ozzmannt

Picked up an RX-7 from a place for real cheap. The car has 57,000 on it and is an automatic (err will be fixing that problem very soon). Now we snatched up this car before they could test the engine (or kill it one of the 2) so the price wouldn't go up.

We found out what happened with the car, someone had dropped the car off at a local mechanic's place with some odd noises going on in the engine. The mechanic diagnosed it with a dead engine. Now seeing at most mechanics don't even know what the hell a rotory engine is, I find this hard to believe (along with the fact that it has only 57k on it).

Now this car was also supposidly sitting for about a year or two (I don't really believe this either, because it's just doesn't look like it was sitting). Now the proceedure I was going to go through to start this was to drop a little bit of ATF in on the rear and front rotor through the spark plug holes and then try to crank it, to see what happens.

Is there anything else I need to look into before I try to crank it. I don't want to destroy a perfectly good rotory engine if it acutally turns out to be something stupid on the mechanic's part.

Also is it possible for a motor to be dead @ only 57k?

Just note that I'm going on what my friend's tell me about trying to get this thing started, and also looking at some of the information on the forums. I don't know much about these cars, I know how the engine worx, but not the details of everything.

Btw: This is my first RX-7.


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Current Car list:
1998 SHO T.R. | My Autocross/Show baby, Low, loud, handles great, and flashy
1991 SHO Black/Black | Daily Driver
1991 RX-7 Red/Black | Fun beast!

WAYNE88N/A

Man, there's all kinds of things to check, because if it's really got 57K on it, at some point she's been sitting for long periods. Take it system by system, i.e. check out the brakes, fluids, clutch hydraulics, etc...

If all you're trying to do is start her at this point, just inject a little (20cc) engine oil into each leading (lower) spark plug hole, turn the engine over using a 3/4" deep well socket and a 1/2" breaker bar (or something comparable) on the front bolt (main pulley), make sure she turns OK without any binding (turn her clockwise, looking from the front), clean and reinstall the plugs, then give her a go...

ozzmannt

The rest of the systems will get checked as soon as I verify the engine. Because if the engine is really dead then it will most likley be sitting for another month or so while I score me another engine.

BlaCkPlaGUE

Without knowing what a "dead motor" means from that perspective, theres no way to tell if your going to wreck it.

The only way you can wreck a rotary engine is if its carbon locked and you try to start it.

Disconnect the belts and put er in nuetral. Try and rotate the crankshaft pully with your hands, it should rotate. If it does not easily, try in the other direction, if it doesn't rotate at all its an internal problem, but generally there should be some give on the turning.

anyways, if it turns slightly but jams, do the ATF trick, squirt some in the primary and secondary and let it sit overnight, try to turn it the next morning. It should turn, do this for all the sides of the rotor.

Finally when its done, reconnect the belts and try to start it up, make sure to hold the throttle at like 3k. Let all the atf burn off at this point.
tell us how it goes.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

For one thing, buying a super-low-mile rotary is always a bad thing, with these older ones. You dont want a really high miler, because of obvious wear and abuse that's probably occured. The problem with low milers is that you KNOW they've sat MOST of their useful lives..seals tend to stick in rotary engines that sit for extended periods of time. Then when these seals are finally forced back into routine use, they (often, not always, but often) bind and break. So yes, it's possible, and even likely, to have a low miler needing an engine. I've seen them over 300k on the original engine, and seen them blown with 30k.

Now, if you've tried the ATF injection and that didn't bring compression back, then nothing probably will. A proper compression check is in order. visit www.rotaryresurrection.com ---> tech ---> compression test for help with this. You might also want to check out the "internal engine damage" pictures to get an idea what happens when a seal breaks while the engine is running...you can see why atf may not be a fix for this problem.

I would start by just cranking it up and seeing what happens. Expect smoke from the atf you injected, excpect it to run rough for a few minutes. IF it acts normal, then it's probably fine. IF not, then you probably should let it warm up fully, and then run a compresison check. Compression check is ALWAYS the first rule of rotary troubleshooting.

Note that if you try to check compression with the atf or oil in teh chambers you'll get grossly inaccurate (high) numbers. The engine needs to be clear of extra oil and warm to run the check properly.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

ozzmannt

Thanks for all the quick replies! Seems like I get faster replies here than on my home forum. :P

Seems like I'm just going to go ahead and try the ATF trick and go with it. I'm not worried that much if the engine is dead. I wanted that low milage body either way, I was expecting a dead motor or tranny, so no suprise there.

Thanks and I'll let everyone know what happens.

Rx7MPGUY84

im a firm beleiver that there is no such thing as a dead rotary, just sleeping. haha. just cuz a apex seal is blown doesnt mean the motor is dead, its like a person with a broken arm. can still do **** in everday life. just limited. once the broekn arm (apex seal) is fixed your good to go again.

I have no idea what im talking about now

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

UH...no.

hondahater

iTrader: (2)

lol funny ****!

tecknomage

the only way i know you can kill a roatery engen is buy blowing the main seal what everyit is i cant rember the vert that i own i knew the family that had it before the ppl that i bought it from and there daughter blew the main seal at 138,xxx miles and the ended up droping a new engen in it so my engen only has about 23,xxx miles on it and its sitting at 161,xxx right know so hopefully she'll last untill i can get my hands on a wrecked TII witch will not be for a wile since i'm a poor college art student

DerangedHermit

As a famous man once said: "Cocaine's a helluva drug"

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

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