Took my car to get inspected/oil change today. Got the oil change, but failed inspection, because apparently my RPMS are too high, even though my tach stays somewhere right at 1000 or below. Their sensors would read whatever my tach said +1000... so yeah. BUMMER. They tried placing the sensor all over the car, once even on the back hatch! Then they were like, "Well, if I could find the spark plug wires, I'd put it on there!" (So I got to show them where those were. mwahahaha) The guy even adjusted the lever-thingy that you can pull on to make it rev up from the engine bay, and still her RPMs didnt drop down.

But yeah... they tried everything, and it still wouldn't go down, even when they were near stalling her out, she wouldn't read at the RPMs they needed her to. I have no idea if my emissions will pass, because the computer program would not allow them to skip ahead to test that part for me.

Stupid yellow FC...

The guys were really nice, though. They thought I was cute cuz I knew where the oil plug was, and my spark plug wires were. Apparently men don't think women should know stuff about cars. Hehe.

Anyway, they were going to pass my back window, and they "ignored" the fact that I had a side tail light out (that I didn't even know was out... it was one on the side in the back.)

So GRRR.

On to driving my illegal FC some MORE until I can figure out how to make the RPMs go down...

Open to advice and suggestions... does the RX-7 just have high idle RPMs or what?

Thanks Y'all.

 

BUMP

Need suggestions, please... don't wanna get in trouble for having an illegal DAILY driver.

 

The RX-7 ignition system is particularly irritating to scan RPM from.

Tell them to use a 6 cylinder setting, and if it's off on the leading plug wires (coming from the front coilpack) to use the rear ones.

The leading coil fires using a waste-spark system - both plugs fire at once, so you'll get twice as many pulses as "expected" - indicating a higher RPM.

Idle RPM should be 750 RPM +/- 100. It's a nice idle sound. Your dash tach is most likely correct.

Try having them use 6-cylinder settings on a trailing wire (coming from the coil back in the driver's side rear corner) and see if that reads something more rational.

-=Russ=-

 

go to a shop that knows what they're doing.

 

ditto

 

THANK YOU!!!! (My dad's laughing right now.)

 

... did that work, or just my reply was somehow funny?

-=Russ=-

 

if the rpm reading is twice what it should be, have them use a trailing plug wire.

 

The idle should be around 750 rpm. If it's around 1000 rpm like you indicate, then it's wrong. But you know that.

Soooo.....has the idle always been around this area since you owned the car???? If not, then what type of work was done on the car just before it went this high?

Download the FSM from the links on this site. Download just the Fuel Section. Follow the instructions there for setting the idle.

Generally you install the initial set coupler. Then set the timing, set the tps, adjust the idle screw on the very top of the dynamic chamber or if a turbo use the screw on the side of the bac.

If this process does not work, then check the setting of the idle adjust screw, fast idle cam and see if the fast idle cam is falling off the roller when the car is fully hot.

If that does not work, it's possible someone fiddled with the throttle stop screw and you'll have to unscrew that until the throttle plates meet the dimension in the fsm.

A somewhat long shot is the bac is not returning to its stop due to filth inside it. Remove the bac, invert its hole straight up, reinstall its plug and turn the key to ON. Spray some carb cleaner in the hole. It should be vibrating once you turned the key to ON. Dump the fluid and repeat until ....you get tired of fiddling with it. Reinstall the bac and start the engine and see if things improve.

You might want to check the timing as the first step. Use a timing light. Too many people don't use a timing light and just turn the cas ***** nilley. A too far advanced timing adjustment will cause a faster idle.

Online, there is a free download of the factory service manual. The links are on this site under the FAQ thread. Done.

 

i think your car is idling correctly, it's just hard to measure rpms. over here in greensboro my friend got his car inspected and the guys also kept trying different things until they tested it without rpms. good luck,

 

it's not hard to get a tach reading.

it's just that statistically speaking, mechanics aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

 

My car's legal now.

................the guys at the "place" (name left unsaid) used an eclipse to pass my emissions.

They didn't want to have to deal with the rotary ANY more!

I printed out Russ's suggestion and took it back to the same place, since I had their attention anyway (cuz I'm a girl), and they just said screw it, and they were gonna use the mechanic's car to get the reading. Instead, someone pulled up in an eclipse, so they used that insead. I like being female... I can get what I want without any sexual promises.

 

on whose statistics?

 

I'd be inclined to rephrase that as "Mechanics who work at an emissions test station aren't likely to be the brightest and best of the bunch." I'd imagine anyone who was particularly good with cars would be employed somewhere else (that probably paid better).

Glad you got it worked out (kind of). I wonder if that would have worked if you had a modded TII ejecting a mace-like substance out the tailpipe...

-=Russ=-

 

actually smog techs are among the highest paid of all techs, most techs just do not want to deal with the headaches of paying for the schooling for a singular purpose such as smog and then recertifying every other year.

as for the comment, it is a bit of a blanket statement.. if i was a bit more shallow i would probably be offended but personally i prefer to be my own boss and refer to myself as less of a tech/mechanic than most of the people i work with because they are sheep and i hope to be out of here soon and have my shop reopened as soon as i have the funds to do it.

 

So they still couldn't figure out how to get a correct RPM reading even after the suggestions? I wouldn'tr take your car there again doesn't seem like they know too much about rotaries

 

Ya, those guys at Jiffy Lube rake in the big bucks.

 

Our primary ignition is firing once for 180 degrees of rotation. A wasted spark system on a piston engine is doing 360 degrees isn't it? That would make us a double wasted spark system.

 

i didn't know they did smogs at jiffy lube.. if they do do smogs at your jiffy lube then i can guarantee he is the highest paid at the store, probably manages the place. save up for a full 2 cents then come back.

 

i thought avoiding jiffy lube was common knowledge????

 

I worked at jiffy lube for a few months and I'm still trying to forget some of the **** I saw goin in that place... lemme just say they care more about saving money than they do about friggin someones car up.