My 90 NA GXL was running fine earlier in the day. We went to pick up my friends car in it, and I had been messing around a little, and slid the car around a median in a parkling lot, parked it, and shut it off. Ten minutes later, I went to start it, and Shook violently and failed to start. I tryed again, gave it some gas, and kept it running, but it wont hold idle, and when i drove it around the parking lot, I had lost alot of power. Also, I'm getting a scary clicking/knocking from what sounds like the block. I know some about my car, but not nearly enough. Ideas as to what it is?

 

I have a really bad feeling...

Did the exhaust get really hot (like glowing red?)

Or didn't you drive it very far.

It sounds like a seal (apex or side compression), but could be more simple (bad accessory, etc.)

 

I didnt drive it very far. The car may have ran for about 5 minutes total after it happened. Immediately after posting this I did some looking, and I think I blew one of my apex seals. The symptoms seem pretty indicative of one of the seals going out. Not positive though, and I'd like some other ideas, particularly since my truck is incidentally out of commission right now too, leaving me with nothing to drive.

 

Do the poor mans compression check, pull the plugs out of one rotor at a time and spin the engine, if you hear 3 strong pulses, it is ok, is you don't, it isn't.

You should hear the same noises from both rotors, I suspect that you will hear different noises from the good and bad rotors.

If they sound the same, get to an autoparts store, get a compression gauge, remove the leading spark plug and put the gauge in the hole. Get a friend to crank the car with the throttle open while you hold the pressure release open. Watch for 3 even pulses of 90-105 psi while cranking. Repeat for the othre rotor.

If one is bad, you have two options. One, drive the car to work for a little while and certainly ruin the housing with the bad seals. Two, start getting prices on a seal and gasket kit (about $800.00) a good housing and rotor (the rotor might be ok) and line some mechanically inclined friends up to help.

A full rebuild will probably take $1,000 and 2 weeks of evening work, but if you do a good job, it should last for the rest of the car's life.

I have known some individuals to leave everything in the functional rotor alone and only rebuild one. This is much less expensive, but probably not a great idea.

I would not sell the car at this point because it is barely worth anything with a blown engine, while it is probably worth $1500-$2500 in good running condition.

 

Compression test. http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/2n...ion_check.html