Hello all, it's been a while since I've been here but after my RX7 stopped turning over last year I prepped it for storage and left it be. I was speaking to my friend who was helping me out last year and he admitted to me WHY it stopped turning over. Apparently last summer while we had it idling and working on it, he poured a couple shots of Seafoam into the carburetor body for some strange reason. Of course I was in the car and the hood was up so I didn't see the transgression, it just simply ceased running and has never turned over again for the past year or so. I can't say I'm very mechanically inclined but I'd like to try and at least get it going again, apparently the engine doesn't have too much life in it according to the previous owner but if I can get it mobile I can transport it under it's own power to have a new 12A dropped in down in Toronto (the car is currently located in Huntsville).

So as for the engine, when it was running there was definitely a huge wobble, the entire assembly would rock. The vibrations would transmit visibly through the shift stick as well. Now that it's unfortunately not running when I do turn it over I can hear a large tick from the starter and the electrical components are operational (the dash lights up for example) but otherwise the entire car remains silent. No turning over, no cranking, no engine activity whatsoever. Assuming that the problem started with the carburetor my guess would be the poor thing is flooded, but the worst-case scenario is that somehow my friend's idiot move caused an apex seal to break. The previous owner said one of the rotors may have been on a death knell but I really want to try my best to get it operational in it's current state, I would hate to buy a new engine for it only to learn that the problem was fixable (because if it is, notwithstanding some other issues I can have the car out by this summer.) Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated, feel free to ask more about the car and it's repair/troubleshooting history as well. Thanks so much!

 

Make sure battery is charged and all cable connections are clean. Can you turn the engine over by hand? If so, then you can push start it. Sea Foam in the carb should not damage anything.

 

From what I recall I was able to turn her by hand, I had removed the fan in front attempting to open the front of the engine for an inspection. Hopefully my recollection is good though, it's been quite a while. Should I do the ATF trick to unflood the engine?

 

My guess is its the battery. Throw a charger on her overnight and see what the morning brings. My car did the same thing after sitting for the winter. A full charge was all it took to get her cranking again

If that doesnt work Id say try to unflood it just to see but yeah the seafoam shouldnt have caused any harm as far as I can tell.

 

I took the battery to be checked and it's still fine. The engine won't turn by hand so at this point I'm assuming I've got a busted seal.

 

I you can't turn it forward by hand, put a 19 mm socket on the e-shaft bolt. If it still won't turn, try rotating it backwards. Shaking is often anidication of a blown apex. The Seafoam most likely flooded the plugs. Once you get the engine cranking, pull the plugs, clean and dey them.

 

The seafoam didn't cause your issues. Hell, I use it to deflood motors and get them running again and it works every time.

By your description of how it was running, you either have a huge ignition issue or a blown apex seal. If you can't rotate the motor, then it is probably an apex seal. If you can get it to turn over, then you can listen to the compression cycles as you rotate it by removing the top spark plugs.

Good luck....


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