HELP. Freind bought a RX-7 can't keep it going and cant get it home!
 

Well, a frinend of mine bought a nice little 1985 GSL-SE RX-7 . It ran great when we went to test drive but on the way home after 20 or so miles it kept backfiring, sputtering, and wanting to die. Well, the owner had to park it for a coupple of days. So that brings up to now at about 12AM. We went to pick it up, it is not running near as good as it did when we test drove it. At start up it blew some white smoke but after a miniute or so it subsided. Odly enough though the smoke smelled somewhat of gas. When reving it up there is a lul at about 1500 rpm's. Well, we got it going and made it about 20 miles and by then the sputtering, dieing, and backfireing had got so bad we could not make it any more.

The car would not want to go after the cultch was released and it would either die or go forward a few feet jerking its way then die.

Well, we pushed the car to a parking lot, let it sit for about 10 min or so and started her up just to see if it would go. It did, not steady but at least it did more then jerk forward.

We left it there. Tomorow we are going to try to get it to his house that is 1 mile or so away from the church it resides at.

Any ideas. The car had previouslty set for a long time. We are going to try some new plugs and plug wires. Needed those any ways.

Well, when you pull the plugs, since youre pulling them anyway...take out just the bottom left one and turn the engine over (with all the wires disconnected that is) and listen to hear 3 even puffs of compression. After that, repeat the process with the bottom right plug. If you get three even puffs on each test, that rules out the bad apex seals and other seals for now, if you get anything other than three even puffs, Id say you have a shot apex seal or some other seal. If this goes wellthen Id say you have some other problems going on. Id suggest maybe checking the timing as well. Get a manual while your at it, it will be rather helpful (it will tell you how to check the timing as well, its kinda odd with two coils). You may want to check the fuel filter (under the car, drivers side, toward the tank), it may be clogged, and also make sure it has good gas in it. thats all I can really think of...I personally would start with the filter since its been sitting for a while, and its s high pressure system, so any kinda clog may really mess with it...Sorry if this kinda rambles, but its late and im tired.

~T.J.

Try the ATF treatment. Do a search if you don't know what this is.

BrianHeston

Fuel Filter....
And by the way....Don't do ATF, get some Marvel Mystery Oil, put some in the plug holes, and about a pint into the gas tank...

Retro-Cowboy,
Denny,
From the 'ol corncrib...:D

i agree with denny...check the fuel filter. cars that have been sitting that long tend to get rust or other gunk in the gas tank. good luck!

The white smoke at start up smelling like gas could suggest it is flooding. I had a carb on my 12A that would do this on start up.

White smoke could also be water in the gas. That makes sense since it has been sitting. But doesn't make sense since it ran well during the test drive.

Yo,
I'm his friend who bought the Rx7. This is one of those duh moments...the previous owner put in a new fule pump and filter and some of the fittings wern't tight enough. It was leaking gas...yep, it felt underpowered becasue it was almost completly out of gas. I did replace the spark plugs though and it does run better. Now just need to fix a few oil hoses and flush the radiator. Thanks for the help.

Glad to hear your up and running again. Oh, and just for arguments sake, I suggested the fuel filter before Denny :).

~T.J.