Hey guys...I recently developed 3 strange problems with my RX, but I don't think they are related.

Problem #1:
The car starts right up when its cold, but lops a little during idle till it runs for about a minute. If I bring the RPM's up to about 4K or more during the first 5 minutes of warm up (while in gear and moving), lots of smoke comes from the tailpipes and the car seems to stumble, and lose almost all power in small spurts. It will have no power for about 1 second, the pick back up strong, then stumble again and so on. Once the car is warm, there is no sign of this. Also, if I drive it very gently till warmup, there is no problem either.

Problem #2:
This is my biggest problem. If I warm the car up by driving it for 10 minutes or more, then park it, it has big starting problems. If I go to start it again within 1 hour of parking it, it will start, but reluctantly. Any longer than that and there is no chance of starting it unless I let it cool all the way down for about 6 hours and try starting it then...It usually starts right up. So from 1 to 6 hours after parking the hot car, I can't start it. However, I have found a trick to overcome this problem temporarily. If I go out 1 hour after parking it and start it and let it run for 5 seconds and shut it off, it will start at any time after that. It seems like its flooding, so I changed injectors to make sure they wern't leaking. Any ideas on this one?

Problem #3:
When I engage the clutch I get a somewhat loud bang and a bit of chattering until the clutch is all the way engaged. If I'm already rolling and let off the acceleraor, I get a bang, and if I then press the accelerator again I get another bang. However, I only get the chattering when I'm going from a dead stop.

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions!

-Joe

 

Yeah, your car was flooding, I had the same problems with warm starting, but since I put a switch in 3 months ago I havent had a problem since. And your chattering-thats some serious clutch pressure plate problems, no way around that but to replace it.

 

#1: Don't take it so high when its cold. This is detrimental to engine life. Your rotor housings are aluminum, your plates are iron. Different expansion rates. FWIW, my FCs always sputtered a lil in the morning.

#2: Some people don't like it, but you may want to put a fuel pump switch in. Its been gone over a few times recently. Do a search.

#3: This is actually two seperate problems. The bang sounds like you have a broken differential mount(s). You'll need to replace them to stop it. Most of the time it seems, the front mount breaks.

The chattering is from hot spots on your flywheel and pressure plate. Only a clutch job with a flywheel resurface will fix that.

Have fun.

 

Don't think so...

Here you go:

Problems #1 and #2:

You need new apex seals and springs and Rotor Oil seals (green) and springs. I would advice to just overhaul the engine. When you see white smoke it means OIL so there you go. About starting... The car will start when it is cold but after the apex seal springs get hot they loose pressure because they are worn out and the seal does not get to do the job. That is why it will start with ATF (The ATF will compensate for the gap created between the seal and the housing untill it gets burnt out and EVENTUALLY not right away the seal will break and **** up the rotor and/or the rotor housing).

Problem #3 Chattering:

The clutch release bearing is bad.
Bang: Tranny Mounts and/or drive shaft joints.

Hope this helps although it is a little expensive. Get the Hurley apex seals and springs, they last longer than Mazda.

 

Um, if the ujoints are banging the driveshaft is probably broken in half....

Throwout bearings tweet, not chatter.

 

The drive shaft joints get damaged frequently and yes they do bang upon release of the clutch and sudden acceleration changes.

Well I will not pay attention to the noise but to the symptoms: "When I engage the clutch I get a somewhat loud bang and a bit of chattering UNTIL the clutch is all the way engaged. If I'm already rolling and let off the acceleraor, I get a bang, and if I then press the accelerator again I get another bang. However, I ONLY get the chattering when I'm going from a dead stop."

Hmmm...
You are not using a Bronze particle clutch disk by any chance are you? Those do chatter like a bitch...

But he will find out as soon as he takes it apart. Let us know who was right!!!!!! LOL

I might hear it as a chatter you might hear it as a tweet it all depends if the tweet grew into a chatter LOL...

Remember bad joints bang when you let go and when you hit the gas.

You can manually check for the joints by moving the shaft manually. Get under the car and move the shaft both ways constantly and very quickly to see if the joints make the noise. (The shaft will not turn it will just move slightly). If it seems too loose then replace the joints. The differential mout you will see if it broken or not by looking at it.

 

Thanks for all your help! I'm taking it over to a shop (know the owner well) and we'll put it up on the lift and check it out. If the repairs are going to cost an arm and a leg, I'll just sell it to someone who really wants to work on it...I'm getting a TII this month as my new project car and I won't have time or money to mess with this one too much. I'll let you guys know how it turns out!

-Joe

PS...I live in Norfolk, VA (southeastern corner). Rotary Performanceis only a few hours away. I was thinking of having the TII engine rebuilt and ported by them...do they have a good reputation? Are there any other shops in this area that do a good job?

-Joe

 

Angel Guard Racing Team....
What kinda OIL you burnin? The only thing that smokes white is coolant, OIL burns blue buddy.Unless you've got coolant in your oil, but that's a whole other story/problem.

 

Amsoil synthetic motor oil. The same kind we use in our 8:32 second full body 2,270 lb drag 1st gen rx-7 and never broken an engine. Why you ask?

 

Good to know Amsoil synthetic burns white. Just askin b/c in all my experience oil smokes blue when burned and not white.

 

RIGHT ON! AMSOil is the ****! I use it in my daily driver, 20W50 full synthetic

 

Amsoil 20W50 is the best.

 

Amsoil scares me.&nbsp I've messed with an 88 FC turbo engine that was running about 20k miles on that stuff, and the Amsoil put NASTY deposits along side of the spark plug holes.&nbsp This caused apex seal chatter on the rotor housing!&nbsp I would never use that stuff in my engine, nor would I recommend it to anyone...



-Ted

 

Yeah, good thinkin Ted. Synthetic oil is man made, not made from petro. So as it burns it burns all the stuff that is flammable. But it does not burn the synthetic stuff (if i'm makin sence here)

 

That's my point.&nbsp If you're running the stock OMP (oil metering pump), it's a waste of money (IMO) to run synthetics.&nbsp Running a good, quality dino oil will keep your engine running just as well for a fraction of the cost of synthetics.&nbsp If you're not running oil injection, then by all means run synths.&nbsp I don't like the idea of running synths burning inside the combustion chamber.&nbsp My above experience with Amsoil tells me it's a bad idea...



-Ted

 

I agree, T/O bearings whistle or roar, they definetely dont chatter, chattering is broken or bent pressure plate springs