**** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****

Well boyz, I think I just munched an apex seal.

I was driving along, and suddenly I felt a little boom in the exhaust, but not like a backfire. When I came to a stop, I realized something was seriously fucked.

Here's the scoop:

She won't idle under 2500 rpm. When she's idling, she sounds a freakin bridgeport, like "blat blat blat blat...." The whole car is shaking like a ************. On the road, she seems to run pretty normally, as in smooth and pulls hard, but when cruising she is shaking a little. She is driveable, but again the idle is fucked. The spark plugs seem to have carbon on them which is a new development.

So whadaya think?? Did I spit a seal?

Is there any other reason my car would behave like this?

The motor only has 120,000 kms on it, always maintained very well. However I had a weird misfire/detonation problem last month when one of my trailing plugs broke (which I thought was the problem but now I think maybe there was a deeper problem).

I just replaced my plugs today. When I pulled the old ones out, one of them was broken (in addition to the one I broke last month). I also put in a little MMO today when I filled up my gas tank, too late I guess.

Again, **** **** ****

Guess I won't be at the meeting tomorrow guys. ****.

I am not a happy camper right now.

 

**** man, I'm so sorry to hear that. Its really sucks when that happens believe me I know. I had to drive a 740 volvo turbo for a year after my first engine blew; after I finally got it running again last week (2nd motor only lasted 500 miles) on the 3rd one, I can tell you that it was well worth it to have the beast back. So keep positive, remember things always look worse than they are, at first, and focus on the future my man.
Broken plug isn't good, I suppose the ceramic chipped and took out a seal with it; is that pretty much along your line of thought?
If its not down on power too much, who knows, maybe it was just a side seal. When **** happens, you have to adapt, I drove that pos volvo and absolutely hated every minute of it, so if your car runs but won't idle, just adapt. Until you can make things better.
Later

 

Well good news... I pulled the plugs and compression is perfect. Three solid shots of air on each rotor. So I don't think it's blown

I now believe this to be a carb problem of the major variety. I've spent the evening checking over some basic stuff, but tomorrow myself and Rxcetera are gonna give it a more serious go.

Thanks for the positive words Slinc!! Not one but two broken plugs is something that's really puzzling me... I think it may have to do with the Yaw timing settings, which advance the trailing by a hell of a lot. But who knows....

All I can do is be optimistic that I'll figure this out. I have a Honda stored at my parents house (6 hours away) that I will be driving for the winter anyways. But I refuse to put the car away in its current state - I will figure out this problem.

 

Rocket,
Thats a relief; solid shots is a good sign.
Have you gotten down and dirty with it yet? Before you start tinkering with that fickle carb, make sure your apex seals are in good shape. I suggest removing your leading spark plugs, and obtaining a small mirror and flashlight:
Position the mirror so it reflects the L spark hole. Now, shine the flashlight off the mirror. Using this technique, you should be get a glimpse into the spark plug holes.

Rotate the engine using the pulley system. With the mirror and flashlight, you should be able to peer into each rotor housing to see the apex seal as it swipes by. Do this for each housing, 3 times each. After you see one apex seal, go to the next housing, rotate few degrees more, and you should see another seal.
IF all 6 apex seals look bright and shiny, no cracks, then you are off to a good start. I would consult www.mazspeed.com for more info. That is where learned this technique, and the guys there will help you out immensely if you ask the right questions.
keep your head up man!
If you need a spare carb, PM me I can sell you one.
Later
Joe

 

That happened to me once... was driving hard, all of a sudden PLAP and the engine started running really fucked... it was really weak and it would idle at about 2500rpm, a really thin, shaky-sounding idle.

There is a large hose that goes on the intake manifold, down near the bottom of it near the firewall. Not the brake booster line, the other one. I had a large vacuum cap on the nipple (no emissions - no hose) and the cap simply fell off. Hence a HUGE vacuum leak.

I was so convinced that I'd blown the engine that when I found out it was just a huge vacuum leak I literally giggled and laughed for four hours. I was freaking out, then found out everything was OK, so I had all the freaking-out energy flowing thru my body that had to be released somehow.

 

peejay:
I have been trying to trace that hose for WEEKS!
where is it supposed to go? It runs to a electronically acuated valve, correct? The other end, toward the radiator, has an electic coupler running out of it? Damn, I should plug that nozzle up or somethin; maybe it would fix my rough acceleration.

 

i THINK it goes to the shutter valve or related equipment. I'm not totally sure because one of the first things I did with the engine was permanently disable/remove all emissions equipment. The shutter valve and butterfly were removed, all related holes filled with JB Weld and then the manifold got ported.

But thinking about how the shutter valve works... it cuts off all airflow from the carb to the rear rotor. To prevent the rotor running in a total vacuum, pure air (ie no fuel in it) is fed to the rear rotor through that hose. Hence all sorts of idle problems and weird noises when the valve fails. (When putting the manifold together, I thought that nipple was for the BRAKE BOOSTER, so I didn't fill and smooth it. Live and learn!)

Most probably the hose has failed from the heat of being so close to the exhaust system, and has a big-*** crack in it. As opposed to a big ***-crack, which is found on the two-tons-of-fun chick in the Civic you just blew past.

 

Good news lads...

My secondaries were stuck partially open! I used a whole tank of gas in 1 hour (140 kilometers or so). Problem is now fixed, met up with all the boys in T-dot and had a wicked cruise (actually more like a top speed run) this afternoon.

I know the hose you're talking about, it has to do with controlling the airpump I believe. You know the whats-a-ma-thingy it connects to on the carb? Well, you can remove that whole thing, mine is gone. Just plug up that hole the hose used to go into, or your motor won't run!

Thanks for the suggestions tho!!