1988 RX7

alright well i just purchased an 1988 N/A RX7. The guy knew something was wrong with it but blah blah blah....

It was just sitting for 9 months waiting to be sold... so of course some things needed to be replaced. i got a new battery and new spark plugs and am going to change the oil tomorrow. i want to replace all the fluids but that doesnt help my problem...

Problems are that the engine has a major lack of power, very sluggish. it still has somewhat of a problem starting... doesnt want to idle, it will start and idle at around 1500 but when i rev the engine a bit it will wind down and die. it doesnt even rev up at 3000 like i read it should while cold starting. also when im driving around it sometimes sputters like its cutting off the gas or something. and it seems like the engine heats real easily. i drove it to my friends like 5 mins away and the temp gauge was just under 3/4.

Another very weird thing that happened today was this... before, some of the lights didnt work, like the inside gauges and tail lights and side marker lights and the left turn signal light inside the car. i figured they just needed new bulbs or something... well whoever previously owned this car had some kind of system cuz there are speaker wires and stuff just taped up and zip tied under the dash. looks like crap. theres also a bunch of those wires under the hood.. most not plugged into anything. well so my friend and i proceeded to rip out the wires from the interior. we ripped out most of the wires coming from the under the dash but had to stop early. there are still wires just layin around. well i noticed some lights were on in the car. the key wasnt in the ignition or anything. i drive it home and i realize the gauge light are on. cool.. how did that happen? so i park it and pop the hood. i noticed the tail lights and side marker lights were all on too. it was like my parking lights were on but they werent. i couldnt figure out how to turn them off so i disconnected the battery. i think all the retarded wires and **** had something to do with it. it kinda pisses me off.

well does anyone have any ideas about what could be wrong with my engine or anything else under the hood. or what could have made my lights mysteriously work?

SSRx7

Lack of power could be a number of things: Most probly clogged fuel filter/system. Cats could be clogged up. Timing could be off, etc, etc.

Best thing to do with wiring is get yourself a test light, and start isolating circuits. If your lights are coming on with the switch off, you might have a short to power. Trace your wires in each circuit. PITA, but if you don't get it straitened out, could have serious consequences. Get your self a good book with the proper wire diagrams for your specific car. Haines has some good wire dieagrams for 1st gens, I don't know about 2nd gens. Service manuals are even better, and someone here might know of even better sources.

Hope all goes well with your car.
Later,
Bill

jgrts20

I had that 1500 rpm hesitation problem when my car needed an O2 sensor, fuel filter change and it was running way too rich. That was my problem, changed filter and adjusted the richness ended up fixing the problem with the hesitation.

Madrx7racer

my problem 7 keeps getting broken into......and has bad gas mileage.....and registering it is proving to be a bitch.

spot_skater

My engine is blown.

ProjectR13B

iTrader: (1)

+1 for my 88

tranny was blown on the 90 and the air pump wasnt connected so the engine would cut off.

retro-steve

how did you adjust your A/F mixture without a standalone or a piggyback system?

i'm having the same problem as described in the first post, trouble starting, dies at low idle, lacks large amount of power, heats up too quick. i thought it was a blown apex seal, but the whole car doesn't violently shake at low RPM...the motor shakes a bit under 1,000RPM but i think that's because it's struggling for life at that point. plus very large smell of gas and constant backfiring (not loud but depending on how much throttle it gets it gets worse)