I have an 85 that will crank and run, but only when you have the choke out. When the car drops below 2000, it begins to run poorly and ultimately shut off. I have tried replacing the fuel filter and thus far that does not seem to be working. Any suggestions?

 

check for air/vacuum leaks.

 

anything else to look for?

 

Sounds like the carb needs a rebuild. Your timing could also be off.

 

The carb might not have to be completely rebuilt. It might just be your power vavle, if it's worn out it will be flooding be the engine. Take a flashlight and look into to the carb and see if fuel is just flowing in.(it should be dripping) WARNING: DO NOT throttle the engine up while looking into the carb!!! May backfire and burn your face.
Anyway, also check the plugs and see if they're black, if they are then you probably are getting to much gas to the engine and it's not burning all the fuel.(thus flooding in idle)
But if this isn't your problem, then looking into buying a rebuilt carburetor. It'll last longer than rebuilding your current one. WARNING(again): A complete package of solonoids for the RX7 costs more than the carburetor. So be very careful that you don't accidently break one.

 

A large vacuum leak will display all of the symptoms of a carb that needs to be rebuilt, ie: rough idling when warm, refusal to idle at all, etc.

I recently had the same problem with my '85 GSL, and the spraying of soapy water onto the emissions components trick did not work. This tactic will typically momentarily plug a small vacuum leak, causing the engine to smooth out and reveal the leak's location, but does not work on larger leaks.

Eventually I discovered that a larger hose of about 5/8" outside diameter that leads from the upper right-hand portion of the carb down to a point on the aft intake manifold that's located just above the exhaust manifold heat shield had a large hole in it. Heat from the exhaust had deteriorated the hose in this area. If it were a large enough hole the intake charge would be sufficiently diluted to cause your car to not run at all at idle, and to stumble badly at higher revs up to around 3000 rpm. Your temp guage would also read higher.

 

Ok. The car was running great until it blew a tire on the highway, causing it to spin a few times. After that, it has been displaying this problem. I'll take a look at the hoses buried in there and investigate that valve. With the valve, will it be leaking fuel into the carb when the engine is off?

 

bump

 

So I take it you didn't have a vacuum leak caused by a big-*** hole burned into the lower portion of that emissions tube?

 

I still vote vacuum leak

 

Verify that you still have spark on your leading ignition. Maybe something got bumped loose...

 

Checked for the big *** leak, and no, not where you pointed one out. I am still thinking vaccum leak as well, but I don't know where. One thing that me and my friend notcied though was that it almost looked like fuel was leaking out of the carb... whatever that could be.

 

No, just when its running.

 

You might have a leaking fuel line or your seals on the carb could be shot.

 

Me and my friend are going to try a carb transplant. I'll let ya'll know how that turns out.