Really bad engine problem
 

Alright i was driving down the road in 4th gear when the car just died on me....i went to turn it back over and nothing.....after multiply tries it finally fired back up....i drove it about another 200 feet and then it died again so i pulled into a driveway with its dieing seconds of life......i popped the hood and started to check the vaccuum lines....then i removed the air assemblies top to check for any dmg to the carb or something....with the top off i went to start it over and i saw smoke come up from the right side of the engine.....by the way i dont have the bendable hose that attachs from the header to the air assembly...and thats where the smoke was coming from.....i let it sit for a while and i tried to crank it again...it turned over after choking the hell outta it and pumping the gas....it was idleing around 1800 and then it died.....turned it over again and i revved the engine i noticed how i had no acceleration......the starter sounds fine...and the compression sounds like its there.....i got it to run long enough to get home but it wouldnt drive in any gear but first...any other gear it would die.....when i got home i put some oil in it and the smell of burning oil was very potent in the air....did i finally kill my 12a?....did i blow an apex seal?.....right now the car is goin to sit and i really need to get some assistance with it asap b/c i have to drive to North Carolina from California on February 8th.....sorry for such a long post....thanks parker

ps...if it is a blown apex seal i know that means im due for a rebuild so my question for that is how hard is it to pull the 12a and drop in another one?....ive done honda engine swaps...so is it goin to be easier? how many days work?.....sorry for all the questions as well im really frustrated right now....thanks for any reply's....parker

dying problem
 

rotaries just do not die because of seal problems. It is more often related to either lack of fuel, overheating the engine as you are driving, a bad ignition switch or in rare cases the dist rotor grounding thru the shaft of the dist. once the motor gets going even if it has shitty compression it will not just die. Start with checking for
fuel pressure/volume. Check to make sure the float level in the sight glass is correct and that you are getting fuel when you depress the throttle down the venturis. As far as chnging out the engine its about a 2 day job. rx7doctor

sounds like a bad fuel filter or pump to me :)

start there and get back to us.

You can pull an engine in about 2 hours, as far as put one in????

sorry to hear that. If I didnt have plans, I would do the R&R.

alright today ill get a chance to start looking at everything.......but when it comes to the fuel pump i believe its good b/c i can hear it as soon as i turn the keys to ignition........i was given some advice to remove the cat and see if it will idle without it....if it does that my cat is clogged and i should gut the cat......anymore advice will not hurt...

as for the engine swapping......we pulled the engine and put the new one in in 4 days....but we also had to build a custom fuel rail, gaskets, power steering mount...and we only got 3 hours a day to work on it......so im thinking that i can install the 12a in 1 day b/c of the fact that it will be a direct drop in with no fabrication.....if im wrong could someone plz give me some tips on engine swapping in a new 12a.....thanks...parker

R&R should only take less than a day and thats including :beer: time. On the other hand, there is meet in your area this Saturday. Who knows, maybe they can give you some assistance OR you got my #, feel free to give me a call if you need some advice.

FUEL FILTER always look there first, take it off and throw it away, they are cheap , I keep a spare in the car. solved many headaches.

Explain the dying part a little better. Would it sputter and choke out and die or would it just suddenly die? If it spudders out, then sounds like fuel problem to me. I clogged my filter real good one time and barely made it home.

when it comes to the dying part it just dies.....the engine dies but the rest of the car stays working (stereo)......and when it dies its abrupt...it didnt choke or sputtered.....i was just cruisin and then all of a sudden the car is dead....it was kinda like a stall but ive never had a car stall on me while driving it down the road just outta no where......ill try to get to the fuel filter today along with the removal of the cat....hopefully i can find something out fast....thanks..parker

bump

pull out the spark plugs. is it flooded?

Sounds like fuel filter...... Change it then come back and tell us.

This could be several problems but lets start with the known. Car starts, but has little to no acceleration. I am not aware of an electrical problem that causes that. Car starts so compression is there but may not be real good. This leaves fuel. Fuel filters being clogeed can cause something like this but not suddenly. Two problems can occur with fuel. Not enough, or too damn much. Which one is your problem can be ascertained by pulling the spark plugs. Wet or dry? If wet, how wet, what color, what smell? If dry, are they craked? What color are they, brown? Yellow? White? If they are wet, and smell like gas, you are flooded and the probable cause is stuck float valves. If they are dry, then probably no gas, which can still be caused by stuck float valves. Look thru the windows on your carb. Can you see the fuel level? Answers first, then more possibilities.