I drove back to school in New Hampshire from Connecticut and right when I pulled in the car stalled. I didn't think much of it, and started it again to make sure it was ok. After I started it, the engine was sputtering, and would stall unless I kept the rpms up. It was a real rough ride and a lot of black smoke was coming out the back, seemed like it was lacking air (too rich). The car ended up being in too bad of shape to even drive to a local garage, I had to have it towed. Anyone know what might be wrong. I just bought this car recently, hopefully everything is ok.

 

Injector crapped out on you, just blew an apex seal, and several other bad things pop in my head...Check your plugs...

 

.......sounds like the same symptoms of when mine blew a rear apex......

 

Would a compression test have confirmed this was going to happen if he had done it before he bought it?

 

Not necessarily...

 

not always.....when I blew my front apex, it ran great up till the last 1/2 mile before it blew. The front rotor on that engine is still pushing around 100-105 psi. I chalked it up to oil starvation....the rear injector was really nasty looking while the front one wasn't nearly as bad.

 

So you think I'll have to replace a seal. How much will that set me back?

 

to replace the apex seal will require a engine tear down. and normaly you just dont change one seal u rebuild the complease engine(kit costing anywhere form 600-1000) or you can pull the engine and send it to kevin landers at rotaryresurestion. and he rebuillds start at 1000... what did the engine have for milege on it

 

$1000, that's just great. I just bought the car for $6000, it appeared to be in perfect shape. It only has 70,000 miles on it.

 

everyone's said it b4...

the rotary is reliable granted the person who owned the car before you knew how to take care of a rotary. they are finicky, but reliable when treated properly.

6000 for a 88? is it a t2 or a N/A? that is really expensive for a 2nd gen.

 

All right, before you go and hara-kari yourself, check some things first, compression test will be on your list, of course, but take a look around the engine bay- check the security of all electrical connectors, including the AFM plug. Check all of your vac hoses for cracks and security, and check things like your oil & coolant levels to see if anything weird is going on...

$6000? She must be mint

 

Yeah, it's a t2, it's the 10th anniversary edition. Believe me, the thing was mint. Hoses and connections and fluids are all good. How do I go about doing a compression test?

 

Kevin has a good write-up on his site, ROTARYRESURRECTION.COM, look it up, save me some typing, lol...

 

Yeah, sounds like my apex seal needs replacement. The engine isn't running smoothly at all. Can any old mechanic do the job, or do I have to take it to a specialty mechanic?

 

kevin landers... rotary ressurection. his banner appears on this page and hes a user on the forum.

no do NOT take it to any old mechanic. that is just a waste of $$$.

you're going to have to learn how to take the engine out and ship your core to him for a rebuild.

6k mint t2 ... i guess 70k miles is when i would start worrying about the engine on a turbocharged rotary anyway.

it's really not so bad. you'll have spent 7k and have a superb condition t2 with an engine that won't go for a good couple of years.

 

just make sure and do oil changes every 1.5-3k miles and change all your filters and plugs on time and that engine will last at least 100k miles! The guy before you must have treated it like crap!

 

kinda off subject...but are u at UNH?