Miata engines love to tap just to remind us that they’re there. The engines typically deliver decades of faithful service, so occasionally they like to say, “Hey, we’re still here” with some rhythmic lifter chatter.
Historically, our Garage Rescue Miata’s lifters have chattered when the oil was getting dirty. Call it an audible oil change minder.
Best we can remember, before we put the car away for eight-plus years, we had been using Mobil 1 oil.
When the folks at BSI Racing got the car back on the road–it didn’t need much–they changed the oil to Liqui Moly Molygen New Generation 5W-30.
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Then? No chatter, no issues.
When it was time for its first post-hibernation oil change early this season, we reached for another brand–one long trusted by enthusiasts and used in many GRM project cars for decades. It’s an oil sold by a major Miata tuner, and we even followed its recommendation of running 10W-30.
And the lifters chattered. They chattered when cold. Or not. They’d chatter when warm. Or not. They’d chatter after an autocross run. Or not.
The lifters would simply chatter whenever and wherever.
What to do? We went back to the Liqui Moly and a fresh Mazda oil filter. It’s been several months since the change back.
We now get a second of chatter at startup–fairly common on Miatas–and, every now and then, a little chatter after an autocross run.
What’s the take-home message here? We don’t know, but at least in our case, maybe each Miata engine prefers its own oil. We need to dig deeper here.
