TeeJayHoward

And when it does, it blows out white smoke (a lot of it). But maybe I should start at the beginning.



I finally found a 10th AE in my price range. The seller (TTNR on these forums) claimed that it had a bad alternator, so it wouldn't idle properly. Didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I figured I could puzzle out the problem. We couldn't get the vehicle started, but I decided I wanted it anyway. So, after several hours of "Why can't I get my money from the ATM?", we loaded it up on the dolly, I paid the man, and headed back home.

And here we are today. I started by removing the bra.


instead of the same spotless body I saw on the rest of the car (and expected under the bra), I was treated to a bent fender, dented hood, and busted bumper. Oh, lovely.


Well, whatever - Junkyard might have replacement parts. Easy enough to replace. Time to rip out those underbody neons. God, it felt good to be rid of that crap.

Let's see if we can't get her started! I hooked up my truck to the RX-7, and tried to give it a jump. It acted like the battery was dying. I popped the hood, and started looking around. I was trying to find any broken vacuum lines, or missing components. Here's what I found:

The line headed to the thingie (BACV?) from the dohickey (whatsit?) was broken. (No idea what these parts are called)


Then there's this line from the... Other... Intake dohickey? that vents to the atmosphere.


I'm not sure if any of these could be my problem.


Anyway, I'd wasted a bit of time, I decided to try to start it again. Nope. It'll crank, but not catch. ...Damnit, I want this thing to start! I try again. It comes alive! (And belches a TON of white smoke from the exhaust) It revs to about 2100RPM, and then... It slowly dies. Okay, what the guy said about it not idling was true. I wonder if the smoke was normal? It HAD been sitting for a while.

Several hours of cranking and waiting and cranking and waiting later, I finally get it to catch again. This time, I'm ready with my foot on the accelerator. Unfortunately, that's not enough. Even with full throttle, it's still dying. Well that's not nice. Not to mention the smoke is god-awful. All of a sudden, I have a thought. "Wait a second... It's been sitting for a while. Does it even have oil in it?" I check. Nope, bone dry. Add 2 quarts 10w30. Try again. Same problem. *sigh* Give up, come inside, and post.

Edit: Wow, those are some big pics. Lemme see if I can't resize.


So, in summary:

-Hi, I'm new here. I've got a 10th AE.
-My 10th AE cranks but won't catch 99% of the time.
-On the 1% of the time it DOES catch, I can't keep it running.
-Help?

HAILERS

In one of your jpg you drew a redline on a hose. That hose goes as shown in the attached jpg.

TeeJayHoward

Thanks! I put that hose in the correct spot. What does the other hose do? I intend to replace it as soon as I can find the proper part, but I'd like to know what the devices it's attached to are called.

Rick Castro

the thick hose that is broken goes where it is in the pic on the BAC valve and connects right there to the big air hose (on the middle metal section) that connects the turbo with the intercooler.

Rick Castro

I also want to point out since you have it pictured, the vac hose with the blue dot above the one you put the red line on. It connects the pressure sensor to the acv, i believe. That hose has a pellet inside of it, i think it's supposed to anyway. If you change the hose, be sure to swap the pellet.

TeeJayHoward

Update: Got the car to start 100% of the time!

Turns out these newfangled vehicles need gasoline in the fuel tank in order to operate. 4 gallons of 91 octane later, and presto! The engine runs. It also billows out massive clouds of white smoke.

It doesn't, however, idle. Could that hose be the cause of it? Or maybe my dead battery?

Jimmy2222

iTrader: (3)

So it doesn't have trouble at ALL starting or you have a trick to starting it?

TeeJayHoward

No trouble at all. Started it 4 times with no problems.

Jimmy2222

iTrader: (3)

Any trouble turning over?

TeeJayHoward

Nope. Turns over fine.

Jims5543

iTrader: (2)

Can you make a short video of you cranking and starting it and post it up?

Tons of white smoke? White = water. Which could = condensation but it sounds worse.


Do you have the ability to pressure test the coolant system to see if it is leaking down?

Get it to run for a few and warm up, does the smoke go away? Turn it off, check the oil, is it clean?

This is a neglected but rare car. I would confirm the engine is good before spending money on the TLC items.

If the engine is good:

Tune up - Plugs, wires, fuel filter and air filter.

Belts and hoses then start looking for other wear items, shocks, bearings brakes etc..

Great cars , once they are sorted out, good luck with it.

NightHawkR

After you get the tune up done, check the TPS and adjust to spec

Take the intercooler off...

If your car had removed the cold start thermowax, just jump right to adjusting the tps or else hold the fast idle cam with a screw driver (towards the passenger side) and push it all the way.

You will see the tps with an adjusting screw right behind the alternator (sort of..), trace the tps wire to the connector, unplug it, prob the back of the tps connector into the black and green wire with a multimeter, use ohm and check, at closed throttle it should be around 1k, and 5k for full throttle.

Adjust the screw if you need to bring it back to spec, becareful not to press it down since is hooked to the throttle body and it will affect the tps reading.


After you done with the tps, raise the idle (raise it high) with the fast idle screw you can see it from the passenger side fender, install a test pipe between the intercooler hose (get a 3ft pvc pipe and two 45 elbow, clue it togather with clement total cost should be less than $10). Start the car (it should hold a high idle), let it warm up, bring the idle back down by adjusting the fast idle screw again.


After that readjust the tps again, it will be off spec after you adjusted the fast idle. If anymore adjustment needed on the idle, do it through the BAC.

If emission are removed, it is suggested not to let the car idle lower than 1k

Download the S4 FSM from the faq section and look under fuel and emission section for the locations and further info.

If after all the tune up, vacuum checked, cooling system checked, adjusting tps/fast idle/bac, and still won't hold idle, get a friend to hold the throttle and check the exhaust see if is running too lean or rich (color and smell, white + burning smell = lean, greyish + gasoline smell = rich, white + coolant smell = blown coolant seal). If is too lean there is a high chance that you are running on 1 rotor with a stuck primary injector and a dirty fuel tank.

TeeJayHoward

Smoke video
Won't start without your foot on the gas pedal
Smokes at high RPMs
I'm not making any boost according to the boost gauge.

Nope, 'fraid not. I popped off the top radiator cap, looked down into it while my girlfriend cranked it, and didn't see any bubbles. That help any?

Nope. Where do I check this? Dipstick?

Rick Castro

Gotta stop firing it up, especially with the pedal floored until you sort all that stuff out. Around the broken hose that goes to the BAC valve (did you replace it?) it looks like oil has built up around there. Are there any leaks or broken pieces. There are oil lines hooked up to your turbo that could have leaked. Honestly, when I bought my 10th AE I took off all the intake stuff, fuel rails, even the turbo and replaced all the gaskets and hoses, oil injectors and lines, cleaned everything up. I even had a cracked exhaust manifold, on a car with less than 70k miles on it! These cars are 20 years old and need to be fixed up properly with professional (like) care. Don't be sloppy and cut corners, you'll regret it. Use this forums search and archives, download the FSM and start learning all you can.

beefhole

iTrader: (29)

Christ almighty! Stop gunning the engine when it's cold. If you weren't burning coolant before, you will be soon. Yes that's a lot of smoke, but it is getting colder in the north east. Could be just running rich. Does it smell sweet?

Full tune up like mentioned. ALL filters and ALL fluids changed + plugs and wires. After that, check over all the hoses for cracks.

Good luck.

TeeJayHoward

Oops

Thursday. 7*F. Couple inches of snow.

So, got the new hose in from Mazda. Yeah. Screw that - If anyone else needs this hose, get some from a hardware store and cut it yourself. Thought it was plastic... Nope, mine was just too brittle. Okay, how to install it? Hrm... Looks like the BACV needs to come off. No problem. Two little nuts and... Err... Crap. Dropped a nut.

*40 minutes later* Oh, to hell with it. I'll just get the hose. Slip on the new hose, and... *crack* Break another. Damnit! Well, at least I have some hose in this size. Cut to length, slip on, and... *crack* break ANOTHER. Cut more. Install. Reinstall BACV. Tighten bottom nut, look for top one again.

*10 minutes later* Still no nut. Where the snark is that little bastard? Let's see if it'll work without.

*Crank, crank, crank* It's not starting! Almost sounds like the battery's dead. Boo! Lemme try again, this time with my foot on the gas.

*VROOM*

Woot! Okay, now let's see if it idles. I let off the gas, and it stays at about 3300RPM. Thank god for the internet. This site told me all about the cold idle system. Apparently, mine still works. I think. 10 minutes later, it's still at 3000RPM. And idling funky. Like there's only two settings for the engine - full-on-gas, and off-pedal. And it alters once every half second or so.

*rev* *silence*
*rev* *silence*
*rev* *silence*

Meh, whatever. It's idling. Kinda. I'll just sit here and fiddle with the heater. I look back at the tach after a couple minutes, and realize it's now "idling" at 2500RPM. Huh. Wait, now it's at 2450. 2400. It's doing this weird *rev**silence* thing, and dropping rpms the entire time. Around 1000RPM, it stops dropping. Engine temp gauge shows that it's warm. (1/4 of the gauge - This is normal idle/operating temp, right?) Okay, let's rev it, and see if it'll hold idle.

*Rev to 4000RPM*
*release pedal*
*drops to 750 and stays, idling properly*

WOOT!

*look behind car*

Huh... No smoke! Wonder if that was just the stuff in the engine from when it was sitting for so long? I rev it, and look behind me a couple times. No smoke! Yes!

tldr;
I'm excited. It idles now.

EDIT: Not my video, but the car sounds JUST like this when cold.

NightHawkR

Check throttle cable tightness, dashpot, tps, fast idle cam, make sure they are all in spec. If you are sure theres no vac leak, take the car for a drive, but don't go too far, rev it up abit and make sure the TB plate open and closes properly. It would be the TB plates not opening or closing smoothly/all the way because of the car has been sitting there for awhile.

skir2222

get a factory service manual, has everything you need to know in there.

1990_fC3C_t2

http://www.teamfc3s.org/main/factory...ual/1986_1988/

http://www.teamfc3s.org/main/factory...ual/1989_1991/

TeeJayHoward

Excellent! Some stuff to do this weekend that DOESN'T require money. I can't drive it yet (unregistered, having some title issues - previous owner never registered it) but I can certainly test out my new multimeter Maybe I'll look into adjusting the headlights, too. I'm not entirely certain that the bumper is off - Is it possible that the hood and headlights are misadjusted, creating that awful gap?

I took 3 driver's fenders and the hood into a body shop today for an estimate. 10-12 hours labor on the hood @ $60/hr, plus painting cost ($400 for BC/CC), and they refused to warranty the work. It's making me give very serious thought to just buying a CF hood. Can anyone recommend a manufacturer that fits well, withstands sunlight well, and uses the stock latching system?

Of the three fenders, one was 6 hours labor, one was 5, and the other was 2. All also would need a repaint. Ugh. It's almost cheaper to try and find a new fender. I had no idea bodywork was so expensive. Might be worthwhile to buy a couple auto body tools and try my hand at it. Heck, I've got two extra fenders to try it on, and I LOVE buying new tools. Or maybe I'll get in touch with the local junior college. They've got an ASE auto body class, perhaps I could pay one of their students to do some cheap labor?

Does anyone know how the 10th AE badge is held on? Can I slip a razor under and pry them off? I'd like to remove it without harming it, and transfer it over to the new fender after it's repaired.

Also, what would be a good way to test rather or not my turbo is functioning, without driving the vehicle? I know that the factory boost gauge is crap, but it's not registering ANYTHING. For all I know, the whole schebang could be locked up.

I am SO looking forward to this weekend. Decent weather (Well, 50*F is better than 7*F!) and no distractions!