apex seals
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Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2006
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From: oregon
apex seals
i just got a 86 rx7 for my birthday and the guy my parents bought it from said the apex seals were bad. does any one know how many are in a rotary engine and how much would they cost please help.
There are 6 apex seals.
The engine will require a total rebuild. And replace any parts that may have been damaged when the broken seal bounced through the engine. Assume that you will need at least 1 rotor housing, and maybe a rotor.
If the engine has high miles, you may want to look into new rotor and stationary gear bearings as well.
You've got a couple options though: Find a good used engine and swap it in, get a rebuild kit and rebuild it yourself, or have a rotary engine shop rebuild it for you.
Welcome to the rx7club
The engine will require a total rebuild. And replace any parts that may have been damaged when the broken seal bounced through the engine. Assume that you will need at least 1 rotor housing, and maybe a rotor.
If the engine has high miles, you may want to look into new rotor and stationary gear bearings as well.
You've got a couple options though: Find a good used engine and swap it in, get a rebuild kit and rebuild it yourself, or have a rotary engine shop rebuild it for you.
Welcome to the rx7club
Rotary Apprentice
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From: USA
^everything he sai is true, but thats assuming you actually have a broken or bad apex seal(s).
bad apex seals = blown engine
does the car run? have you done a compression check? chanches are they are fine and the guy was just a jackass.
bad apex seals = blown engine
does the car run? have you done a compression check? chanches are they are fine and the guy was just a jackass.
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From: n
Yes, there are 6.
The Mazda dealer charges about $70 for them.
So you're looking at around $400 just for the parts.
Add ~$1,000 for a competent shop to do the engine rebuild.
Add another ~$500 for the gasket kit.
So you're looking at like ~$2,000 job...
-Ted
The Mazda dealer charges about $70 for them.
So you're looking at around $400 just for the parts.
Add ~$1,000 for a competent shop to do the engine rebuild.
Add another ~$500 for the gasket kit.
So you're looking at like ~$2,000 job...
-Ted
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"Mellow Yellow"
Joined: Jun 2005
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From: Alberta, Canada
Originally Posted by fauxshaux
how often does that happen? what do i listen for?
sorry im a newb
sorry im a newb
Sudden loss of power and an inability to idle. Difficult to Rev past 3000 RPM.
Joined: Dec 2003
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From: Temple, Texas (Central)
Assuming the internals are ok, then you can get the rebuild for a good price at www.rotaryresurrection.com
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From: n
Originally Posted by fauxshaux
sorry to hi-jack your thread, but how often do the apex seals needs replacing? anyone?
200k miles on a non-turbo.
Others will surely disagree.
-Ted
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2006
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From: Murfreesboro, TN
I have to disagree about the revving to 3000 thing....
Granted it isn't a walk in the park to rev it that high, in nuetral mine would actually sound good again past 3 or 4k with one bad seal. It revved past the tach even, and sounded really smooth up there..... but don't get me wrong, it would hardly start and had no power if it was in gear, and it revved a lot slower.
Its all semantics though, the thing was still blown, and it was obvious.
Granted it isn't a walk in the park to rev it that high, in nuetral mine would actually sound good again past 3 or 4k with one bad seal. It revved past the tach even, and sounded really smooth up there..... but don't get me wrong, it would hardly start and had no power if it was in gear, and it revved a lot slower.
Its all semantics though, the thing was still blown, and it was obvious.
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Joined: Dec 2004
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From: da big island
Originally Posted by 86rx715
does any one know how many are in a rotary engine...
LMAO, IDK for some reason thats really funny. Anyways I hope your parents didn't buy the car thinking it'd be an easy fix and you'd have yourself a good car.
Originally Posted by 86rx715
does any one know how many are in a rotary engine and how much would they cost please help.
Go here www.rotaryengineillustrated.com and learn via animated gif.s
Originally Posted by KeeganP
I have to disagree about the revving to 3000 thing....
Granted it isn't a walk in the park to rev it that high, in nuetral mine would actually sound good again past 3 or 4k with one bad seal. It revved past the tach even, and sounded really smooth up there..... but don't get me wrong, it would hardly start and had no power if it was in gear, and it revved a lot slower.
Its all semantics though, the thing was still blown, and it was obvious.
Granted it isn't a walk in the park to rev it that high, in nuetral mine would actually sound good again past 3 or 4k with one bad seal. It revved past the tach even, and sounded really smooth up there..... but don't get me wrong, it would hardly start and had no power if it was in gear, and it revved a lot slower.
Its all semantics though, the thing was still blown, and it was obvious.
there is varying levels of seal failure, when i had a chipped seal the corner piece that was damaged was ejected without a speck of damage to the rotor or housing. the car cranked slightly erratically, was impossible to hot start but started fine when cold, would not hold an idle on it's own but boosted just fine and drove on the highway with almost no noticable power loss. now a rotor that spit 3 apex seals and chewed up the housing will run like a paint mixer and will usually take about 4-5 minutes to get to freeway speeds from a stop.
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From: n
Originally Posted by evelhalo
is there any way to blow thw ignition coils? how wld a rear rotor ignition problem sound different than a blown seal?
-Ted
Thread Starter
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From: oregon
well the motor runs but it smokes not to bad but some and i can rev it past 3000 rpm and its not hard to get it past 3000 rpms and it starts fine. so would it be the apex seals thank you guys for all the help
Originally Posted by 86rx715
well the motor runs but it smokes not to bad but some and i can rev it past 3000 rpm and its not hard to get it past 3000 rpms and it starts fine. so would it be the apex seals thank you guys for all the help
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,598
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From: Temple, Texas (Central)
Well, from what you described it doesnt sound like it has a blown seal. What color is the smoke?
Do a compression check as suggested. Basically, you use a piston compression tester and hold the release valve down. Get someone else to crank the car while you look at it. You should see 3 even pulses, ideally going to 90+ each. As long as theyre even youre at least fairly ok.
Do a compression check as suggested. Basically, you use a piston compression tester and hold the release valve down. Get someone else to crank the car while you look at it. You should see 3 even pulses, ideally going to 90+ each. As long as theyre even youre at least fairly ok.
Originally Posted by 86rx715
white smoke. i will do that thank you
Originally Posted by 86rx715
just a little bit. not very bad.
do a search for "compression test" and look in the FAQ. all the procedures and numbers are there. www.rotaryresurrection.com has a good write up about compression.
if you're compression is good, then do a full tune up, water injection cleaning, and premix a little with every fill up to help your oil injectors do their job.