c320miata

This is my first post!
I'm not sure how its taken me this long to find this forum but I'm so glad I did because it seems alive, which is GREAT.

Anyways, I just got this car about 2 years ago. In the last 5 years its probably only seen about 5,000 miles. Its currently sitting at about 140k miles and I'm just now getting around to giving it the TLC it needs.

This car was my grandfathers and it has a ton of sentimental value to me and I want to make it a reliable mode of transportation with a personal twist on it but likely keeping it mostly stock.

To start, there are LOTS of little things wrong with this car and in the last 4 weeks I've started buttoning up some of them.

Already done:
New Battery
New Alternator
New Fuel pump
New Fuel filter
New Air filters

On the immediate list:
Hood shocks
Instrument cluster screen (cant see it unless its cold out)
KEY!!! my key fob just stopped working the other day; which is actually what drove me to this forum!!! I replaced the battery and its still doing the same thing. It is not reliable when locking or unlocking but will do it after fighting with it for some time. It does still start the vehicle.
Fuel gauge doesnt work properly. stopped when I replaced the fuel pump. I believe the fuel pressure sender may not be in place correctly. We will find out the next time its low on fuel!
ABS/BAS/ESP bs...
Brakes - rotors and pads. currently getting some wicked vibration. not sure if its ABS BAS related.
Spark Plugs

Eventual:
suspension!
-i'm not sure whats up with this. the rear of the vehicle sits fairly low, but the front sits very high. like, almost a 5 or 6 inch gap from the top of the tire to the fender.
it clunks when i go over a bump from the front.
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...solutions.html
i've found that thread so hopefully it leads me to the light.
exhaust - i want something sporty sounding. this is way on the back burner, as i want to get it reliable before i start doing fun stuff.

Issues:
front driver and passenger seats drain battery
headliner coming down
passenger side of the driver seat (cushion only it seems) is broken and comes up
shifter boot comes up
cup holder broken
the convenience functions dont work (steering wheel easy out and mirrors going down in reverse)
motor in the rear window shade doesnt retract the shade
AC actuators in the dash are shot. At least two of them, but i've heard its a PAIN in the a** to handle and requires a lot of time.

Thats about all I can think right now.
Is there an aftermarket store/used parts anyone can point me towards?? swaps/trades anything like that?
Anyways, I dont have many pictures but i'll post what i have.














Classic old man car. However, in this last picture, if you look closely, you can see how high the front end sits. its dark, but you can tell.

Anyways, this is what i'm working with.

irrogue

Hey man, I also had an key issue not unlocking the doors at one stage. Open the key as you would change the battery, and pull the key chip out. (Very very carefully). Now clean the front part of the plastic key inside where the ir blaster would sit.

junkyarddawg

My advice is to search for an LKQ salvage yard in your area, if you are in the US there should be one within your reach. They buy lots of these vehicles and put them in the junkyard for 45 days for people to pull and purchase any parts you need. This is by far the most affordable way to recondition these german cars as the parts supply from the dealers are dwindling and still command a high price. You will be surprised what you can find and how much you will save. Many times you will find that the parts you are looking for have already been replaced on the cars in the junk yard, so you can pick and choose the best ones, so don't take the first one you come to, search all of them to find the newest, best ones. It just depends on how many cars are in the yard to pick from.
Happy reconditioning, happier motoring....

c320miata

didnt work.
i pulled it out and put it in a new case actually and still the same issue. the key starts the car no issue but does not lock or unlock the vehicle.
could it be a fuse on the car itself vs something wrong with the key???

anyways, in the last few weeks i havent made much progress. Small, simple stuff.
new hood shocks
new key housing (didnt fix my issue, but still done)
but the biggest thing i've fixed that has made the most difference is the dash screen!! replaced it and now i can see even during the day. feels strange.


next on the list is going to get the fuel gauge right. ive got about 60% of a tank right now based on mileage. so after this week of driving and into next week i should be good to get into the gas tank without spilling much gas in/on the backseat.
going to look at the driver side level sender unit and make sure its seated properly. if it is, and it still doesnt work right - i'm stumped.

after i investigate the fuel gauge issue its on to the brakes. going to figure out what i need to do to get the ABS/BAS/ESP light off.
already swapped out the switch under the brake pedal; didnt work.
next place to look i guess are the abs switches at each corner - not sure what to do to make that cost effective to only switch out the ones that are bad.

after the breaks are situated its on to the suspension to try and figure out why it sits so high up front.

the headliner falling is a pretty annoying issue - it was falling on the sunroof shade but I used some spray glue and got it to stay back up. no where near a professional job by any means.

to your point of checking out junk yards, i actually just found a local yard that has a 2003 c320. i dont think its a you pull it yard and i wont really know exactly what i need right now so i'm not sure what all they can do for me in the immediate time being. but thats a good heads up - i didnt even think about that.

VVF

Hmm, that height looks almost normal for the non-sport model.
Maybe the rear springs have sagged/are broken? Or you have a ton of stuff in the trunk?

MacVidMB-V8

Can you post some pix of the key PCB, front and back?

Does the red light flash when you push buttons?

c320miata

don't have much stuff in the trunk. And maybe it is normal ride height? It just seems like the front should be sitting a little lower (or maybe the rear higher). The rear looked a little more normal to me.

Pics a of key fobs inc. New
New
New
Old
Old
Old

c320miata

** yes the red light flashes when I push buttons. It did in the old fob as well as it does in the new fob.