saltyslug

I have a stuck seal on the rear rotor. all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't get that bastard un stuck. so I am going to attempt to open up the rear housing and un stick it. I think it has a little rust or gunk, possibly a spring??? either way it sticks in. Can I get just a rear seal when I put it back together? the engine is fine otherwise (it was rebuilt 3000 miles ago, but got left outside for a month(not by me) between moves. Where can I get one? thanks

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Apex or side seal? I believe you can order single coolant seals from Atkins, RB and Mazdatrix. If it is an apex seal, make sure you check clearences in the groove. Have you tried the ATF, Seafoam, or water trick yet, to see if you can loosen up the seal? It would be well worth trying, before pulling down the engine. Even pulling off the exhaust and manually trying to free up the seal, if it is an apex, might be worth it.

saltyslug

it is the apex seal. tried atf, seafoam, and mmo. tried the tapping with light force, and a real strong small magnet, didn't move at all. it runs fine(well accept for the seal) but smokes when revved. I have not tried the water trick I will try that though if I can find it. its worth a try. Thanks and any extra info would be appreciated.

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

If you take the engine apart, you're going to have to replace (at the VERY least) all the soft seals such as your coolant seals.

From Atkinsrotary.com:
79-85 12A Stock Gasket Kit : $ 115.00

Minimum. You may need apex seals or springs as well. All parts can be bought individually from many different places (I used atkins as an example).

If you replace a seal and spring, I'd do all three on that rotor to keep them even.

Have you looked in through the exhaust ports to see what the apexes look like? What color is the smoke? White = coolant, Blue = oil, Black = gasoline. This will give you an idea of the seal that's causing the problems.

good luck and have fun

Jon

saltyslug

it is the apex seal, it is stuck in, when I start it you can hear a missing blap at idle. plus I used my finger and all the rest of em push in and are "springy". the one of the rear three are sticking for sure. yeah I had my exhaust off for a year trying to unstick it by letting it soak in different solutions(mmo, seafoam, and atf. I would turn it over every now and again hoping it would unstick but no luck. thanks for the info on the rear. what I think might have happened is it sat with it pushed in(the apex seal). and it was left outside for that month in between owners and got a little rust or gunk buildup and got stuck. I am going to get betty crockers cook book for rotarys and see how much water I add while running. I will do as much as I can, so I wouldn't have to open it, but its looking like I might have to. thank you for the info

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

The water trick is simply steam cleaning the engine, while it is running. Start the engine and find a vacuum source to pull the water into the motor, keep it running, it's gonna wanta die. The same thing can be done with atf and seafoam.

If all of your attempts to unstick this apex seal has been done without the engine running, fire it up and try them. The rust is not good though and may cause other problems, depending on how bad it is.

saltyslug

well it starts right up after two kicks of the gas. and it idles ok(except for the miss because of the seal). at idle it dosen't smoke, but when I rev it, it does smoke a little(its real gassy smellin) It dosent want to go higher than 5000 rpm, it might be able to but I don't want to push it. I think it might have a little rust holding the seal stuck open. the car ran great, he just had the engine rebuilt, didn't even have it a month before he rear ended it.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Since you have already had it up to 5k, any damage is already done from the rust, if it did do any. Try any of the aforementioned tricks with the engine running, see what happens.

Kentetsu

Get another can of Seafoam. Remove the brake vacuum line where it connects by the master cylinder. Start the car and dunk that vacuum line into the can of seafoam so it will suck it up. As soon as all or most of the seafoam has been sucked in, turn off the engine (before it all gets shot out the exhaust). Let it sit overnight that way, then the next day take it out and drive it like you stole it. Hopefully the seafoam will loosen up whatever is in there, and the centrifugal force of high rpms will pull the seal out.

Kentetsu

An alternative to the above procedure for getting seafoam into the engine would be to dump some in through the leading sparkplug hole, turn the motor a little at the front pulley, then repeat until all chambers have been dosed. Then let sit overnight.