Hey y'all,
First post, first day in your forum. I just read a few random threads and I already come to a conclusion that this is a nice place to hang out.
You have has a very nice community spirit here. OK enough brown-nosing /jk

Here's my idiotic story. I didn't even bother searching for similar post because I'm sure not many people would do what I did.

A few years ago I bought a 1989 GXL (actually it is my second rx, the first one was a 1986 GX, until some evilguy t-bone me on an intersection. I guess he couldn't find his brakes).
Anyways, back in 1992/3 I've decided to store my RX at my bro's place because I had a great deal on a Civic Si. After about a year the battery died, and to make a long story short. My poor RX got neglected.

It never got started again until about a couple of weeks ago. The weather's getting really nice and I've kinda missed driving my RX.
So I've decided to ressurect it and with the help of my brother, we fired it up and nothing happened, got a hammer and tap the starter a little bit and vroom it goes....then died.
(CDN)$400+ later, after replacing the starter and fuel pump, re-started it and I'm a little happy. Not too happy yet because now my RX sounds like a diesel. The noice is not coming from the engine but from the rod that's hitting the side of the firewall. After cleaning the injectors the vibration is gone and my RX sounds like his old self. I'm now semi-happy. I can't wait to transfer my insurance to it but I'm worried that it may fail the air test.

By the way, I make my living being in front of a keyboard, mouse and a monitor. In other words I'm mechanically challenged. Which is why I got into this mess in the first place.

Here's my question to you good folks. I realise that probably some of the parts that is rubber is probably in poor condition by now. So What kind of trouble would I be expecting? Any comments, suggestions or advise you can offer is welcomed but please be nice.

Anyway I thought I'd say hello to my future friends.

 

if you haven't done so. drain all the gas outa the tank. change the fuel filter. and put some more gas in. if you are trying to run it off gas that old. that will be one major reason for it running bad.

I would give it a full tune up as well. plugs, wires, filters. oil .

but it's definatly possible stuff is dryed up after 10 years??...

how many km's on the car?

when you get it going. take it easy on the rpm for a while. ease the limit up slowly as you get a few hundred k on it. you almost need to rebreak it in most likly.

you'll probably get the odd oil leak too from old seals.

 

Yeah, I would be SO afraid of that engine. They can break VERy easily after being allowed to sit like that and then being forced back into service. I would do one of the internal maintenance treatments on the engine...atf or mmo(while sitting overnight), or water inection (while running) to help clear some of the sticky carbon out of the engine and make it less likely to break.

Ditto on all the above. Drain fuel tank, remove pump and replace pickup screen (if you didnt the first time), change fuel filter, get new gas, oil and filter, belts and radiator/heatercore hoses, and coolant flush/change, and finally plugs.

I would take it real sasy on that engine for about a month, and run it as much as you can, but dont be hard at all on it.

 

First thing we did, we didn't replaced the fuel filter because we weren't getting any pressure from the fuel line so sure enough the fuel pump was seized up after all those years. It idles nicely now.

I've done this as well.

175000km

I've been checking for oil leaks, and so far soo good.

Thanks for your quick replies, from your comments, at least I'm on the right track.

My biggest worries right now is that my RX may get even with me by stalling in the middle of a rush hour in the middle of a bridge. I've decided to get an membership to AAA

 

it was parked for 10 years and it has 175k on it???

geeze I have 176k LOL...

 

He didn't mean externally, but internally. Keep an eye on your oil and you'll prob notice if your puffing a lil blue every once in a while.

 

My work takes me all over BC and I was driving to Calgary every second weekend at that time. I've put 85k on the first year. Took it to California twice on that year.

I didn't noticed your sig. Nice to see a fellow Vancouverite.

oops, sorry about that. I've been idling it and not seeing any smoke but I'll keep an eye on it.

 

For someone who is mechanically challanged, you sure are starting with the right foot! You should be proud of yourself for taking all the precautions that you've done. Just be careful with her.. Be gentle. She just needs some lovin'..

-K

 

Hey guys, thanks for all of your suggestions and comments. They are all great.

how would one go about doing this? Do I just lookup hi-performance shop that does rotary engines?
I guess this is another thing I need to be concerned about.

and this...
Overall I think it is still cheaper for me to spend some dough ressurecting my RX rather than buy a brand new car. The car has no rust and the interior is great (no wear & tear on the upholstery and dash. It's been in the garage all these time. So I hate to let it go. And the trade-in value sucks. Although I kinda like the Protoge5 SE