I'm 90% sure I just blew my engine. 1990 GX with 165xxx km. The problem is, is that the car broke down just outside Medicine Hat, AB, and I live in Edmonton. I am here for the weekend but must be heading back up on Sunday. Potentially later if work gives the okay. Another problem is it's my only car.

Anyways, I was wondering if you guys know of any quick fixes that could be done. Otherwise my only option is some kind of cheap beater until the end of the summer and remove and rebuild the engine then.

Any help at all for my predicament would be absolutely excellent.

 

There's really no quick fix for a blown engine. The quickest fix would be to buy a non-blown engine and drop it in.

Are you positive that it's blown? Have you done a compression test?

 

Currently sitting on the side of a highway. Lost all power and ran like absolute garbage.

 

Too bad your car only cares about its problem, where it is and where it should be are not relevant.
A blown engine is not really the kind of problem you can bandage and limp with...it's mostly fatal.
The quickest fix is to swap in another engine but I imagine they might be a bit thin on the ground in Medicine Hat.

Might wanna start walking now.

 

I know right? Cars should care more about their owners. Especially with all the attention we give them.
I am aware of this but am just looking for options.
It's hard enough finding anything rx7 related here.

 

Are you positive that it's a blown engine and not flooded out or possibly an electrical issue? Did you do a compression test?

If you still have some decent compression, car will run. Mine ran with 60psi and girlfriends with 65psi, both "blown" engines. Girlfriends actually ran well once boosting! I've had so much trouble with these cars. Here's some things to try;

Deflood ASAP. Crank it over for 20 seconds with egi fuse pulled, or turn your fuel pump off however you have it done up.

Compression is higher when cold due to thermal expansion. Try to start when engine is dead cold. It may take hours.

Take spark plugs out and dry them out. Burning them with a lighter is a good idea as well to remove oil.

Sometimes pouring a cup of oil into each housing helps. Be extremely careful to not get any foreign object into the housing. Things stick to oil and can be carried in.

Starter only turns the car over at a low rpm. This can be troublesome as cars with low compression won't run well at low rpm. My advise is to find a long sloping hill and have a friend help you pop start it. Use common sense though. Don't pop it into 1st if your doing 50mph.

Cars with low compression sometime don't like to run at low rpm. My advice would be to either turn up the idle or gently 3 foot it and carefully test and let rpm down to idle carefully. Just dropping foot on clutch could result in the car stalling... And you won't be able to get it started again for a few hours.


I hope my shitty rx7 experiences will help you out!

 

Btw- I forgot to mention that when you pop start it- use the starter at the same time you let out the clutch. Sometimes it helps.

 

Take out the spark plugs and listen when you crank it, you should hear a noticeable different sound from the two sides where the apex is blown, much weaker sound.

As long as you got battery to crank it to hear, and you can take the spark plugs out, that is. Might be a good idea to take the fuses out under the hood so you don't spray yourself full of fuel.

 

All this whimpering and not even a poor mans compression test? really?

 

Sounds like the alternator went to ****.

A better discription, list of events leading up to and after, would all help.

What kind of power was lost; engine power or electrical power?
Do you have enough juice to turn the engine over?
Does it sound like it has compression? (whump whump whump sound or just whirring?)
Is there gas in it?
Are spark plug wires all connected?
All electrical connectors intact and connected?
All belts intact?

 

unless both rotors popped it should still run, get up to cruising speed and sustain it to an extent. if the car is dying out driving on flat road then it could be an electrical issue.

 

I did not do any compression test as it was 9, getting dark and I was driving for the past 5ish hours. Going back today and that will be the first thing I do.

Car starts up, it just can't hold it's own idle. The exhaust almost makes a pulsing like sound while running (only way I can think to describe).

I was driving along and it made some sound not totally sure but it was loud as I had music on to counter the exhaust. After that the gas could be pushed down and it had virtually no affect on speed or RPM.

Doubt it's alternator as it is a new stock replacement (not OEM hard to get here) less than 15k ago.

 

Ok, so you lost engine power. In my line of work, "power" refers to electrical input, so I asked for clarification.

Did it continue to make noise after the initial pop, or just run like poo?

I take it that you were unable to maintain speed, seeing as you left the car on the side of the road?

 

Okay power in this case refers to any form of torque.

The exhaust did not sound right at all. Like I said it was a pulsing like sound.

Ya there was a hill ahead and I could not make it to it when it happened.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ms...e_gdata_player

Still can't do any form of compression test. Hard without any time but here's what it sounds like.