Brad Granath

The day before yesterday, I traded my '91 Corolla for an '85 RX-7 GS Coupe that's badged as a Turbo, but is most certainly an NA 12A (salvage title). It starts and runs and had wheels, so I decided to drive it home and save the towing expense. May have been a stupid idea.

Brake pedal was really squishy, but stopped the car if you pumped it once or twice. I tripled my follow distance, turned on the hazards (hey, at least those work) and limped it home on surface streets. Good thing, too, 'cause I hadn't gone more than a mile or two when the driver's rear wheel decided it had had enough of my grandma driving, jumped ship, and passed me on the right.



Axle seemed OK, so I jacked it up on the side of the road, put the wheel back on, tightened ALL the lugs (they were all loose, so I guess I was lucky) and continued on.

Overheated twice (rad cap blew). Didn't have any warning, other than increasingly troubling engine roughness, since the gauge cluster is totally inoperative save for the speedo and odometer. Let it cool for an hour while I ate lunch. Had plenty of coolant (shoulda guessed about the overheat issue, since the back seat was full of coolant gallon empties), so I topped it off, checked for leaks, found none, and continued. Second time, I just pulled over and read email on my smartphone for an hour before topping off the radiator and pressing on.

The whole way home the body sounded like ***** Wonka's chocolate factory, and made so many interesting noises. Gonna need some work.

Finally made it home that evening. Pulled it into my alley to clean it out, and when I went to pull it back out, I was almost unable to get it up the inclined driveway and back on to the street. I got as much of a running start as I could I burned the clutch a little, but made it back up onto the street.



So, aside from the legion of cleaning and minor defects that have to be addressed, I've got:

Low power
Overheating
Brakes
Pops and clicks and squeaks and scrapes
Gauge cluster

Brakes and undercarriage, I can take care of, so I'm left with:

Low power
Overheating
Gauge cluster

I'm new to rotaries, the 12A, and Mazdas, but not to IC engines or car repair. Where do I start?

I wasn't able to find a good gauge cluster thread. FSM seems to indicate the METER fuse or bad wiring. Will check the fuse.

Power issue could be the carb. Felt a little bit like the time I lost compression in 2 out of 4 on my 4 boinger though there was no added vibration. The Forum and the Internet seem to indicate that there's some kind of special Mazda compression tester, which I don't have. So, maybe carb? bad compression?

Did I wreck the engine when it overheated? I didn't run it for any length of time, after the cap popped, I pulled over and cooled it right away. Should've had it towed...

Thanks!

PS: Mods, sorry for the duplicate post in the 1st Gen section; I had not quite grokked the posting requirements.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

welcome to the board.

the engine is probably toast. if it's any consolation to you, the PO probably killed it way before you got it. the family of empty antifreeze bottles you found seems to point to someone that either didn't know any better or didn't give two *****, or both. the "Turbo" badge is just .... wow ... moving on.

if it's taking that much coolant and you don't see any leaks outside, then it's a safe bet that your water seals are stuffed. that by itself is an automatic rebuild. add to it the lack of power you describe and i would tend to think you may as well start looking for an engine because i don't hold much faith that you'll find many reusable parts in this one.

does the engine take forever to start? i could make suggestions on the lack of power, but it's a moot point because the engine has to go - whether rebuild or replace - either way.

Brad Granath

Well, the PO certainly didn't do me any favors.

But in answer to your questions: I don't think it's actually losing coolant. It was low after overheating, but only a little. It blew quite a bit out the cap. Doesn't blow any smoke at any speed or load, even when I was clawing it up the driveway, sitting in one spot, the air was pretty much clear. And it starts very easily on the 3rd or 4rd crank, even when the engine is cold.

So I hope.

If I ignore the engine as a problem, are there other things I can eliminate?

I didn't have much daylight yesterday, but was able to perform a quick visual inspection of the fuse block under the steering wheel. Everything looked OK. will confirm with diagram and multimeter today.

Another issue I've started to notice is how much stuff is just plain disconnected. I'll post a couple pix.

Haven't checked for coolant bubbles either. Got my work cut out for me today!

Brad Granath

Started right up. No coolant loss. No bubbles with the cap off.

Noting up the photos with the disconnected stuff.

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

okay, so I guess my next question is how did you confirm that it overheated?

lduley

iTrader: (1)

Did you let it run for awhile while the rad cap was off? Like, a half hour?

Brad Granath

[Diabolical1], there was steam coming from the radiator cap. Only time it does that is if you're over temp. Or, so I thought.

[lduley] I did not. Maybe five min. I didn't wanna let it overheat. The engine was definitely warm. Think I should go a little longer?

lduley

iTrader: (1)

I would first get the temp gauge working, or get a aftermarket gauge, than run it for awhile so you can actually tell if its overheating or not, but yes, let it run longer, you may have a coolant seal just starting to go bad and is only giving you symptoms when it is warmed up

Have you pulled the plugs yet to see if they are wet with antifreeze? And it doesn't smoke at all when you first start it? What your telling us points to a blown coolant seal or water jacket, but, could just be coincidence also

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

you probably should have started off with the videos. my responses to you would have been different. engines that overheat to the point where i was thinking based on your original post, don't start and run like that - at least, not in my experiences. there's definitely hope. steam could be as simple as a bad (or the wrong) radiator cap. i've been there.

i would:

1. compression test the engine! check the chambers for signs of antifreeze/water.

if it's all good, then i would:

2. go through the cooling system with a fine-toothed comb. pressure test it. if it's good, then flush it throughly. get a new cap, thermostat, antifreeze, etc.

3. address the gauges, although Lduley made a great suggestion to get an aftermarket gauge. either way your need something other than guessing.