Here goes... I'll be taking the car to Gotham later on, but wanna see if the consensus is that I cracked and apex seal.

Idle was being pretty rough off and on all day yesterday, being fine for a while then not.

Last night boosted 3 times from 3rd gear to 4th gear. At the top of 4th gear around 7300 rpms I noticed a loss of power so I let off immediately. Exited the freeway and everything seemed normal. Made a u turn and boosted to 10 psi and everything still seemed normal.

Drove bout 1 mile to where we were goin and when I first stopped to let it idle it idled REALLY bad and died. Pushed it to a gas station and couldn't get it to start. It'd try and catch but couldn't fully turn over. But after about 4 tries after shutting off the ignition there was a buzzing sound coming from directly above the elbow/throttle body. As time went on it diminished.

Finally held the gas in to the floor and after a while it caught but idle was super lumpy and the car was shaking. If I set the idle on the pfc to the highest 1100 I pull 10 in of vacuum. If I set it to the normal 900 rpms I get maybe 5 in I pulled the EGI fuse and tried to start it and the needle on the boost gauge kinda goes from 3in to 4in back and forth.

Checked vacuum lines under the hood, MAP sensor, and everything else looks good.

Thanks for your opinions

Cavell

 

She don't sound alive anymore...sorry bro.

I've never experienced a blown apex seal though...who what do I know.

I was always excited for your car though, seemed to be making great power.

 

What made the last 5 seals break?

 

How much boost were you running on your BNRs?

 

Update - This morning car won't start at all. I'm gonna try again here in a second. Then go to AutoZone and rent a compression tester.

Daedel - The original motor was beginning to lose power around 79k miles, bad idle, low compression, etc, etc.. It was finally her time around 83k.

HeatTreated - I was running around 17 psi, around 1.14 on the PFC. I was tuned for this and it was very conservative. I can't count how many 3rd to 4th gear pulls at this boost level I've done in the past 7k miles, including numerous back to back 1/8th mile passes.

Ominously, when I glanced at the odometer when the car was pushed to the gas station, it read 89,999.

I'm gonna find some way to get it to Gotham, and if it's gonna be a somewhat expensive fix, might be time to part out the goodies and put an LS1 in to it. 2 motors in a year is enough for me.

 

hmm... if I recall doesn't Gotham have a 1 year warranty on their motors

Yeah, it's hosed man... sorry...

 

That really sucks man, It seems like you just got that car all finished. Hopefully Gotham will fix ya up.

But an Ls1 7 does sound sweet....

 

I dont understand... are our motors truely that weak that they go in 7k miles if your running them hard? Was it poorely built? tuned a little bit too lean? I mean what gives....

 

Cavelle-

Best of luck to you... I'm sure you'll get her running again soon...

 

Right now I honestly don't know what could have happened.

One thing that puzzles me is the "buzzing" sound coming from the UIM/throttle body... It happens after trying to start the car while the ignition is still in the ON position. It's not a constant, sometimes goes up and down a bit. But once the ignition switch is turned Off, it goes away.

 

OMG I can't believe it!! I hope it was something simple Cavell and not the seals...

Did you hear any detonating prior?

Call if you need some help.

 

Nope, couldn't hear any detonation. But it's also hard to hear anything at full throttle with a straight through exhaust...

Thanks Bob! Still trying to think out all my options on what to do, and hope I don't have to sell it

 

sounds gone dude

 

it's likely that you'd be able to hear it detonating

once you know what it sounds like, it'll haunt your dreams...heh

maybe you got a bad batch of gas....

2 motors in a year?....that aint bad...haha

 

I am sorry to hear about your car Cavell. I am sure that Gotham will take care of you and your car. By the way what did you have has a fuel system and ignition system?

 

Cavell DON'T SELL!!!

I know, these things can be money PITS.

Any word on the compression test?

 

man, i'm sorry to hear that.
and you know i mean it cause it happened to me too.

glad i have a couple of first gens. probably mazdas best rotary powered cars

 

Steve and Rich just came to pick the car up by trailer, door to door service, can't beat that, can ya?

I know what you mean Roy, Eric's been sending me 1st gen ads out of partstrader.com...

Seems the most logical choice for cheap transportation, and that I can run on an auto-x track for next to nothin.

 

Don't worry we'll get it sorted out for you. I've blown 5 motors over the past 3 years. 3 this year alone. All from various reasons ranging from bad tuning to bad gas. The latest one has me stumped. The buzzing from the manifold is most likely the coils. Strangely mine did that after blowing once too. I thought it was injectors sticking but Steve told me it was the coils. As much as I hate the thought, the ls1 is actually a decent motor. If thats what you want, we'll be happy to do our first swap of one with your car, but I rather see you stay rotary. I think you have a fuel related issue. The fact that the fuel pressure was dropping that one time leads me to suspect this. Might also have something to do with the stupid fuel pump relay. Mazda engineered it to run at like 6 or 9v (don't remember offhand) when cruising (probably to quiet down the pump) Under boost it kicks up to 12v. In my opinion is just another possible failure point. On top of that the stock wiring to the fuel pump is way too small. We'll fix this. This is bullshit....

 

I'm really sorry to hear about your car. These cars are money pits.

Your in the best hands that I can think of. Dr. Kan will get u out of ICU and back on the road in no time.

Paul

 

Sorry to hear about the motor. I blew mine earlier this year, and if it blows again this year I'll probably have to sell the car. I have no money as it is now, so I feel for ya man.

Steve Kan is coming up to NE to tune a few of us, and from the sounds of it he's an awesome guy who is a rotary god. I just hope it's true!

 

I'll help ya find a 1st gen at least

 

Don't worry Cavelli, we'll get it sorted out for ya. You'll be up and running again in no time, and she won't leave until she's 100% sorted out. You'll have the new, improved smokeless BNRs, too

 

I was getting quite tired of Eric telling me that he was gonna buy "The patch" for my car at every stop light.

And people on motorcycles waving their hands in front of their nose

 

Rich, any clues yet?