I have an intermitten problem with the rebuilt engine I installed in my 1982 RX7: If I leave the car sit, without running it for a few days, I find that the engine becomes fouled with exceess oil. The car is fine if I run it every day or so, but if I let it sit for a week or more, the plugs foul upon start up. I end up cleaning the engine out with gasoline/starter fluid/carb cleaner/comressed air and replacing the plugs every time. Anyone else had any similar oil seepage problems in their rebuids? Anything I can do about it outside of replacing/rebuilding the engine with new seals?

BTW: the engine is a Hayes Rotary 12a rebuild installed in March of 98 with approxemately 10,000 new miles on it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Get the engine rebuilt somewhere else?

~T.J.

 

on a more serious note... it sounds like what's happening to my engine, which is a slowly leaking o-ring allowing some oil to get into the combustion chamber, 'causing the blue smoke. Not a huge deal at the moment, but could get worse down the road...

 

If it didnt already have 10,000 miles on it, I wouldve suggested that maybe the seals werent seated yet...But I dont know. I just know that from what Ive read, I wouldnt let Hayes do work on my car. I was just there yesterday though, just to check it out cause I was bored. Nice people, lots of cars there to get worked on, they had some cool stuff, plus a shop full of parts, and gave me a good price on some rotors and offered to give me some housings and plates to practice porting on for free. I just wouldnt let them touch my car until Im proven otherwise.

~T.J.

 

Oh yeah, and has it always done this? The way he was talking about rebuilding engines kinda had me worried. He said that he could give me some free plates to practice porting on only if they were COMPLETELY dead, cause sometimes they are "salvagable". Same with the rotor housings...

~T.J.

 

Yeah, I've had trouble with that engine from the day I bought it. The install went well enough, but getting it running afterwards took an act of God. Hayes claimed that the engine needed to be run for a while to get the apex seals to seal the combustion chamber properly... a while was a serious understatement...

But to answer your question, no, it has not always done this. Only since the last time I changed the oil. I accidentally overfilled the engine, then ran it for a few days before the engine started to foul. I drained it, and ended up dismantling most of the intake/exhaust manifolds and cleaned it out till it sparkled inside. Then I rebuilt the intake manifold, reassebled everything with shiny new gaskets, seals, plugs, you name it, (plus lubricated the apex seals and springs), and she was right as rain for six months.

She failed inspection for an exhaust leak, , and sat for a week or two before I found time to put 'er in the garage and start work on her. By then, the oil leaked in and fouled the engine, (especially bad in the #2 rotor). I'm beginning to suspect that when I overfilled the oil pan, that the excess pressure ruptured a seal somewhere. Anyone else know about seals failing due to excess oil volume? Is this a problem with the 12a that I don't know about, or does it sound like I got crappy seals to begin with? Help?

 

Ive neer personally heard of that, but it could be a problem...I guess?

~T.J.

 

Crap.