of the carrier.



So what's the general consensus before I start pulling the caliper apart?

Interesting. The caliper was stuck so much that I struggled to then the wheel when in the air. Would the pads being stuck in the carrier cause it to be that bad? Great news if so as it's an easy fix for me!

Something for you to aim for:
https://www.mazdaontrack.co.uk/donington-park--tra...

Weather permitting that will be a good day, to say the least