well, i am a proud owner of a 1986 RX-7 GTX. white exterior, nasty maroon interior, PW, PD, sunroof, AC, "auto adjusting suspension", etc. nice looking car, i am allready beginning to like it more than my other ride... 1992 MX-3 GS. i spotted the ad locally and the owner only wanted $500 for it because it didn't start. i knew enough about rotaries to know that the apex seals were probably toast. however, this was no problem for me because my *origional* intentions were to swap a chevy 350 LT1 (my intentions have changed... just keep reading).
the guy who i bought it from was an absolute rotary genious... i pulled up to his house and found 2 RX-7's in his driveway, 10 rotary pickups in his garage, about a dozen engines laying around, and a million housings and rotors laying around. i told him right away that i knew that i was in trouble considering even HE thought that this car was worth selling . but the dude soon conviced me that he only worked with carburated models, and that he just couldn't get the car running. he even went as far as to say that it would run on starter fluid... but he just couldn't the fuel injection figured out. i figured he was BSing me, but i really didn't care about the engine *at the time*. everything else worked BTW. the guy even threw in an older rotor and housing to put in my dorm room come fall. ANYWAY... slaped 5 benji's in his hand and put the RX on a dolly and dragged it home. the next day i popped the hood, and just for kicks tried some simple trouble shoots. sure enough... there was spark and ignition, 2/3 essential elements to run. so i figured id just spend the day and see if i could figure out where the fuel was getting hung up. i figured i would start at the tank and work forward. gas in the tank... ok. fuel pump... ok. line plugged... nope. filter jammed... nope. now is when i knew i was in trouble, it just had to be a FI problem... which is beyond me. but as i followed the lines i noticed that the line with pressure lead to the "fuel return regulator" (i made up that name) and the line without pressure lead to the injectors. it was a shot in the dark, but definately worth the 2 minutes to switch them up. i turned the ignition to ON, heard that powerful fuel pump buzz, and then turned it over. two revs and a pump of the accelerator and the rotors started doing their thing. it burned oil like none other for about 20 minutes of driving (almost embarassing... but i was so pumped) then the smoke magically stopped pouring out. now im thinking it was probably the previous owner dumped some in the spark plug holes when trying to start it.
its been a week now, and ive fallen in love with the car. and i want it up and running to its fullest... screw the V8. now is where you guys help me out:
(please remember im a newbie, so these ?'s are most likely old hat. but trust me i'm on other forums so i know about searching)

problem #1: the idle worked great for the first while... but after messing with that little set screw, it wont even run without my foot on the pedal

problem #2: the headlights are stuck up. they worked the first day perfect but not anymore. i did the whole manuel twisting thing to get them down but they always pop up. right now i have the white harness unclipped so that they stay down.

problem #3: when i turned on the wipers, they wouldn't turn off so i had to pull the harness on those too.

finally: its a sweet sunroof but its stuck!

thanks so much in advance.

 

hahahha nice story dude! Im happy for u. REally.

 

nice deal. pick up a copy of haynes repair book.

 

Problem 1: Could be signs of a low compression engine, fouled plugs (my guess), or falty intake, i.e. leaks of BAC valve.

Probelm 2: There is a swtich opposite the light switch on top that keeps the lights open regardless if they are off or on. See if that is the problem, if not, the harness could be unlpluged at the motor, it's the white one.

Problem 3: Bad relays, icemark on this forum rebuilds them or the physical switch probably popped from the inner switch.

Finally: A lot of people need to coax their roofs to open, I did too. Try taking the roof fixture off, not the rails, but the roof, and clean and lube as nessecary.

Good luck with you -7- and read the stickies on the page as well as archives.

 

Once you get the proper manuals, you will learn things, like not to "mess with the little screw" until you've accomplished other steps first (such as jumpering a check connector to remove the electronic bypass air control system from the equation before you "mess with the little screw", lol...)

You have access to the best rotary minds in the business on this forum, from all over the world- abuse them wisely...

 

welcome to the rotory world. I just recently bought mine. I had one that didnt run that well and had some tranny/ clutch issues. now that they are sovled i completly love the car engine. and i gave up a brand new car for a car that needs work. i dont regret it . actually im in the process of buying a t2.
as for your problems.
Check vaccum big time. i found that my NA doesnt like vaccum leaks. after messing around a custom intake. i finally got my idle to settle down. i also adjusted the TPS sensor. changed filter and also checked and made sure that the 5th and 6th ports werent frozen(ended up that they were stuck big time) also ground , reground and ground a little more. i noticed that once i grounded the car ran alot smoother. as for the idle screw. ive had my car running for about 2-3 weeks now. and i finally just as of yesterday got my car to idle steadly at about 750. you have to play around . but definatly pick up a haynes or fsm or something. it helped me out big time and i still read it if i have any questions about the car . they are great cars and i learn something new about them every day. as for the smoke. My friend and i who are both techs went to check out a 86 se that hasnt started in 2 years. it wouldnt start. after about a half hour of playing . she fired up and ran like a champ. i will say though it smoked like no other for the first 20 minutes. normal for a rotory that has sat for a while burning off the rust and other contaminates that settle in the engine if not run for a while .. and all rotorys smoke kinda at first when started. its if you smoke all the time is when you really want to get worried

 

You threw off the tps when you changed the idle set screw. A while back I also bought a "blown" 7 for $100, someone had the spark plug wires on wrong

 

well actually i wasted my money on a chilton's manuel right when i bought the car... which turns out to be a pretty worthless piece of junk. i just looked at the pic and saw the guy messing with the set screw, so i figured i'd do the same, oops. thanks for answering my ?'s, the headlights are now down and im searching for some vacuum leaks right after this. as for the wipers... hopefully i won't have to use those for a while... not likely however since i live in washington! thanks guys.

 

Just being helpful here: its is a "GXL" not a "GTX". The GTX was a high-end turbo model in japan, the GXL is the top of the line N/A, and has cool features like AAS (that probably doesnt work) A sunroof (yes alot of 7's have them, except mine. Ahhh, the joys of an 86 base ) And most importanly, a limited-slip differential.

 

Oh, and get on ebay and pick up a Factory Workshop manual for your model year. I got mine for $9.50 including shipping.

 

Or download them for free at the mirror of the www.fc3sorg site...something like www.iluvmyrx7.com