faye x7

So yeah, I dunno what the deal is. This car of mine after owning it for nearly 2 years is really starting to drive me up the damn wall, but what do ya expect from a 22 year old car.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I posted a thread about having some weird idle issues and whatnot, got the typical responses from everyone. Took the advice, couldn't solve the problem. So I figure, hell..I'll just take off the emissions just for the hell of it. SO I do, still had the weird idle problem, however my car would accelerate normally. At idle it would sound like an ol V8. (A poorly running one at that)

Anyway, it decided to fix itself and I never got a chance to pinpoint the problem cuz it went away on it's own. Well, it's back again and this time it's a HELL OF ALOT WORSE. I mean, the idle is all gone to ****. There are days where one day it's idling at 400-500 RPM and sounds like a throaty V8 and then some days it will idle at 1200 RPM or so and sound like a throaty V8. And now, when I accelerate I have no power AT ALL and even while accelerating my car now sounds like I'm driving a pistion engine, instead of a v8. It's very boingy as some would say, not smooth at all. I don't get it, I get spark to all my plugs and the ignition components are only a 1000 miles old or so. I've got a rebuilt carb I'm about to buy from a guy on the forums here and I hope to put that on and see what happens then.

I'm just getting to the point where I am running out of ideas as to what the hell is wrong with this thing and I'm about to part it out and buy another car. Anyway, all help is appreciated. Thanks...

Kentetsu

Any chance one of your apex seals is stuck?

RotaryAXer

iTrader: (4)

That was my first thought also.

faye x7

Hell, could be. How do I go about checking that with the engine in the bay, I can't exactly look in the holes. I suppose I could stick MMO in there and wait over the weekend and start her up and see what happens. Any ideas on that?

Also I just noticed something on the carb, I notice a steady stream of fuel coming out of something I have no clue what they are called. (Carb moron here) I will take a pic now and show you what I mean...

There in the pic where the circles are, I don't ever recal seeing fuel being pulled through there unless I am on throttle, obviously. Here I am at idle, of course it's idling at 1200 rpms again. I've messed around with the idle mixture screws too and have gotten the idle just a tad below 1000 and still you can see it being pulled through although the car barely ran then so I quickly put the screws back to their original spots.

Kentetsu

The carb issue(?) may be the cause, but I'm no authority on carbs so we'll leave that one to an expert (you around Carl?).

As far as checking the apex seal, that's pretty simple. Remove one of your lower plugs, then turn the motor over. You should hear a steady PSSST, PSSST, PSST sound as the air escapes through the spark plug hole. If you hear PSSST, PSSST, WHOOOSH then you have a problem. Repeat procedure for the other lower plug after replacing the first one to check the other rotor.

faye x7

Well, I'm pulling my bro's 84 GSL over here which is in pristine condition. I'm going to see if his carb is doing the same thing, if not...then maybe we have part of the problem in picture. As far as the ghetto compression test goes...I've done it many times....all good, suppose it wouldn't hurt to do it once again...heh

faye x7

Oki, pulled the plugs and of course the front 3 strong psshhh noises. Did the rear and sometimes it was 1 str and 2 weaker ones and then sometimes all of them were weak and sometimes 2 were strong...Stuck spring? Also noticed that on the front rotor, leading plug was in excellent condition, while on the rear rotor, only the trailing plug was in good shape. Maybe just bad plugs, but why..damn NGKs going to **** now? Guess I'll have to start finding a new plug to use since all my NGKs don't want to last no more than a few thousand miles.

Lee Lyons

How old is the carb on your car? Is it the stock factory one? It just sounds too me that its more than time to replace the carb...when it starts a rough uneven idle like you said your headed for problems. You don't have to get a new carb though you could always get a rebuild kit or if you don't have time to do it yourself take it to a shop and have them do it.

faye x7

Well, I have a rebuilt carb in order coming my way, so it's all good. Now if I get this carb and I still have issues, then yeah...we're screwed.

Kentetsu

Sounds like you have a compression problem in your rear rotor. Check in the FAQ section, there's a part on how to unflood your engine that should help. I'm not saying that its flooded (although it may be if gas is dripping in like that), but the tranny fluid should help rebuild the compression and loosen a stuck seal. Loss of compression is a side effect of flooding though, so maybe it is your carb at the heart of it.

And about that drip.....I was hoping that someone who knew more would answer your question. However, I believe that if one of your floats were to be stuck, then the flow of gas through the carb would not be stopped. Not sure, but you might want to look into the little glass sights (front and back) and make sure your floaty things are alright.

faye x7

I looked through the sight glass and noticed the fuel was higher than normal. So Yes, I am starting and hoping to think it's the carb. Isn't it supposed to be about half? Does it vary when the engine is at idle or WOT? Granted, the engine does have 162k miles on it supposedly, so it's possible maybe my rear rotor is shot...which sucks.

faye x7

Well guys, she's retired at 162571.4 miles. Rear rotor has lost it's compression. Only hear ONE poof and even that one poof is barely there. -_- (Yeah, could be a stuck seal but I can't verify this.)

I probably could rebuild, but I don't have the cash for the kit nor do I live in an area where I can do this. I'm kinda stuck here, with a dead seven...and no money for another car and the chances of me getting another RX-7 are slim. :/ At least not for awhile now.

Can't sell the car as is, gotta part it out, the only way I will make money off of it. There's a red 83 on this car lot I could get...supposedly ran fine until the carb quit on it.

Damn this sucks...

bizarro

iTrader: (1)

sorry to hear that i'm currently having issues right now and am waiting to get off work to do the poof test...i'm sure it'll be the seal...

faye x7

Well, I'm looking at a very nice 92 Mazda 929. Excellent condition, but has some high miles on it. 145k. New Tranny/tires/tuneup the works. Even brand new paint job. Lady has all the papers for all the work done. She's asking 5k, but I think I might start a deal at 4k due to the high miles.

bizarro

iTrader: (1)

good luck and hope you come back soon


ps- did the poof test yesterday and seals are fine...

bstrange99

Did you check the big vac hose on the rear of the air intake valve? Mine had a huge gash in it, and it ran like ****. so I checked on another 7 I had that also ran like ****, and the same thing. Replaced the hoses, and they both run beautifully. The hose is about a 9/16 hose that comes off of the back of the intake manifold, runs down behind the motor, and plugs in. It may not be your problem, but it's worth checking, you might be surprised.

faye x7

I've removed the emmisions and thus most hoses are either capped off or rerouted somewhere else. What hose are you talking about exactly anyways? I have never seen any hose from my car, even before emmisions were taken off, that went behind the motor and plugged in...to who knows what.

Anyway, I've also got a rebuilt carb coming my way and I will put that on and see if it's still a lost cause. I really hope I can solve the problem with that, but I highly doubt it will.

CarlRx7

please at least try some MMO or some cheap atf to unstick that seal.

get the motor nice and hot. then shut if off, pull the plugs, rotate the engine and stick a straw thru the hole to find the apex, and squirt the shyt out of each apex.. then squirt a lil down the carb and turn the motor over a couple times. let it sit for a day or so. if your in a hurry wait till it cools down. then throw in a shitty set of plugs that still fire and spark it up. wait till it warms up. then go down the street and **** off your neighbors by doing a couple WOT runs. after about 10 mins of crazy , drive it like you stole it, put in a new set of plugs and see if she runs better. if not, try it again, i would try it at least 3 time or a whole bottle of mmo or atf before i would rebuild the motor.

Carl.

faye x7

Well, I have the MMO, but the carb is hopefully on it's way here before the weekend. Would it be fine if I just put in MMO now and turn it over by hand and then let it sit...or is it a crucial part to have it warmed up?