Buffalo Bill

I just bought a 89 Rx7 non-turbo that the seller assumed to need a new engine. Ten years ago, i bought an 84, and in half an hour, it was running just fine, so the hope is the same for this one.

The original owner of fifteen years drove this car up north as a winter car only (believe it or not) (his summer car is a Porsche convertible) and he said it was great. (which surprised me...) he then bought an RX8 to replace it, after the following event occurred...

His normal driving is only about a mile to work- and there are 63,000 miles on the car.

He was driving in February, after warming up, driven about 8 miles when the engine 'lost compression' and started losing power. I believe the car was towed to a mechanic, who pronounced the wankel dead.

the air temperature sensor on the manifold had been removed when i got it, and had a broken lead. i soldered it back on and tested it, it's 40k and works as specified in the factory manual.

the nut on the crank angle sensor was off, so i removed it, looked, and replaced it- spark is happening at the right time according to a timing light while cranking... (it isn't running yet, so can't test that yet..)

The engine oil is perfectly clean (maybe changed?) there is no sign of oil in the radiator, antifreeze is clean.

It turns over well, and tries to fire especially when starting fluid is sprayed induring cranking- the sound is like 'thump, thump, thump, thump' from the exhaust.

there is lots of gas dripping from the exhaust pipes between the engine and converter. the front pipe was disconnected by the mechanic i bought this from... maybe because of this- or to disconnect a possibly plugged converter(?)

he also put 90 weight gear oil into the spark plug holes, not ATF... which does seem to be on the plugs to some degree, each time they're removed and dried off.

there have been only a couple of satisfying 'pops' when cranking it over, the kind of pops thast make you think, 'OK, HERE IT GOES...'

it seems to me.... as if some gizmo is malfunctioning, an ancillary device that would have the potential of actually making the engine lose power enough to stop running while driving... and then make starting impossible. like- uh, um, EGR valve, c old starting stuff, etc...

has anybody had anything like this happen??

wow, that's one long story...

ps. by the way, i have flown in my friend's canard homebuilt plane with a wankel he made his own intake and exhaust for, at 203 mph at 9,000 feet, a fine use for these engines- (actually, better than for cars-)