my rx7 is sick =[
 

so i took out my rx7 today for a drive around town.. and then i was on my way home when at a stoplight, my idle got really rough and the engine stalled. tried cranking it, but the engine would not turn over. thankfully i was near a gas station so i pushed my car there. i managed to turn my engine over easily but then got a REALLY rough idle and then it would cut out. if i rev the car, it doesnt shake that bad but it still doesnt run right. so i decided to call a tow truck and tow it to my house. i didnt see any visual problems. no vacuum lines disconnected, or... iono!! the cat was red though... i think.. but its a new cat.. so i dont think that caused the problem, although it was smoking for some odd reason. no fuel? too much fuel? carb-o-rater busted? lost compression? no fire in one of the coils? argh!!! and i just passed smog and registered my car and now i cant drive it....

how old are the wires/ distributer/ coils? cheak the spark plugs also b/c they may be cloged up with carbon

Does the engine bog down when you give it some gas, even when not in gear? If so, the same thing has been happening to my car for 3 months. 5 shops later and I still cant get it fixed. The red cat just means your engine isnt burning all of it's gas.

check ignition go over your fuel especially the filter becouse if there was any rust in the tank and it got into the filter it will clog it up and it wont run for shit.

Just remembered something.... Try smelling your exhaust. If you smell any trace of gasoline, then you definately are getting too much gas.

THANKS EVERYONE! its feels so good to get replies to help me out.

the wires distributor cap, rotor, plugs are all fairly new. just got the timing adjusted, seafoamed my car, oil changed and i passed emissions! so i dont think its those. maybe a dead coil? something might not be firing... i dont know how to diagnose this.

it does bog down when i just tap the accel. pedal and sometimes it will flood and stall. i have to keep the revs high like 3000 rpm or else my engine will idle roughly and most likely stall. so trying to brake, clutch, and keep the revs up was kind of impossible for me since i never done this before and didnt want to hurt my car anymore.

thanks for the input about my cat. yes it might be that the engine is not burning all of the gas. i also thought one of my housings lost compression and wasnt combusting. or maybe theres nothing to burn? << iono if that made sense but id thought id just throw it out there

fuel filter is a good idea. i dont know when was the last time it got changed. but if this is the case i would be soooo relieved i dont gotta rebuild my engine yet... ill definately check this out. i dont think there will be rust in the tank.. because my car has basically no rust at all.. its a california car!

ill try smelling my exhaust. oh i know what rich smells like lol. before i changed my shot plugs, and cat, and adjust my carb from rich to in between lean and rich. lol but my engine will idle super rough right now. ya i said that a million times already. the exhaust makes a tung tung tung tung sound. like only one housing is firing?

thanks again for your inputs. i hope i dont have to take my car to a rotary shop. ricks rotary in pleasanton. the local rotary guy kuz i dont want to tow it to like sac or san jose. rick charges 90/hr and i think 50 bucks to diagnose... errrr

Start with your ignition system, check the plugs, do a ghetto compression test.

yes i will take out my plugs to inspect, also when i do a ghetto compression test i just d/c the plugs from the coils right? and with the plugs out crank the engine. oh and take out the fuel pump fuse and listen for the woosh woosh sound? what happens if i have a blown apex seal? what sound will that makes. thanks dr. T

I've heard of a problem like that before with a guy's 2nd gen. His cats (new) were glowing red. Turns out, after an expensive visit to a shop, his fuel pressure regulator was the source for it. That's what he told me anyways and after a new FPR, it stopped. Could try that.

EDIT: And, I just realized that you said you had a carburetor. Shows what I know about those things....they don't have FPR's, do they? :uh:

If the seals are good, 3 even whooshes. Bad side seal, 2 whooshes, pause, repeat. Bad apex, whoosh, pause, repeat. No whooses, you took it out completely. Whooshes should be even for all 6.

check for a vacuum leak, and its possible that your cats are clogged, not running lean.

thanks everyone again. i cannot emphasize my appreciation for all of your input and great advice!

i thought it would be a vacuum leak since the idle was stumbling. i dont think carbs have fprs.. my cats are new so i dont know how they couldve cloged that quickly. when they clog isnt it suppose to smell like a rotten egg? i smelled my exhaust and didnt detect too much fuel but a little maybe because my engine was still cold.

ill check my plugs and compression this weekend and also my fuel filter (if i can find it) lol i really hope i dont have to take it to a high priced although reliable shop..

the fuel filter is under the car on the driver side just jack the back of the car up and right where the end of the driver doors is there should be a plate screved down thats your fuel pump and the filter should be right there also.

How is that hose doing that is connected to the cat? If it came loose, leaking air, or became disconnected in anyway it will cause all those symptoms you described. I'm guessing that you have a vacuum leak.

On my friends 7 when we had this same problem his car was not running any emissions and had all the block off plates on except the one that goes to the cat. So we plugged up the tube with a bolt and let it hang. The tube got too close to the exhaust and melted.

The car would not ideal and we had to rev the hell out of it to keep it going.

There also another thing connecting to the Blue intake for emissions purposes that some times go bad and causes the same problem.

If you can I say try a new piece of rubber tube to the cat temporarily and see if that fixes you problem. If it does that means that old one melted enough to let air in, And you need to find a better solution then the rubber tube to connect to the cat.

hey rx seven thanks for keeping a lookout for me and remembering about my blue tube. yes, like you said, the blue tube could/did catch on fire once. maybe it has finally disintigraded enough that it lets air in. but i thought this is just to pump air into the cat so that the cat can burn hotter and be more efficient. if the tube burned through and theres no air pressure, will this mess up my acv and cause problems with my idle and performance? very interesting. i will have to jack my car up to inspect the fuel pump and this tube. and then inspect plugs, compression, and i know i might forget something...

If you don't have air pumping in to your cat. Your cat will die. My guess is your cat is dead. Try disconecting the main cat from the pre-converters, start her up and see if she runs better, if so your cat had melt down. It will be loud!

thanks for your input adamant but my cat is a aftermarket bonez system which is still pretty new. my air pump works because i can feel it sucking when i put my hand over the top hole. my acv should still be working to deliver air to the cat too. unless this crapped out.. well it better not. if my cat melted or got clogged, would it cause restriction problems at low rpms? this better not have happened to me either. damn well i have to find out someday..

ok i got some vids that are being uploaded right now here is the first start of my car since wednesday. its running on the choke until the end when i took off the choke and that is how it sounds/runs/shakes like when its idling under normal temps, cold engine or warm engine

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v3JifX9jhr0

ok here is my ghetto compression test clip. can anybody tell me if this noise is good?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sVwECY5a9mA

in this clip, this was my second try to start the car. it turns over for a few seconds and then cuts out. as u can see in the tach, its somewhat idling super low..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qJRKHEWszWA

heres a better sound of the engine crapping out

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JOrXD4aJVWM

ok heres the last clip i took. i also got some pics but ill post them up later. this is from the rear side to hear how it sounds. doesnt really sound that smooth. kinda rough exhaust note eh? it smelled super rich too so i just cut off the engine instead of letting it stall. oh and u can see a dent in the rear corner right http://youtube.com/watch?v=uN2VyHiZYZ4

hmmmmm
 

heya matey, she sounds sick.one very impotant thing to remember is that if you dont know what the problem is start illiminating things backwards b4 you just crank n crank, you could go from sick to dead. the engine needs 4 things to run, air, feul, spark, compression. i can hear your apex seals and they sound alright there are 6 solid whooshes (you can see the cloth goin crazy) but there might be a hairline fracture in one of the seals with a leak thats undetectable without a (rotary)compression tester, a piston tester reads slightly differently, assumin comp is all good, pull feul ilet hose off carby and into a coke bottle and turn ignition on (dont crank) and only for a second or two, this is checking for feul pressure to carby, after 1/2 secs you should have 1/4 of a coke bottle full. if this checks out, look at your oil injection to carby and make sure it flows smoothly as this assists with compression and lubrication. but it really sounds like its either not sparking right or being leaned out (hence the red hot cat) wich is fatal. DO NOT LEAN HER OUT! if al four sparkis are fiering then check timing, have you moved the dizzy at all?? if all else fails try spraying carby cleener down the carby with air intake disconnected and throttle at approx @ 3,000 use bout 1\4 of the can, if she was dirty ull see thick grey\white smoke out exhaust, try all dat, if she still not go. then we can narrow down the possibilities. good luck matey.

thanks a lot rxsben!
 

hey rxsben thank you sooo much for that great deal of information and help! i guess my compression is still good but if there is a hairline crack in one of my seals i dont think the performance of the engine would be affected this much right? i will check my fuel filter and fuel lines as well as my fuel mixture. i have had the distributor moved recently just a little to pass emissions testing so right now the timing is set at factory specs. i will also try the carb cleaner method and see what results i can get. here are some pictures of my spark plugs.

the first pic is my finger showing what i dug out from the spark plug holes... the second is the leading plugs from housing 1 then 2 and the third pic is the plugs from the trailing 1 and 2.

i hear that the best mechanc can tell everything from just looking at the spark plugs... lol i wish i was that good. i would have my car running good by now.

oh gosh what luck? there has been a few old threads that have been bumped and ive been reading them. they seem to all have a relationship to my problem. im really guessing its a coil maybe the leading coil? because before this started, my engine was still pulling good. i just take a spark plug and plug it to one of the trailing or leading wires and ground it to my body and see for arching when i crank? thanks a lot guys, everyone has been really helpful so far. i think im narrowing down my problems. i didnt see any cracks in the hoses, compression still looks good, fuel... i heard from one of my buddy that theres this thing called a leak down test.. but i think that only checks for cylinder firing which we dont have.. for rotary guys at least. anyways argh... having my first gen is good fun! =D

ok so after some more reading... what i have been calling coils are called ignitors? if this is my problem im sure one has to be working otherwise there would be absolutely no spark and the engine wouldnt even turn over. so if i switch the coil, maybe i will get a better idle and crank to turn over, and this will get me the answer. or is there an ohms test i can use. i suck at electricity..

1) Switch the ignitors on the distributor. Unplug each one and just switch/swap the plugs. They are on the side of the distributor. See if that clears up your problem.

2) Change your fuel filter they are like 3 bucks. Doubt that's your problem but do it anyhow.

3) Swap your coils around

4) Make sure you have fuel pressure.

5) If we are here it might be time to rebuild your carb...

it sounds like its not getting spark and a lack of fuel. I dont know how both of those things could have gone wrong at the same time but thats what it sounds like. make sure when ever you adjusted the timing that the distributor did not come loose the your coils my sugestion eather get a 2 gen coil for the leading and a stock for the triling or get a MSD blaster coils they work wery well. for the fuel ask a buddy or some one to crank the car and you look down the carb if it spiting enought gas out or not it is ease just pop the top of and look down make sure that all your throtel cables are conected good and didnt come loose on you some how. Thats all that I can think off right now.

so the culprit was the ACV. i took my car to rick's rotary performance in pleasanton, ca and he installed a used but good acv from another car and now my car runs good again. although i am having some idle problems. i managed to drive home by keeping the choke on at stoplights. i think im going to adjust the idle speed tomorrow morning. its idling really low and will flood i think. but yes! my car is back on the road! thanks rick!

can you sent me rick phone # kasherow@pacbell.net

Another victim of Emissions Control devices.

yessir. and to kashe: www.ricksrotary.com his shop number is (925) 484-2324.

sorry for bringing back the dead, but where is the ACV located? i have the EXACT same problem.

It is located directly above the exhaust and directly under the carb/intake manifold. there is a tube coming out of the lower port of the air pump connecting to the ACV. hope this helps. i'll see if i can find a pic of it

check out the picture in this thread https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ht=acv+picture
see that diaphragm valve? its part of the ACV assembly hope this helps you get your car back to life Josh

ahh yes. ive been looking at that wondering if that was it. thank you very much. i appreciate your help.

i just took it off and apart, but cant reall see anything wrong.one of the diaphragms had a spring and the other didnt, if im right, id say they both are supposed to have a spring? but how would i be able to see if its working properly? the big golden diaphragm has a spring, but is rusted at the opening, and i couldnt get it to move. thank you in advance

heres some pictures.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/8885/image041ejz.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/image...jpg/1/w960.png
it doesnt have an outlet that goes to the cat. its an 83 gsl. is it supposed to? and you can see where its rusted and doesn't move.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/8650/image042fpd.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/image...jpg/1/w960.png
the gasket was like this when i took it off.

yes you found your acv! Theres a test to see if it is good and that is to rev it to 2500 rpm or more and see if there isnt any air coming out of the hose that goes from the acv to the air cleaner assembly.
well since you already took it out, you should get another acv that works and put it in and see if that helps your engine idle and perform normally again. since your're out of state you don't need to get the california emissions spec acv but any should do.

if you don't have any of the other emissions deals just get/make a block off plate, rotary beat sells them for 10 bucks + shipping

i dont have emissions since its more than 25 years old. in the state of GA, this is considered an antique car because of its age. but, a block off plate will definitely be my next purchase.

it only makes sense to say that with all of the problems i have being identical to the ones on this thread, it should fix it. but i do get a hesitation when accelerating. which would lead me to believe the accelerator pump would need to be replaced, but would a bad acv also cause this problem?

So that's what the thing is..

Make sure you don't just throw a block-off plate on there without removing your catalytic converters, or else they will melt down for sure. Also, you might as well pull your air pump at the same time since that's all it does. That air pump will suck up a few horsepower, and without a catalytic converter there's no need for it.

im planning on removing the cat soon, and ive already taken out the air pump. so no worries there. =]

Uh-oh, that could be the source of your problems, your cat might be melting down due to lack of an air pump. Those air pumps exist for a reason, and it's never good to remove it if you're not removing the cat too. I'd gut that cat or run a test pipe before i start troubleshooting any hesitation/idle/power problems.

(boyee, apologies for hijacking your thread)

even when i first got the car it wouldnt idle even with the airpump on it. we've been working on it and testing it with just the headers, no cat or anything following.

Gotcha, Well I'd leave the ACV on there for now, and plug all the lines on it, that should rule out any problems with the ACV. Of course, I can't say for sure, since I haven't ever taken one apart, and don't know how they work. I always either leave the working one on a stock rex, or i put a blockoff plate on there with an open exhaust and no air pump during the build of a modded one. But like I said, if you cap all the lines in and out of the acv, it should act pretty much the same as a blockoff plate, just dont take my word for it. I am assuming you have checked for proper fuel/spark/compression/mixture?

i have checked for proper fuel (rebuilt the carb and everythings working propperly now), i think spark is good (new wires and plugs. also, if it was the spark, it wouldnt stay running if i kept my foot on the throttle right?), compression is good (assuming the fact that it does stay running with my foot on the throttle. it wouldnt run at all without compression correct?) and mixture im not too sure. ive played with the mixture screw moving it 1/4 a turn at a time from all the way in, to almost all the way out. Ive also played with the idle screw and did that 1/4 a turn at a time also.

Read Sterling's writeup about general carb tuning, maybe it'll help. http://www.sterlingmetalworks.com/idle_tuning.htm

ive already read, printed, and followed that. it didnt do anything for me. theres a problem beyond simply adjusting. i just read something about the trailing ignition coil being bad will make it stall without holding the gas? but i also read they'll cost like 300 from mazda.