time for rebuild? or am i just a hypochondriac?
 

i have an '82 rx7 and, the other day, i went and drove the dragon with a few buddies, and the car did wonderful, nothing bad ever happened... but then yesterday i went to drive it to work, and it ran ok for about 5 minutes, then ran like poo. has done so ever since. i figured out that the issue is within the front rotor. i checked about everything i know to check.. timing, spark, fuel, fuel filter, spark plugs. the spark plug for the front rotor had some carbon build-up and was really wet with oil, but didnt smell too bad of gas. one thing i did figure out, is that i can unplug both plug wires from #1 rotor and the engine doesnt change. tried starting it today, still runs like poo... time for rebuild?

dead rotor - YouTube

The engine will still run on one rotor. Try cleaning out some carbon with seafoam then checking compression i believe it sould be around 95 or above. You may be able to check your seals if you look through the plug holes also.

How would I use the seafoam? Put it directly into the chambers? And I'm not 100% sure on how to do a compression check on a rotary, I've been a piston guy most of my life lol

Remove the four spark plugs and turn the engine over, If a rotor is bad, you can hear the uneven weazing .--->time for a rebuild. As a last resort, try seafoam/atf treatment.

can you do that by yourself? lol i normally dont have anyone at the house to help, but i guess i could do the "wheeze test" by sticking my head out the door...

Swap your ignitors around. The leading may have died. Sounds like you getting no spark on leading maybe.

I'm getting spark on leading and trailing, even on both rotors.. I'm probably going to pull the manifold and check out the apex seals, if I can see them.

DO NOT USE ATF! It eats oil control rings. REPLACE your spark plugs if they are black and oily. Cleaning will help usually, but won't bring them back to fullest. Especially if there is a microscopic crack somewhere in one. Black plugs usually mean too rich. Check your jetting and compression.

Well... I'm pretty darn sure it rebuild time.. did a compression check and the rear rotor had 3 good pulses of about 70psi, but the front only had one pulse and it was only about 25-30 psi. Oh and the plugs on the front rotor were wet with oil, not just black.. that's what scared me to begin with lol

Sounds like we have a similar issue. AKA broke-as-fuck engine. :)

lol more like broke-as-fuck engine and broke-as-fuck driver for me lol...

but!!! i may be selling the 350 i built for my s10 tomorrow, so ill be like halfway there for the rebuild kit lol