I just bought my first 2nd gen RX-7 in January. It has about 146,000 km (came from Canada) and seemed to be in really great shape. It was garage kept most of it's life and is completely stock except for a set of 15" CSA rims and a catback intalled by the previous owner. I just got new plugs, wires, fuel and air filter, and got Royal Purple synthetic put in less than a month ago.

I just got two new tires and figured I would test them out. The car was in third gear between 3-5k rpms for a couple minutes on a backroad and then I returned to my normal driving style (shifting around 3k). After about 15 total minutes of driving I was coming out of a yeild intersection, brought it to about 3500 in second, and just as I pushed the clutch to go to third there was a pop that sounded like it came from underneath the seat, the car bucked hard, and the clutch pedal kicked my foot up a little bit. So I put it in third, I was at about 2500, and there was no power at all. So I downshifted back to second, drove about 150 feet and parked in a lot. I had the clutch in while turning in and the car stalled.

I tried to start the car, it started after a few seconds of cranking and shuttered kind of hard at first. It sounded like a lawnmower and it would stall if I didn't give it enough gas to keep it alive. It felt like it had no power. I drove it home, which was about a 3-4 minute drive. It would have been quicker, but I was going uphill and had to be in second or else it felt like it would stall. The coolant and oil pressure guages were normal, and it shifted fine. It didn't have too much trouble starting it up, and it stayed running as ling as I gave it enoug gas to keep it around 1-2k rpms.

I called a rotary specialist who has worked on this and my 1st gen, but he was closed and the place is about 45 minutes away (highway) so the towing companies are probably going to rape me. I know this is a long post, so if anyone has trouble understanding let me know and I will try to reword it. I searched around a little and saw someone had a similar problem... they said that a coolant hose blew off around the throttle body, but it's now too dark to see so I can't check that right now. I think I covered everything. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

 

so what are you trying to ask?

 

I'm trying to see if anyone can tell me what's going on, if anyone has had a similar problem and what I can do to fix it.

 

Do a compression test.

 

you should put the car on a lift...it seems like you had to much backpressure combined with afterburn which FC's are notorious for which somehow affected your engine....my theory is something happened where the exhause was sucked back into the engine blowing a seal on one of the rotors...so try lifting the car to see whats going on under there....or you ran over something (these cars are stupid low after all) which got you good....hell i ran over a plastic bag once that was stuck under my car for like 20 minutes while driving, i just couldnt get the damn thing out (and no i didnt want to stop...it was cold out)

 

I don't see how running over something could stop a rotor from firing, but I guess you never know. I will try to get a hold of the rotary mechanic tomorrow, but for now I'm just trying to get some ideas to throw at him.

 

do a compression test first, before you even spend money on anything else.

 

sounds like your Catalytic is Clogged.Also Check your Fuel filter..both of those will give you alot Of "loss of power" situation..

 

Compression test... compression test... compression test. If you find your engine is blown, you won't be wasting your time checking your clogged cats, fuel filter, etc...

 

I'm going to take it to a local gas station/mechanic after class and see if they can test it. I'll keep you guys posted on the results. Thank you for all your help.

 

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...ion_check.html

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n..._symptoms.html

 

Thank you for the links. I already called the specialist earlier and he told me how to do the test. The rear rotor sounded pretty good, but unfortuanately the front one made hardly any noise at all. I haven't talked to him since the test, but I did ask him if there was anything that I could have done to make this happen, and he said that it just happens. I am going to tow it to him so he can see exactly what it needs. He told me that worst case scenario, if it was completely destroyed, it would cost about 3700 for a brand new warrantied motor from Mazda. But I'll keep everyone posted and let you guys know if I find anything out. Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

3700? Son of a bitch. I rebuild AND install them with a better warranty than mazda for far less than that.

 

I think getting an engine from Mazda is a bad idea, considering I can find a used one and just have it rebuilt for much cheaper. But I asked him what the worst possible case scenario would be and he told me that. Again, I wouldn't go that route, but he said that might be the case if my motor was completely destroyed. If I did need a new motor, I would probably have a turbo one swapped in, and if not I might just have mine ported.

RotaryRessurrection: If you don't mind me asking, how much would you charge for a rebuild and install?

 

check out his website. http:www.rotaryresurrection.com

He's probably about the cheapest you'll find, especially for the price. I've never dealt with him personally, but you'll be hard pressed to find people that were dissatisfied with his work.

 

Most blown apex seal motors have a damaged rotor and housing. Most experienced rebuilders know this ahead of time.

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...nt_damage.html

My base rebuild for the shortblock itself is 1000, and the replacement parts needed to make it whole again will be about 3 or 400 more. If I am doing the remove/teardown/reassemble/install that's another 1000 plus gaskets of about $100 (unless you supply your own, and you won't come out any cheaper). But that gets you an 18 month warranty and a turnkey job. I can also install any maintenance/mods during the job at no cost, simply provide the parts yourself (motor mounts, clutch, belts, hoses, oil lines, cleaned injectors, etc.).

It is true that you never really know what you'll find inside a core until you open it up, but I dont understand why the guy is talking as if your core is probably junk and you need a whole new engine to even rebuild from. There is no real "block" in a rotary, there are 8 major internal parts, and of those, usually 4 or 5 are reuseable at minimum. You simply get the rest from other cores (on my shelf) and make it whole again. You could theoretically build a rotary shortblock from parts of 8 different engines and never know the difference.

 

Like I said, the reason he said that was because I asked him what the worst possible scenario could be, and he said something along the lines of, "The worst thing that could happen is if the motor was beyond rebuildable and you needed a new one, which would cost about $3700 for a brand new, installed and warrantied motor from Mazda." That's not a direct quote, but it was something along those lines. Anyway, he wasn't hinting toward me needing a whole new motor, it's just that I wanted to know what is the most I would ever have to pay if for some reason something huge happened. I will try to get in touch with him tomorrow to see what some of my options are. And again, thank you for the info and links.