Car been in storage for a while, need advice
 

Hi Guys,
Long time no see. I'm still an RX-7 owner but my car has been garaged for several weeks. I finally have some time and money to give it some attention. I originally stopped driving because of a clutch proiblem where the clutch would drop all the way to the floor and have no pressure. There was very little fluid in the reserve so I added some, few days later same thing. I didn't notice fluid leaking from anywhere but I will inspect this again.

Is there anything I should do / NOT DO since my 7 has been in storage for a few weeks (oil change is obvious)?

Thanks in advance
Max

I Would Look For A Slave Cyl Leak

I'd give it one of thsoe oil treatments before you start it. Your clutch problem might be your master cylinder.

The fluid is probably leaking out of the pushrod on the clutchslave that pushes to engage the clutch, mine was leaking before and I lost all pressure. Its pretty easy to find the clutch slave, its on the back right side of the engine and is bolted on with two bolts and has a hose that goes to the clutch slave reservoir.

Its about a 40 dollar replacement and only requires dot3 brake fluid to fill it.

You would bleed the clutch pedal like you would bleed the brakes after installing it.

One of those "out of the bottle" oil treatments? I thought those were BAD for our rotaries?

-Max

All additives are snake-oil.

I suspect that you have a leak internally in the master or slave cylinder. Both should be replaced if one is leaking.

For only a few weeks or storage, there's nothing special you have to do to start it again. For long term storage, take a look at this page:
http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/storage.htm
http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/unstore.htm

I myself think any kind of oil treatment would be bad for a rotary as they are made to burn oil and oil for an oil treatment was not made to be burned, I would actually think some are actually thicker than normal oil and would be harder to burn but I could be wrong.

WOW! Now that was what I was looking for. Thanks Aaron, very detailed. I do have a question. If I have "improperly" stored my RX, should I put some oil in the engine via the spark plug holes? It was listed in the "properly stored" portion but seemed logical for the improper storage situation too.

Also is the fuel filter hard to replace, I have also never done that.

-Max

http://www.1300cc.com/howto/how2/fuelfilter.htm Boom!..have fun Max!..Misterstyx...and if you want to put a touch of oil in the spark plug holes,you can.I would throw a bit in,roll it over By hand(use the 19mm on the front pulley),let it sit,rollover again,let sit(you only need to Lube the internals so you don't have to do this for more than 24 hours) and then Crank the Crap out of it (like 30 seconds)..then throw in FRESH plugs.With fresh plugs and a NEW filter in..it should start up.Do not Pump the pedal.Let the pump do it's job...Oh..when you are doing all this Crankin it is best to have your CAS disconnected and also take out your EFI fuse(engine bay)

I should make that page more clear...The stuff used for "properly stored" still applies to "improperly stored".

Thanks to MisterStyx and Aaron, I appreciate the advice and resources you have supplied here. Wish me luck, I'm going to buy some parts and get to work.

-Max

Success, Thanks to all who posted I have revived the beast! I have discovered many things that by have been simple knowledge to the majority of the board but they are new experiences to me. Mainly that gasoline can give you a skin rash and that fuel lines are a horrible nightmare b**** to remove (assuming that they have been there since 1988). All was a lot of fun and turns out that the clutch cylinders were fine but a hose was leaking and expanding with pressure.

-Max