What should I do with my 87 rx7 sport w/stuck apex seals?
 

Folks -

I know this can be seen as a dumb question but creative and humorous responses could be entertaining, as well as helpful and specific suggestions.

I put my car in the garage a few years ago with the idea that I would either get a rebuilt engine for it (13b, as I recall) or maybe crack the thing open myself "when I got the time" (I know... it's somewhat like humor, only sadder.) So, no blocks, no sealing of the intake or exhaust.

It's now been sitting for quite a while and I'd love it if someone knew of a good shop in the Chicago area that might wanna get it back on the road. (The body's in great shape and it's got 80K it.)

Selling the thing as is, donating it, digging in myself next summer are also on the table.

Feel free to E me off list...

Bob Palmieri

stuck apex seals huh? have you tried a little ATF before ya get rid of it? it's a long shot in a dark dark alley, but it has worked in the past.

read aarons right up on atf, he doesnt recommend it. i would suggest mystery marvel oil. which should have gone in it when it was going to sit. just alittle bit in the sparkplug holes was the motor running when you put it away. i would try and get this motor running again if possible and then think about getting another motor build either by you or a shop and eventaully switching in a new motor

does it turn over? Will it satart? Any compression?, remeber the rotorary has a constant power stroke so you most pull the shrader vavle in the gauge to get a true reading of each rotor face

huh?

The reason you remove the valve is because it will only get the peak value of all 3 faces if you dont, not because it has a constant powerstroke.

Even if you break up the carbon the engine is still on its last legs if it's that bad.

The best thing to do would to just send it to someone to have it rebuilt.

mine did the same thing i poured marvel mystory oil down the intake and let it sit for 3 days then it cranked slowly an then started smoked like a bastered untill the shit was gone but it started

dude if you have a stuck seal your motor is not healthy. sell it or rebuild it, those aer your only options.

having a stuck seal on 80k na should be fine. Improper storage is the problem. if he does the MMO trick and it works right then he should be fine for a lil while.... Then he could do the water treatment to get the rest of the carbon off.

true that

Boat-Anchor 87 Sport
 

Folks -

Thanks for real for the direct and informative replies - I'm thinkin' I'll try to find someone in Chicago or Northwest Indiana who will go through the solvent - maybe rebuild - most likely exchange sequence regarding the block.

Now I'm thinkin' injectors (at least one of them was dribbly so I put in one of those bleed-down-the-resting-pressure valves before it lost compression.) How much and where to source them are the key issues here....

Then I can turn my attention to things like What Happens To The Hydraulics When Them Pistons Sit Around With Nothing To Do For A Long Time...

By the way, for those of you who suggested private messaging, I see that I'm not authorized to do that sorta thing until I've posted more than a dozen more peskey messages. So, anyone who has suggestions about good mechanics in my area feel free to find some other way to put us in contact.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...reep-small.jpg:icon_tup:

How do you know you have a stuck apex seal?

you may have leaky injectors. pull them and send them away to get cleaned, it's not that expensive.

you will only get the peak value because of the constant powerstroke. .. i agree it will be on its last leg but maybe enough time to get the motor running and start a new motor build project and still have the car running. good luck with your project

Yeah, he can uncarbon lock it, drive it for another 10k miles, then a seal will fall out, and destroy a rotor and housing along with it, then cost him even more money to fix, good idea.

I just sent you a pm suggesting you to ask jacob cartmill to rebuild your engine, if louisville isn't too far away for you. that is his username as well by the way.

For Dave B -

(this inability to send private messages is something I suppose I should understand, but I really don't yet...)

Thanks for suggesting an alternative to my own efforts to restore this thing to health by suggesting that it might have a future as a track star.

I'm gonna try to assess the Big Picture over the next few weeks but a little voice is telling me that it could be fun to turn it over to you and maybe follow its progress from a distance.


Bob Palmieri

I guess since I haven't seen the actual seals, I really don't...

Bob Palmieri

The engine may just be flooded. Apex seals don't stick spontaniously so if that's the reason it was stored, stuck seals are likely not the problem.

Since the car has been sitting, the info on this page may help:
http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/unstore.htm

Get some oil into the chambers to build up compression. If the engine still won't make any compression, pull off the exhaust manifold and inspect the seals.

Aaron -

Thanks for the comprehensive rundown - I'm going out to have a look this week.

When the car stopped running I had a local specialist do a compression check and he said he couldn't see any (???!!!) - into the gah-raj it went...

in my experiences seals only stick when something got into the combustion chamber and warped the seal slots. For example on the last motor I broke down an apex seal came unseated and "decapitated" 1 seal and warped the slot that the 3rd seal seats into squishing down and locking it shut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etnpc8tV0gE

lol

I agree, maybe it's flooded bad enough to the point of no compression. It's not expensive to send out the injectors to be cleaned and balanced. I think there's something under the vendor's section - maybe someone can name names, as I don't remember specifics.

I believe we're really getting somewhere here
 

Y'all -

I do so appreciate this rundown of the current thinking about this stuck seal stuff.

The two reasons I didn't just sell the car years ago were:

1) It sure seemed to me that there oughtta be some way to just dissolve the crud

2) I sure did like that car

And so, thanks to the collective wisdom of the group, my current thinking is that I'm gonna keep the thing in the garage 'till spring, then take my time cleaning, freeing up and lubing the seals (as well as a few other things on the car.) Injectors will go out for cleaning, etc... and I'll take it from there.

Unless some mechanic in the Chicago area wants to do this stuff for me before April, 'cuz now I'm getting excited about driving the thing again...

I had a friend who had stuck seals in his first gen and he said the seafoam stuff worked fine on his