Ive never had anything adverse from capping the shutter valve. Did you cap all the hoses?

 

Well - I've capped that damn hose off, and I - for the life of me - can't get the f'er started. She rumbles a little like she wants to, but just can't get over the hump...

Again, I quit for the night. I read a Sterling post that said you're not suppose to turn the starter over for more than 8 seconds - so I figure I'll be replacing the starter, too.

Maybe Santa will bring me a mechanic who works for free - in cold weather. I suppose if the mechanic works for Santa, he's used to the cold. Which means he won't mind my 20 degree garage. F'n tropical heat wave for him, I'd guess...

Sorry... rambling... too many exhaust fumes...

 

You may have flooded it by now. Pull the plugs and check them. 8 seconds? What is this bull riding? I'd say 30 seconds, with a 2 minute break to cool it off should be fine.

 

I just plugged the big tube that connects to the air cleaner. I stumbled on this fix by accident when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the idle. It made such a huge difference that I didn't try blocking off anything else. I'll take a look at it this weekend and see what else needs to be plugged. Thanks for the advice.

 

8 seconds? What? A stubborn rotary won't start in a mere 8 seconds. Make that starter WORK!

 

Oh, and the valve may still be actuating if you only block the big tube. You might want to take another look at it....

 

Take a look at the linkage to the shutter. It should be straight across when it is in the open position

 

Someone else told me 8 seconds...who was that...dunno. It was in my other flooded engine thread. Which I am still working on getting unflooded. heh

 

8 seconds? bullshit, if that were the case there would be a lot of rx7's sitting there doing nothing.

 

For the record and in fairness, I may have taken the 8 second starter quote out of context...

Mine is still turning, and I'll keep grinding away until she's dead.

With regard to the shutter valve - the shaft is straight across, and from what I've piddled around with it, my guess would be it's fine. I think the carb is flooding badly, when it's sitting there with the ignition on, it's dripping gas into the carb to like get all...

I tapped the bolts - but didn't get anywhere. I'm probably up for a rebuild.

Question: Can you get a carb dumping so much gas into the engine, that it would cause it to run rough, even in higher RPM's? At idle, it'll stumbles and backfires. When I get it over the hump, and increase the RPM's - it still seems like its running rough. It would seem to me that at some point, you should be able to burn all the gas the carb can provide.

 

If its pouring gas from bad inlet valves, itll be rich the whole time cause the jets wont be metering ****. Its getting its fuel from raw overflow gas.

Edit: Dislexic moment.

 

When I first purchased my car, it had been sitting for at least 4 years. During this time (at some point) the carb was rebuilt. However, due to continued sitting, the very tips of the needle valve seals bent. My car would idle for days, but could only drive about 3 miles tops before she flooded out. I fought for a month, against my own and erick1120's intuition, doing everything but a $30 carb rebuild, because I listened to someone who said they thought it was the fuel pump, and argued that the rebuilt carb should be just fine.

Moral of the story: Just do the damn rebuild if you have any doubt about the health of the carb. It's only $30 and a couple hours (if you're slow, or in-experienced) and it can't hurt a damn thing.

Brian

 

Not that anyone necessarily cares - but I wanted to let RX7Carl know that tapping the bolts on the carbs seems to have worked - albeit temporarily...

The car rumbled to life, burned off the excess gas in a hale of white smoke - then settled down into a nice idle. Shutter valve was unplugged - so I think it's fine.

Drove it a bit, went like a bat out of hell...

Then the old girl started running rough again. I turned it off, then turned the ignition back on - and watched the carb fill with gas almost to the point of overflow...

So - that's the problem, stuck jet.

Better than a rebuild.

Happy Holidays!

 

Damn, well at least you know you just have a small problem to fix. Usually that fixes it for a while though. Maybe they just need a cleaning.

 

I only did the big one what others should be capped - perhaps that's why I stumble at idle.

 

Also cap both sides of the small (control) vac line. I am not sure if it would affect the rest of the vac system, but I have seen a leak from that line into the valve. I am sure that someone has posted a proceedure for checking but, here is what I do, (valve in hand, but I think you could do it on the car as well).

(I don't have a vac tester) Suck on the control line (small hose). If you can't pull a vac, it's bad, and it will be like sucking thru a straw. If you can pull a vac, 2 things will happen (should), the piston will be pulled in (this is the mechanical link that opperates the butterfly in the intake runner) AND, air will be allowed from the large hose (from the air filter) thru the valve and into the intake. If you blow into the valve in that direction (blow into the large hose) while the valve is "off" it will not pass. If you move the piston IN (as would happen in opperation) the passage is open and air will pass.

You are really checking for several things......
no leakage on the control diaphram - (you can pull a vac on the small hose)........
no leakage thru the supply section of the valve when Not activated - (you blow thru the large hose and it is blocked).......
NO restriction for the supply air when the valve is actuated - (piston pulled "in").......
that the piston does move in - (when you pull a vac on the small line)
and that the lever moves freely - (butterfly not stuck).

When I replace them, I just remove the whole intake assembly. Maybe over kill, but it makes the valve easier to get to, allows a good cleaning of associated parts, and also allows you to replace the water o-rings.

 

I thought I'd add a "final outcome" note to this thread, in case it's pulled up in a search:

The problem I had was not a shutter valve, vacuum problem, or blown rotor. I ended up correcting the problem through a carb rebuild. 100K miles of use warrants such a procedure, I suppose...

Never underestimate the power of a compression tester in the diagnosis process.

Here's to another 100K miles of rotary pleasure!