Last night me and the roomate where out driving our cars, first his n/a then my TII. It was about 2 AM completely dead, no traffic, and clear/not windy so we were doing a top speed run at our normal spot.

First I practiced some launches, which went well, except all the wheel hop because of the cold (~30 deg). After I finally got a couple decent launches in, I floored it and decided to take up to my usual 150-160. The car was pulling very strong in 5th, and just as I pass 140, we hear what my roomate describes as a "crackling", and a loss of power--I let off immediatly. I did not lose complete power, but it was noticeable enough that I would have let off had I not heard the crackling as well. He said it sounded like a combination between a rev limiter and a ticking noise, which seems accurate. As I said, I let off immediatly, took it out of gear and coasted down to a stop, lightly on the brakes.

The car was running a bit hot at the point I let off (slightly under half-way temp). The car did NOT blow an apex seal, nor did their seem to be any ill effect of the "sound" other than the spookiness. I sat and let it cool back to 1/4 temp, and accelerated slowly home. At the first corner, I gave it some throttle through first and second, and it seemed the exact same. Low load it was the same, smooth, high load it was the same power.

As of now my boost is controlled by my wastegate. Sometimes under lower load gears I run .5-.7 bar, spiking to .9 bar. And in 4th or 5th it will creep to a steady .9 bar. I had just filled up on 93 octane instead of my normal 94, which is something to keep in mind.

My initial theory is that the car detonated and retarded timing. I let off and was lucky. I'd like to see what the forum's responses are, and if they think it could be something different.

Thanks for replies.

 

Mind if you give us a list of your mods?&nbsp We can get a better picture of your situation...



-Ted

 

I updated my sig. The only thing "wrong" with the car is the coolant seal is starting to go. It smokes when it's cold and stops smoking when it gets to operating temp. It does not smoke under wide open throttle. It SHOULD be maintaining at least adequete pressure in the system, because my temps are usually @ or below 1/4 temp.

Thanks

 

Hit recall on your Greddy boost guage. I bet it is way above fuel cut and your sig shows no fuel compensation for above FC boost. I think detonation...

 

Uh, you're doing WOT runs up to 150 with a water jacket leak?!??!



-Ted

 

thats how I blew my tenth ann. a cold night that made good power and good ping to. no fun

 

its a bad idea. i drove my FD around with blown coolant seals but didn't do any TOP speed runs.... just a bad idea. i could understand you had to get to work or something but trying to do a top speed run on a blown engine???

 

Ted, my car will die anyways, that is in-evitable. The fact that I have the water jacket leak, is pushing me towards a rebuild very shortly anyways. I guess I don't see your point about the water jacket leak, at WOT in 2nd or 3rd at normal operating temp. the car does not smoke. Are you implying that in higher load situations where I'm creeping to a consistant .9 bar, the pressure increase in the combustion chamber, would overcome the seal and I would potentially leak? If so I believe I'll keep it to 4th gear pulls or slower for awhile

Are your main thoughts leaning towards detonation? It didn't sound as loud and noticeable as I've heard it described, but it did cut back noticeable power which point to a retard of timing.

Ahh well, thanks everyone for their input

 

Heh . When did I ever indicate that I had a "blown engine"? In the early stages of water seal failure it is known that when out of operating temp. range, the coolant seal will be too small and it will leak, but will expand with heat. I do not gussle coolant, and I have good pressure in my system at least at operating temp. Anytime you do a top speed run, heat will increase, but my car runs VERY cool in comparison to alot of rotaries I know (I made sure of that when I bought the car).

And my car has good compression on both rotors... at least before last night it did... let's hope it hasn't changed