1989 GTUs 105k miles new plugs and clean air filter. Now that the basics are out of the way, here's my problem. The car ran decently a week ago when I drove it, and now I went back to pick it up after having a spedometer cable installed (Not quite my car yet) and the guy said "Yup I tested it, it works" well the spedo cable worked, but the dummy flooded the engine, then wouldn't let me get to the egi fuse to unflood it, instead he installed new plugs and had it working. I noticed that when I was taking my drive, the car would stall whenever it idled, it wasn't a gradual thing, it just f*cking died. So I went back today and check his work, he had a 9 leading and a 9 trailing, and a 7 leading and a 7 trailing. I swapped the plugs to have the 2 with a t trailing (on top) and the 2 with the L leading (on bottom) I went to start it (warm) and it would just crank, no ignition. I hooked a ac powered battery charger/jumper to the battery and tried again, after a little bit of manipulation of the throttle I could get it running, but only above 2500 rpm, if it went below that it would just die. I double checked the plug wires, just to make sure, and I have the blue trailing, black leading, and #1 wires in front.

wtf did this guy do to this poor rx7?

 

bump

 

my guess is gonna be a vacuum hose came undone.

 

ok the coil next to the battery is the leading coil make sure those are going to the bottom plugs

 

Thanks, I'll definitely look that up (I am completely new to engines and mechanics, so bear with me lol) Is there anything else I should look for? The car is stored 30 miles away, so I'd like to have compiled some sort of checklist when I go out there again tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the help, I bought a Haynes service manual yesterday and looked up the proper way to hook up the spark plug wires, so I made sure that was right already. Any other suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to have this car running, so any tips from your experience would be welcome.

 

Could having the spark plugs installed incorrectly like they were damage the engine?

 

Having the leading/trailing plugs in the wrong holes won't hurt anything. It's just heat ranges... it only affects how fast they wear out. Most people seem to put both leading plugs in the front rotor and both trailing plugs in the rear rotor. It's not a big deal. Now if you hook them up to the wrong spark plug wires that CAN damage the engine.

Vacuum hose problem is my guess too. It's the most likely thing to get screwed up fiddling with the car.

 

ok, so it would probably be one right near that area? Sorry for asking so many questions, I'm going to take over the repairs cause this guy doesn't seem to have any respect for this car.

 

For checking the spark plug wires, find the leading ignition coil on the driver side fenderwall. This is the coil to the left, with two wires coming out of it. Follow each wire and make sure that the wire from L1 goes to the lower, front plug (front meaning towards the bumper) and L2 goes to the lower, rear plug. Do likewise with the trailing plugs coming from the other coil. Technically you could have the front and rear leading wires crossed (as long as they are on the bottom plugs) and it wouldn't matter though.

To check for a vacuum leak:

Get some carburator cleaner from autozone or wherever. Spray around any vacuum hose while the engine is running and see if it affects the idle.

 

Ok, I'm pretty sure I have the wiring correct (According to the Haynes manual) and thank you for the in depth explanation.


First I'll have to get the engine to idle at all (Right now it dies if it gets below 2500rmp, but from what I've gathered through searching and what you guys have said, it is probably a hose that came undone or a very noticeable leak. I will see what I can get accomplished tomorrow and post my results. Thanks for all your help guys, This 7 would probably have been scrapped without this forum for hope (They guy selling it thought it thought it was just another mazda)

 

Hooray! It was a loose hose, I reattatched it and it now idles, not wonderfullly mind you, but it's decent. Next issue, when I get the rpms up kinda high (above about 6k) it smokes like crazy. I have no idea why,k and maybe it just needs tuned, but if that sounds like a problem to anyone, please feel free to share some of your wisdom

 

If it "...smokes like crazy." after the engine is fully warmed up you probably have a problem with one or more of the seals. If the smoke is whitish and has a sweet smell, it is likely coolant seal(s). If the color of the smoke is bluish and it smells like oil, it is likely oil seal(s). If it is grayish, it is likely an over-rich fuel mixture. Bad seals means an engine rebuild or replacement. Over-rich fuel mixture can be caused by several things, but the cost to correct the problem will be much less than a rebuild.

If the smoke eventually disappears, it could be just the fuel from the flooding burning off.

 

well, after driving it 30 miles. I was sitting at idle with no smoke of any kind. I wrapped the engine up to about 6.5 or 7k and found myself sitting in a cloud of whitish smoke. But it had no sweet smell, it just smelled like gas.

 

i would guess oil control rings are starting to go, or th emechanic only has water in the radiator and no anti freeze...

 

yeah, its got nothing to do with how fast the plug gets up to operating range, or how the electrode reacts to loads..