Did I blow my motor??
 

Ok guys the other day I decided to change the water pump gasket between the housing and the block and replaced it and all was hunki dori and then next thing i noticed is that it would idle rough but as long as I gassed it thru and warmed it up it would run great. I assumed I got something inside of the sensor or something.

Anyhow after I drove it and it was warm it would start up easily and run easily, but after sitting all day or night it would take me ten minutes of unflooding it to get it to start. I drove it today to wal mart and it was fine and when i came back out to the parking lot and started it ran really rough and seemed to only run on one rotor and was shaking really badly and sounded like something was rattling inside of the motor (apex seal?). Would something go wrong while parked? Why would it run and then give up while in the parking lot, and what would have changed my car so dramatically from changing the water pump gasket?

This has worked for me once, in freezing weather, after apparent
flooding but before the battery was noticeably run down:

Pull off the connector to the coolant temperature sensor on the
back of the thermostat housing. Per documentation for Gen 2,
the ECU then assumes hot engine, which causes minimum fuel to be
injected. (The engine temperature seems to be the only factor
that affects injection during cranking.)

The engine started immediately and ran fine while I reconnected
the cable.

When you try to start the car does it act flooded?

Also when it starts does it like smoke alot when first starts?

Mine did.. Actually like a cloud of white smoke for about 10 minutes.

it acts flooded and i replaced tHAT very sensor and it looked unplugged and i plugged it back in but it is still loose.....is that my issue? My motor might not be blown??

Without that sensor, your car is in ecu limp mode. It needs to be pluged in and check double triple check the damn plug, they are 15+ years old and sometimes push the wires out the back, making it only look like its pluged in.

wait ok i reread what you said, either way i DID replace that sensore but the other end of it looks like it has some plastic around it missing. Either way it pops when it does seem to want to crank like a backfire and when I am cranking it sounds realy flooded like a weeeee heeeeeeeee we we we we we heeeeee heeeeeee whereas the normal sound is a we we we we..

ok spyder but would not having that thing plugged in right cause it to run like that and shudder like i had blown a rotor or something? After i plugged it in I couldnt get it to start for anything but when i did have it run it shuddered really badly at one point but i could put it in gear but it was very weak and the exhaust sounded really weird....

If you want to make sure your engine isn't blown, do a compression check. Also, when you crank the engine, does it sound different than before?

Hopefully it's just a problem with that sensor. But if you want to eliminate any doubt, check out aaroncake's page http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/blown.htm

Hey cool, thanx. I will go ahead and give that a shot when I go back to wal mart and see what I find. If the compression is all good then I what other thing could it be that would cause this issue and could my motor somehow be blown by being parked?? It worked fine when I parked it and I was having issues starting it before that seemed to be flooded but much different than the previous times it had flooded.

check to make sure the thermosensor wires are plugged in all the way, if it still has a problem and if you have an SAFC make sure your connections are good at the ECU wiring harness, i had a similar problem where my wires had come loose so i soldered them solid.

try getting ECU codes as well if neither of those cure it, check fuel pressure and compression and lastly remove both leading plugs and check them to see if they are both getting spark and neither is fouling out.

thanx a million....we will see tonight exactly what the deal is, but I am sure this has to be related to something I did when I changed the gasket on the water pump housing. I had to remove those oil lines to get the thing fully off but I put it all back together. What in sam hill could do this from changing that gasket? And if my motor did blow could it POSSIBLY happen while parked when it ran fine beforehand??

What was the verdict?

gremlins do most of their damage to our cars when they sit, just make sure all of your connections are solid, you could even backprobe the wires at the ECU to make sure that the thermosensor is plugged in all the way.

ditto

stil havent checked so I wil have to go back on my free time tonight.....

and??

usually if that sensor in the back of the waterpump is disconnected you will be able to start it but it will stall right away. Definetely do a compression test to find out if the engine is okay.

ok i did the ghetto compression test in the link and i also did the atf trick and It ran and got started and everything but it still felt like it was running on one rotor. The exhaust sounded really weird compared to normal. Anyhow I decided to go ahead and try the compression check and listen for it. Anyhow I pulled the spark plug on the rear rotor and could hear pff pff pfff pff pff just fine. Then i did it to the front rotor and heard not a single pff at all. Nothing. If I had somehow blown an apex seal I would at least get some kind of pff at least on one of the rotor faces. So why would I not be getting ANY compression whatsoever on the front rotor.

Remember it ran just fine before I had parked it BUT I was having to spend 10 minutes to get it to start and run in the morning those few days after I had to take the water pump housing and all out of the car. I replaced the water temp sensor but also keep in mind that I had to remove those four oil lines to get the water pump off. Would messing that up somehow ruin compression on my motor by not allowing me to build up a seal? Any ideas. This definitely has to be related to the work I did on my car. Also keep in mind that I had to constantly plug and unplug my battery because while working on my car i screwed up some wires I had run into my ignition switch to bypass a bad wire. I got all of that fixed up and tied back but the problem could somehow be electrical maybe? ECU fried and bit the dust?

The problem lies in your Avatar.

I need more oil?

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it is possible that you threw an apex seal on your front rotor and it took out another one this would result in almost no PFT as you put it.

or scored the rotor housing on that side resulting in a no pfffff regardless of good rotor. I do remember hearing a clinging noise inside the motor. That must have been what it was......ok guys where to find a cheap t2 motor...time for the conversion.....

sorry to hear... But Good Luck!