by Charles Lynch. Prices are in $NZ

Sooner or later your MX5 will blow a fuse and unless you have read this page, you may experience some difficulty in finding the offending one.

The reason for this is that the MX5 has two fuse boxes.

The first one is handily situated in the engine bay just in front of the driver and in most cases has the fuses nicely labeled in English. I've included a diagram for these fuses in case some are labeled in Japanese or in case the fuse box cover is missing.

At NZ$15 each from a Mazda Dealer these fuses are expensive to replace (as I found out after I had sacrificed 3 to get me home). However Repco also sell them at a slightly more reasonable $7.50.

The second fuse box is in an extremely awkward place and, on Japanese imported models, is labeled in Japanese (didn't they know the cars would be exported to NZ later?). You have to be a bit of a contortionist to get to this fuse box as it is under the dash board, above the accelerator pedal against the right hand wall. The cover should contain a spare fuse and a fuse remover (little black clothes peg looking thing). The fuses in this box are of the more conventional blade type and cost less than $1 each from a number of outlets. Obviously, replace the fuse with the correct type and current rating. If your fuse is the correct type and keeps blowing, there is a problem somewhere. Don't just put in a bigger fuse!

Handy hint:
The fuse you are looking for is always the last one you try, so why not try that one first!