OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

Hi all-
So I've been DD-ing my FB for the past month, to and from work. It's about a 40 mile round trip commute, and I've started having some issues with low speed drivability, intermittent cold start issues, and idle issues. My car has always idled a little bit low (500rpm), however recently it has been stalling 90% of the time when slowing to a stop. It stalls ~50% of the time when I just take it out of gear and continue rolling, the other 50% it settles into a 500rpm idle like it always has.

Next comes my low speed drivability issue. When sitting at a stop light, so it doesn't stall out on me, I keep the throttle depressed a little to keep my idle at 1k rpm. When transferring my foot over to my accelerator, my car tries to die, and when I give it a little bit of throttle, it's a crap shoot on whether it stays running or stalls out. It fires right away when I spin the motor over with the starter and I can pull away with little delay. It's good that it starts, however I don't want to wear out my battery or starter.

My Intermittent cold start issue is a crap shoot also. It always fires, sometimes it just takes 8-12 seconds of cranking for the engine to light off and start. She has never flooded out on me, and only smokes blue heavily every once in a while, and the smoke goes away after I get the car warmed up and do a redline pull through 1st and 2nd.

I'm working 11 hour days right now and I havn't had time to dig into the engine bay. Tomorrow I'm going to pull my plugs and see if they're just worn out and need replacing. I have a feeling that's all it will be, however, I was wondering if it could be a carb issue and I need to rebuild it (idle circuit and cold start circuit getting gummed up and causing some issues.).

List recent maintenance:

1. Oil has 600 miles left in it before it gets changed (Casterol 20w-50), added 1 quart yesterday at fill up so it's full on oil.

2. Fuel filter just changed ~150 miles ago. Issue has not gotten better or worse after filter change. Pulls cleanly to redline. It's not clogged.

3. Spark Plugs: BR8EQ-14. These have 8-9k on them. They were carried over from my old FB where they were used to run a motor with damaged side seals (smoking like a banshee, puking oil out of the filler neck), and then they were used to start a 68k mile core out of a SA. I have a feeling that these may be the culprit.

4. K&N air filter has 5k on it.

List of engine mods:
RB SP Exhaust
MSD Blaster 2 coils
Magnacore 10mm wires
-SE radiator and FMOC with SS lines

I'm going to check my cap and rotor tonight, along with my plugs, as I feel these are probably going to be the culprit. Does anyone feel that this may be a carb issue? When I parked at work my car had 96,199.9 miles on it (ironic huh?)

Thanks

-Jim

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Check for plug fouling first; the symptoms line up with fouled plugs, and the slow idle might indicate a slightly rich mix, which can foul plugs.

OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

It does run slightly rich. My eyes burn after ~20 minutes behind the wheel.

I also think that the plugs are fouled as I was burning tons of oil in my old FB with a blown motor.

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

The two symptoms (fouled plugs - rich mix) tend to play off one another: rich mix will foul plugs & hamper proper burn; fouled plugs lead to poor ignition which acts & smells just like a rich mix.

If the plugs are messed, you'll not be able to get your mix sorted right.

OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

I'll try and pick up a new set this weekend.

Kentetsu

Jim

After you swap out the plugs/cap/rotor, head over to Sterling's site and read over the instructions for tuning the idle speed and mixture. No reason for your eyes to bleed just because you have a 7. www.sterlingmetalworks.com

Hopefully the tuneup items will solve the majority of your issues, but getting that idle mixture properly set will help avoid future fouling of the plugs (if that is the case). Best of luck.

P.S. Best race of the year will be June 21st at US 131 drag way (knoll gas, or whatever they're calling it this year). You don't want to miss this one.


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OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

Pulled my plugs today. They are not fouled. They are a nice tan color, however there is a rock hard deposit on top of the center electrode. I can wipe off the tan color. I also turned over my motor w/o plugs, and it sounds like I may be missing an apex seal on my rear rotor . I'm going to pull my header and see...

forgot to ask...I have a big head. What's the easiest way to look into the exhaust ports to see if the apex seals are still there?

Kentetsu

A flashlight and a mirror. Or you can shoot some video if you have a camera... Or, hang yourself by the ankles from the ceiling and go in head first.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Since you're working so many hours and have little time to work on your 7, I'd start with a full tune up. Plugs, cap, rotor button, oil change, perhaps even plug wires. Once the engine is at operating temp, set the timing making sure the idle about 750 rpm first. Now would be a good time to run a can of Seafoam through the fuel system.

OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

I can always make time to work on my 7, it's just difficult because I get bitched at by my parents for not being over at my sisters' place being her personal migrant worker any time that I'm not at work, at class, or doing homework. After I get all my other work done tomorrow, I'm going to do a comp. test on the motor and see what the health of it is and try and look into the exhaust ports at the apex seals

I am planning on doing a full tuneup with my first paycheck, however that won't be for 3-4 weeks. I will do my oil change when needed (~450 more miles), but if the motor really is blown, any damage that can be done already has been done to the rear rotor hard parts (i've put 6k miles on the car and it's always had a rough, low idle), so I'll continue driving it until I can build a new motor.

As far as SeaFoam, I'm thinking about doing 1 gallon in 1 full tank of fuel. I can get gallons of Seafoam for $47 at my local parts store, and I think that a day of hard driving burning through a tank of super concentrated Seafoam mix (1 gallon in a full S3 tank) will do wonders for my engine, provided I have a stuck seal. If I am missing a seal, not just it's stuck, on the rear rotor, then I will just do 1 can through a full tank, as it's not worth the extra money to try and clean carbon out of a blown motor.

OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

lol. I was on AIM with Kerebus earlier today and I asked him, and he was like "ya, just stick your head up between the frame rail and the block and look in" and my response was "dude, I have a big head and it wont fit..." He was shocked that the roof of my FB only comes up to the bottom of my rib cage.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

I would venture to say that running a gallon of Seafoam through the fuel tank would be excessive, lol. Another way to check apex seals would be getting 'touchy/feely' with them. See if you can push the seals in with a finger and see if they spring back out. A simpler way is get your hands on a boroscope. You can get a good view of the bottom inside of the housings and sometimes the full width of the apex seals.

Kentetsu

Dude, I think (and hope) that you are just over reacting. I mean, if you had a blown seal then it wouldn't just be an issue of stalling at stop signs. Ya know? The motor would be shaking like a bitch, and you'd barely be able to keep it running at all.

Here's my half awake Sunday morning advice to you:

1. Read up over at Sterling's site. How to tune the idle, how to troubleshoot carb issues, etc. Reading costs nothing, and you might run across your answer just by shear luck. www.sterlingmetalworks.com

2. Check the timing. Even if you haven't messed with it, or moved it recently, its good to know that you're where you're supposed to be.

3. Seafoam in the gas tank. Just a can, not a gallon. I'm not sure if that would even be safe for your car. lol.

4. If all else fails, head over here for a weekend. June 21st is the best autocross of the year, and we'll have plenty of rotary owners around (had like 15 at the last race).

Anyway, best of luck. Just keep your head on straight, and go about it in a logical manner.

OneRotor

iTrader: (3)

The problem is that it does shake like hell at idle. It feels like there is a paint shaker under my hood when it idles at 500rpm. It's weird because it does it most of the time, but every once in a while it idles nice and smooth at 500rpm.

Trochoid: Is the casting in the exhaust port that reduces noise not on S3 motors? I remember a thread about something inside the exhaust port on early N/A rotaries that reduced N/A exhaust levels. Would that interfere with my fingers fitting inside the exhaust port?

I'm curious how a gallon of seafoam through the tank would be more dangerous than pouring a can down your carb or sucking it through a vacuum line. Wouldn't this be the most concentrated way of doing things, and the most likely to cause damage?