Hello all, first and foremost this is a great site!!!! There's lots of great info!!! I've been lurking around for a while reading and observing! Wonderful atmosphere.. I'm a member and former moderator on www.ClubLexus.com and a member of www.Fiero.NL , Jags-Lovers.org plus many more.. And this is a great site... keep up the great work...

Anyway, I have purchased a 91 RX7 conv, for my son and it is flooded(i think)...

-i did the unflooding procedure(simple one)
-starting on the complex one

-check the feul pressure(so this kinda rules out feul pump)
-injector look good
-check the spark plug wire spark

-the car was running fine except it started to drag a lil before starting 2 or 3 weeks before it stalled...

Someone told my brother(which i acquired the car) it sounds as if it has low compression and needs a new engine... and told him about rx7ressurection.com to get an engine...

I may have the car towed to the Mazda dealer on Monday and get it diagnosed... But, I want ot save $$$ if I can get it to run on my own with you all help. I truly need some input on RX7 mechanics/rebuilders you all reccomend in Jackson (central) Mississippi area..

I'm trying to give the car to my son as a gift to start college, in a month...

Thanks

The Ikon

 

Don't tow it to a Mazda dealer unless you are sure they are capable of working on Rotary engines. Until the RX-8 came out, most Mazda dealers didn't maintain anyone qualified to work rotaries.

You can do a compression check with a regular compression tester, you just have to remove the check valve. The rotor has 3 surfaces that act like a piston, and to get a reading on all 3 surfaces, you need to remove the valve, else you'll only get the highest of the 3 readings. What you do is have someone crank the engine while you watch the gauge bounce up and down. The peak of where it bounces is what the compression is. If you are trying to do it by yourself, you can video tape the gauge and then watch it in slow motion. The Haynes manual shows how to do a lot of procedures and has good information for troubleshooting. The factory service manual can be downloaded free from www.iluvmyrx7.com the web site you referred to earlier is rotaryresurrection, not rx7resurrection.

 

you can compare the compression thrusts of the 2 rotors, usualy the back one craps out first. i had 3 bumpes on my front rotor and 1 on my back when mine broke.

/bo

 

Depending on how it's starting, I'd check the starter. My NA wasn't starting about 50% of the time I tried because it wouldn't catch and then it would flood. About a week later the starter was sounding funny when it tried to start and then it just died completely. It really depends on the symptoms though. You can get a compression tester for the car (do a search, you'll find several ways to make a regular tester work) and see if it's low without having to tow the car anywhere.

What's the mileage on the car? That's another big thing. For a 91 it's pretty possible that from 140k onward that the engine can go. Some will last a lot longer, some will die pretty early on, it just is the luck of the drop.

As far as new engines go, you have several options:
www.atkinsorotary.com
www.rotaryresurrection.com/
www.pineappleracing.com
There are a lot more out there if you look around, these are just the few that I hear the most about. I don't think Rotary Works is doing rebuilds right now.

Rotary Resurrection is going to be the closes to you out of those 3 and I have heard good things about the engines that come from there. I personally think that pineapple racing makes the best engines around and you can get them shipped to you from here (portland). You will pay a little bit more but his engines use brand new rotor housings and Rob is an excellent builder.

Hope this works out and it's nothing too major.

 

where are the valves located to check the pressure... if the compression is good what should be my next order of business? what should the comp psi be anyway?

Would the symptons the car has been getting lead one to think the engine is bad?

If so is the "rotaryressurection" site prices good and is the guy a class act in quality, service and knowledge?

Also thanks for the link..

The Ikon

 

what is a good compression number for a car with 84K on the odo...

 

i believe the bare minimum for any 13b is about 90.

with 84k on the odometer it sounds like it may be ready for a rebuild anyways.

 

A rebuild at 84K seems outrageous... But this seems to be the norm with the rotary. Has anyone gone 150K without a rebuild and how hard is it to make it to 100k?! Is this car that finicky as the rumors have it?

 

I have 140,000 on my 88 vert and she still pulls strong. If the previous owner changed the oil regularly and NEVER overheated it, then you stand a good chance at going over 100k.

 

1st of all concrats to a wonderfull car....
Mileage: There is no norm when it comes to rotary engines lasting xxx miles...it mostly deoends on all the previous owners and if they took care of the car. The motor requires carefull attention to oil and temp/water. Running low on oil is BAD because the motor uses oil to lube the apex seals(3 per rotor-six total) and this will cause long term damage such as loss of compression

I have seen and owned rx7 with well over 200,000 miles all on the 1st motor. We just had one guy with over 250k...his motor died because of an overheat problem.


The motor you have could be bad...you will know after the test..just make sure that the compresion tool is no longer than the plug in the car or you could damage the rotor. If the part that you screw in the motor is longer than the plug, then it will enter the housing and will contact the rotor/apex seal and damage it.
I have only seen this once and not sure what type of tool was used but it happened ..not even sure if they still make them that large

You will ned to see 3 even bounces on both rotors...use the lower plug hole to test..take out the EFI fuse before trying. It is located on the same side as the plugs...on the fire wall...it is in a cluster with other large amp fuses covered with a black box

Make sure that the car is warm with a GOOD battery before you ckeck..goal will be at least 3 bounces at 90(minus 2 or 3 psi is still ok) per rotor housing..

If all this tests OK, then your next thing will be a total tune up, air filter, plugs, plug wires, and radiator hoses, all fluids, ckeck brakes...everything. But first have the injectors cleaned and balanced...this is a problem area on most 7'. The injectors leak after the car is turned off causing the car to not start.

Not sure if you tried the unflooding procedure
Pull EFI fuse and floor the car(maybe even take out the lower plugs) and turn over for a few seconds-stop-repeat-stop repeat etc. have someone look to see if anything is coming out of the pug holes(not too close-dont want gas in their face)...
while you have the plug out, test for spark
Leave the plug in the wire and lay it near the strut.
Turn over the car and look for a healthy blue spark..it is is yellow, get new plugs and wires 1st. test again-if still yellow, have the coils TESTED-replace if bad.
Be sure to replace the EFI fuse after taking it out
Not that it ever happened to me!
good luck

ps THe car is only finicky if it was not maintained. I have owned 10+ Rx7 and never had a FINICKY one that broke doan all the time...but my friends have had them...always worked on their cars more than mine

 

If she's only got 84K on her, then she was sitting for long periods of time, obviously, which means the injectors might be just a little gunked up. Mine never responded well to injector cleaner (in fact made them worse), I finally just had to pull 'em & send 'em off for a good cleaning (CruzinPerformance.com)...

If she's been "normally" maintained, you should get another 80,000 out of her, at least...

I rebuilt mine at 186,000, even though she wasn't "dead" yet, and she would have made it to 200,000 I think, had I let her...

 

Thats a misleading statement. first hand experience = average NA life well over 150K. I base this on 25 years of rotary experience and over 1000 built.

 

Thanks!! I'm glad to be a part of this forum!!!

I've been working long at the job! So, I'll test the compression in a day or so(once I get a buddy to help)...

On the injector can I just soak it in parts cleaner and blow it out with a high compression air hose(I did this on my Fiero and it was fine)? Any reason why the RX7 would be different?

Where are the 3 compression check valves , as Project84 stated or do i use the plug holes as Travelintrevor stated? Which is easier?

You guys are right!!! No one in my city really knows anything about the rotary engine!!

Ikon

 

There is a check valve on the actual tester. You have to remove that valve and test on the leading (lower) plug holes as both project84 and travelintrevor stated. Good luck.

 

UUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRR I feel stupid!!! Oh well that's why you ask ??? to people that know...

Thanks dude!

 

yeah..keep us posted..the best stories are the ones where they come back from the dead....