Question about possibly fudged motor,,those with blown rear apex please help
 

ok so i put on my rebuilt turbo today and it is flooded like usual when i go to start so i take out the plugs and turn the motor over to get out some of the gas and the rear looks funny it isn't spiting out like usual and when i stick my fingers in front of the front houseing it seems very rythmic and then on the rear,,and it doesn't feel the same, there is clue one

ok i finally get it started after all this crap,,,and well it does run,,that is a plus,,it idles fine,,but when you give it gas it is very hesitant,,sputtery ect. but say you take it up to 3k and hold it,,,it is fine and seems prety smooth,,just getting there is the problem,,,clue two

next we mess with the timing abit,,the dle smooths out some more but we still have that hesitation,,,then i accidentally touch one of the lead coils wires and i get lit the fuck up. and the timing light won't read off of it,,but i can touch the other wire on the coil pack and it doesn't shock me.

so am i just parinoid about the rear apex seal,,and should i just replace the plugs and wires,,ps the wires say 1986 on them,,i am pretty sure that is a bad thing

give me your opinions,,my theory is if it can run smooth at higher rpms it should be ok right,,other wise it would feel very off balance all the way through the revs right???

compression test and go from there, no sense in replacing other stuff if the motor is no good.

but from what you've told me I couldn't tell you either way if its no good or not, could be just running really shitty...

if you lost a rotor it shouldn't idle, it should stall unless you hold the gas pedal 1/4 down. at least thats how mine was. but like vettekiller said, do a compression test

Mine idles ok, and it had a missing "bump" when I compression tested it. Mabye my car isn't blown. Shit, I haven't driven the thing in a month anyway...:D

I just realised today that the wire that shocked me(and wouldn't run the timing light) was one of the lead wires,,well any way i ordered in some wires and plugs and i will give it a shot before pronouncing it dead

do a compression test
or you won't know



but thats how mine runs with its shit ass motor

If you have a wire with the spark running on the outside it will cause your car to run very poorly. If you have two wires with the spark running on the outside then you will have major troubles due to the spark jumping from one wire to the other. I would run down to your local auto parts store and get a set of cheap wires for like $25 and test it out. Be very careful when dealing with a bad plug wire on a car with a powerful coil, you can get seriously injured or even killed.

well i did get zapped pretty good,,it put my hand to sleep for a few minutes.

and i am afraid to do a compression test,,i know i probably won't like what i find

The last motor I caused to fail would not idle well--marked lumpiness in the idle.At power it seemed normal.When compression tested it had ~92/65/65 psi on the rear rotor.When dismantled a small chunk of apex seal,~3/8 inch had disappeared from one end of the seal.
Anyway moral is do a compression test.

Depending on the severety of apex failure your car may very well idle and be driveable. If you want to do a quick and easy test, leave one spark plug out (one at a time) of each rotor housing. Crank the motor and listen to the pulses. If you don't get even pulses then you have found which rotor lost its seal(s).

If its dead you'll hear two strong 'whooshes' and one weak one, or a strong and two weak ones.

Matt Ford