Hi, all: I have a 1987 RX7 Turbo that has 80,200 miles on it. It ran fine for several years (I bought it used about 4 years ago), then it started flooding more and more over the past year....That, and the battery keeps dying. But anyways, last week it flooded and wouldn't start, even with the trick where you remove the fuse and so on, and even when I pushed it down a huge hill and tried starting it that way.

So I took into a japanese automotive place in Marietta, GA, and they told me it was fine, just needed a new battery. But then I found a handwritten note left lying on the floor of the car where the mechanic wrote "Car is junk." Nice, huh?

Anyways, i called back and they said, "Oh, forgot to tell you that." OK, so bad service issues aside, they told me that I had low compression. They said I should've gotten 400, and I tested about 80. i have no ideas what those numbers mean. That's all the information they had for me.

Does the constant flooding problems I've had, as well as the possible low compression results, indicate a major problem? The shop was guessing I had bad seals. i think they said bad apex seals. But who knows with these flakes.

Assuming I have to rebuild the engine (or am I jumping too far ahead?), what kind of money am I looking at here? The car is in otherwise good shape. It's not as fast as it used to be, that's for sure (I mash the gas down and it doesn't really peel out..drives about like a normal car, not a sports car), but the body is perfect and the interior is clean.

Your thoughts? Thanks in advance to anyone who can help, and please forgive any stupid questions!

Regards,
Mario

 

400 compresion? wtf?

 

Car is junk? Whatever.....

Have your injectors cleaned and flowed. And there is another post where the guy fixed this problem by replacing is FPR (?). Anyways...Do a search, this is a COMMON problem.

Jarrett

 

if you did test at 80 psi then your motor is done for. you won't get anything near 400 psi, but anything less than 90 usually means a dying motor. your battery dying is probably from a failed alternator, or do you leave the lights on at night? if you still wish to keep the car and get it running take it to mazcare in atlanta, they're one of the more reputable shops as far as rotaries go in GA. i would take it to them and have it compression tested again and get their honest opinion. rebuilt motors can go from 2000 and up, and if you're adept enough to rip it apart and put it back together then you can buy a kit for around 1000 i think. good luck with everything man, these cars can be a real pain in the butt.

 

The mech. may have gotten those readings when the car was cold.85 psi is the minimum for a rotary.I would have your injectors cleaned.And check for codes in the ecu.

 

I followed the advice on this forum (thanks!) and went to Mazcare in Atlanta. Here's what they said:


Clutch point (pilot?) bearing is noisy. Needs to be replaced.


Catalytic converter is stopped up.

Compression numbers: Front rotor, was 268 rpm at 6.0, 6.3, 61. Second rotor, 5.7, 5.3., 5.3, 272 rpm.


I showed these numbers to Kevin at Rotary Resurrection, who says that he can rebuild my engine if (when) necessary.

What do you guys think about those compression numbers? The guys at Mazcare says "it's not horrendous" whatever that's worth. And they think my car might be slow because of the catalytic converter, not because of low compression.

One last question: Your thoughts on Rotary Resurrection? So far, Kevin has been awesome in giving me detailed, thoughtful answers, but I thought I'd get a few other opinions before I do anything.

Thanks, all!
Regards,
Mario

 

Kevin is a good dood.. Just dont get on his bad side...

Jarrett

 

Kevin is straight up, just like the answers you're getting from him now for free

 

I would trust kevin for anything that deals with RX-7's.

Your compression #'s look on the low side. Should still run like normal though. Will need a rebuild soon.

 

As mentioned, with those numbers are low but should be okay if the injectors aren't leaking. If they've never been cleaned then they probably are, and the two problems are combining to cause your flooding problem.

You should pull the injectors and have them professionally cleaned, and start saving for a rebuild. If you can afford it, do both now.

 

Thanks to all for the replies. Yep, after researching some posts about Rotary Resurrection and spending some time on Kevin's site, he's obviously quite an expert, and I'm definitely taking my car to him for a rebuild. I'm gonna just hope the compression holds until I save the bucks, then drive it to Tn. (I'm in GA., not far away), and turn it over to Kevin to work his magic. Thanks to everyone for the feedback!

 

yeah what was the mechanic thinking? 400? huh?

anyways gl on the saving money thing, we all know thats a pain to do.

 

Now that I think of it, you should really file a customer service complaint with the first auto shop's manager, and take the Mazcare invoice as backup documentation. Not only that, it was quite unprofessional of the mechanic to leave that note... Wish I'd known about Mazcare while living in Alpharetta

 

For what it's worth, the place is called Japanese Automotive Parts...as in JAPs. That name should've been my first clue that these guys were, at a minimum, completely insensitive.