How not to shot peen internals...
Posted: December 5th, 2002, 7:55 pm
<A HREF="http://www.miata.net/apple/0111.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.miata.net/apple/0111.html</A> <P>"I think I may have KILLED my Miata (poisoning)"<P>RA: When this topic came up on the Miata Forum a couple of months back, a number of Forum Members read it and some were skeptical that anything like this could really happen. Some demanded pictures but once posted, still did not feel this could happen without the aid of a ball-peen hammer -- it had to be a hoax! But as the reader count went up and more information became available, it soon became a hands down Rotten Apple candidate. At one point, after it was cross-linked to several other internet sites, the Miata Forum was almost brought to a standstill from all the hits it received. So here, once again is what may be the Rotten Apple of the Year ... Wes Tewksbury's "I think I may have KILLED my Miata (poisoning)."<P><BR>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<P>RA: So Wes, let's start at the b-b-ginning. (smile)<P>Wes: It seems I fed it BB's, you know like the ones you shoot from a bb gun.<P>RA: You mean like the Red Ryder model my "older brother" had as a kid...a real BB gun like by Daisy or someone?<P>Wes: That would be the one, I actually have a few, but it’s my bb pistol that’s really responsible. I just did a very thorough and careful (1990 model) timing belt 60K service (has 181K on it). I carefully laid each engine part on my workbench as I took it off. Some how a rubber bb loader full of BB's fell into the intake hoses and hid there.<P>RA: This is where most of us just shook our heads in disbelief, Wes. You didn't see that the hose had something in it on reassembly?<P>Wes: No, and I really thought I checked carefully, too! I even shook the hoses to be sure. I reassembled everything and drove for four uneventful days. Then it happened, the throttle got stuck on. RPM's went up close to 8000 when I turned off the key. As I coasted to a stop I heard thuds from the engine, and after I stopped, the engine would no longer turn over.<P>RA: You were probably wondering about that timing belt job about then -- wondering about that "non-interference" motor everyone always talks about. The one that won't turn over and whose last utterance was, "thud?"<P>Wes: Yes but I'm a pretty good mechanic and I knew I'd done a good job. Once home, after a tow, I removed the intake hoses and found the bb loader stuck on the throttle plate and about 60 bb's missing as well as the rubber end cap.<P>RA: (Note to self How many total BB's are in a BB loader?)<P>Wes: I don't remember crying out at that point but I may have. I went right into the disassembly stage and found one spark plug broken and all four with small dents in them. Once the head was off I could see the pistons were heavily impaled with BB's and so was the head. Many were pressed into the pistons and the head as well. The only good news is the block looked ok, but with 183K, I didn’t think it was worth repairing.<P> 
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