howey

The 1982 RX-7 has been in storage. About 2 years ago I drove it for a few thousand miles and it started dying at stop signs or when you pulled up to intersections. I adjusted the idle and that stopped the dying. It was stored again and lately I took it out and it lacks power. It can get up to about 45 mph in a quarter mile, maybe 50 at times. The throttle cable is tightened all the way but the cable seems like it could be tighter. Is this carburetor related or how possible is that one of the apex seals is worn out on one of the rotors? Any common problems around the carburetor with hoses, vacuum, etc that you can share? It has a new fuel filter, installed 2 years ago. THANK YOU!

blazer1313

hmmm...i would get it compression tested. Most shops dont know how to do it, so if you or one of your buddies has a compression guage its easy. Disconnect the ignitors, remove the releif valve from the compression guage, and perform it. Let it crank a full few rotations before you record scores. Since you removed the relief valve the pressure guage will show each side of the rotor's compression. Start there and post what you got.

cdrad51

And let's hope you get triple digits but I doubt it.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...postid=2385473

Kentetsu

Fuel filters should be changed about every six months. They cause no end of problems. Good chance that one or more of the jets in the carb are clogged from sitting so long. To adjust the throttle cable, you look into the throat of the carb and tighten the cable only until the butterflies are full opened. Tightening past that point can damage the carb.

OnlyOnThurs

^^^What he said..........FUEL FILTER!!!

howey

COMPRESSION TEST: We do not have a tester, but used the following method as a quick check and for your information. The lower lead spark plug (front, L1) was taken out, other spark plug wires removed, and the engine turned over. This was also done with the lower lead spark plug (rear, L2) and the engine turned over. In both cases there was a steady beat of "psst" sounds that are strong, distinct, and well pronounced as the engine turned over and you could see short bursts of air coming out of the hole. To me this means there is good compression, but not as accurate as a tester I admit. CARBURETOR: carburetor cleaner in throat and some carb cleaner stuff was put in the gas tank last year so this has been tried. I tried again today with the carb cleaner in the throat but it does not make a difference. FUEL FILTER: the filter is not clogged and has only had a few hundred miles on it so I don't think that is it. ONE MORE FACT for you: When standing on the passenger side of the engine, looking into the air cleaner there are three holes around the edge, the one to the upper left has strong suction, the bigger hole to the upper right has strong suction, but the hole (same size as upper left) on the lower left does not have suction. This hole is hooked up to a hose directly below the passenger side of the air cleaner and goes to another object (don't know what to call it) that has a larger hose on the left side of it and some smaller hoses (2) coming out of it. The larger hose on the left side has strong suction. Is this hole in the air cleaner supposed to be sucking air? THANKS.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

?Did it have a loss of power before you stored it. Did you put stabil gas treatment in it before you stored it or did you just leave the old fuel in there?

Dan_s_young

iTrader: (1)

Sounds similar to the problem I had before. If you have a timing light, make sure all 4 of your plugs are actually getting spark. To me it sounds like you may have a blown ignitor, but the suggestions others have mentioned could also be the problem.

Its always really tough to try and diagnose vehicles when you don't have them infront of you...

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Dan, how are you doing?

Isn't it a fact about diagnosing over a keyboard,lol. Especiallly when you never really get "ALL' the info up front. It's usually a dragged on affair

Dan_s_young

iTrader: (1)

Haha im doing good, just working a ton of hours and with the rest of my time i've been buying alot of parts.

Diagnosing things can always be tricky business, especially when you do it properly and don't just start replacing things.

howey

STabil gas treatment - no, we did not put this in the tank at storage. When it was taken out of storage, it ran OK and did not have the current problems until it had been driven several hundred miles. Maybe it is the gas, but I don't think so. SPARK - there is spark to all four plugs. Each one was taken out and the engine turned over and there is spark on all four. I am still puzzled by this, I am beginning to believe its carburetor related. Thanks for your patience and comments, you are great.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Have you read through the link I posted?

cdrad51

Well, assuming compression is good and there is no fuel starvation from defective fuel filter or pump, my bet would be your original guess: carb related. Either a) secondaries are not opening or b) you have clogged jets or c) accelerator pump not working properly or d) throtle valve malfunction. Also check air filter element dirtyness.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Also check to see if the secondary linkage is still on. Pic attached.

howey

What am I looking for? Where is the secondary linkage in the pic?

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

It's the linkage that you see with a T that locks in place, it pops off and that deativates the secondaries.

Dan_s_young

iTrader: (1)

I circled the part in this picture that you need to make sure is still properly in position. This little T-bar hooks on 2 arms/hooks as you can see in the picture.



Note that this picture is on the passenger side of the vehicle near the firewall, it would be easiest to see with the blue air filter housing off.

Kentetsu

Yeah, sometimes refered to as the "teeter totter". It will also change the feel of the gas pedal, making it stiffer I think. Easy to check once the air cleaner is off.

howey

trochoid: yes, I read thru the link. thanks


dan s young and kententsu: that little t-bar was disconnected from the arms that are attached to another spring. When you press the accelerator it pushes up. We connected the tightened as tight as we could (turned clock wise) the t-bar and connected it and drove it, there was no change in performance. The car will only get up to about 53 mph and that takes a mile. We loosened the t-bar so it just sets there in the arms and that was the same result. I don't know how this got pushed off the arms unless it was bumped at one time while taking air cleaner off.

I noticed on your photo that there is what looks like a little spring immediatley below the t-bar on the shaft that the other arm pivots on. Mine does not have a little spring there.

Kentetsu

Hmmm, the plot thickens....

cdrad51

How about a good pic of what that looks like howey.

howey

Another thing we tried today: while car is running I sprayed gumout carb cleaner around the carburetor area and on all the little and big hoses on both sides of the carb. I was thinking that if there is a crack or hole that the carb cleaner would get sucked in and you would see rpms jump a bit. This did not result in any differences in how the car was running. I also tried letting it idle and put more carb cleaner down the throat after removing air cleaner, and ran it at 2000 rpm and did the same. Took for a drive and there is no difference in how the car is performing. I have tried the carb cleaner down the carb several times in the past.


Here is a picture of the secondary linkage.

Kentetsu

WOW!!! Get some PB Blaster on that right away. lol. Very rusty. I can't see the side of the mechanism to tell what spring is missing though. Can you get a side shot? And do something about that rust....

cdrad51

Well that's pretty useless - can't see ****.

Let's see. Does it look like this? if not, make it so.