Hi guys,

Last year I bought from Banzai Racing the aluminium UR style pulleys ( Crank, Powersteering, idler ). I installed them and everything seemed fine.

I was very pleased with the quality of the product when I received it, and Banzai Racing service was great.

I take my fd only on weekends, so after 3 weekends with the pulleys on, problems started. Leaving a stop, I could hear a squeek at low rpm, similar to a strap slipping on pulleys, but tension was fine.

On the 4th weekend, I started the engine and let it warm for 5 minutes, it ran fine.
I engaged a gear and pull out my driveway, car stopped. I was able to restart it but it was very difficult.

Here's a video of what happened exactly :
On the video, my rpm stays above 1000k because I hold the throttle, if I let it go you can see the rpm fall around 500rpm.


Here's a cold start up:

FYI: Stock engine with bolt ons(3" exhaust, bov, PFS intercooler), running a Power FC, new spark plugs, new fuel filter. I checked my ignition coils, they are fine. Compression test on a low power battery gave me 90 psi on each rotors. Engine is around 30 000km


I am wondering, if the main crank pulley could have damaged the rotor bearing or something else, would I still have a good compression?


I am not a mechanic so I try my best to find my problem, if anyone on here as an idea, please help me!

 

Why do you instantly say this is what cheap pulleys can do? Can you 100% say its the pulleys, have you checked for vac leaks? Or any small things yet? A car with bad conpression will still start and run, just wont be fun keeping it runbing at idle due to a lower vacuum. I would go threw the basic are both injectors firing,are L1,L2,T1,T2 are all firing, check your timing, see if bumping up ur idle screw keeps it running and look and see what ur afrs are and slowly bump down the idle till it doesnt want to idle.

 

I'm assuming the problem comes from my pulleys because I've never had a problem in 5 years, problems started a few runs after installing the pulleys.

The engine will still run if I don't touch the throttle, it just runs really bad. Honestly I don't know anything about those vaccums things, all my hoses were connected when I removed the UIM.

Like I said I'm not a mechanic but if you have any advice on vaccuums, what to trouble shoot, you are more than welcome.

 

Fair enough!, well i do think the pulleys are the problem, banzai is very reputable for there products, how many kms on the motor when was last rebuild?

 

If you would've gotten your first flat tire in 5 years would you have blamed the pulleys?
So you drag a vendor's products down just to get attention for your problem? If it has ANYTHING to do with the pulleys, it's probably an installation issue.

 

I'm going to say very confidently it isn't a pulley issue.

 

You put pulleys on the car and then you have running issues, so you basically blame the pulleys straight away without diagnosis or research.

Sounds like you didn't even look under the hood to verify all the belts were still on/pulleys were running straight and true. You just flat out blamed a vendor's products with no evidence whatsoever.

And to make it worse, you admitted you blind blamed them because "titling my thread Help FD RX7 problems" would not make people look at it as fast". So you titled this thread in a way that assigns unfair blame, just for increased (faster?) attention?

Why did you not get someone to sit in the car, start it up and hold it at 1000rpm (if that's how it wants to run at the moment) while you have a look under the hood to see the supposedly bad pulleys doing... something...wrong....or not....

I'm going to put money on the fact that you went in there and probably removed a bunch of things, hoses, etc when you installed the pulley set. Something was not hooked back up correctly- loosely- and it has just popped off and given you a vacuum leak. A loose hose connection I would say. You should get in there and

-verify pulleys are all still there and run true.
-verify belts are all still on and tensioned.

With that out of the way, you can get to finding the real problem here.

-hook up a vacuum gauge and verify correct vacuum at idle.
-verify spark plugs are not wet or fouled and plug wires are on properly.
-check all hoses and connections for leaks or any hoses that have fallen off, especially near where you were working.
-check all wiring and electrical plugs are connected.

A pulley somehow causing a bearing problem is highly unlikely unless the pulley is not bolted on and running true. It would be throwing belts long before it did anything to a bearing.
A bearing will not cause a loss of compression.
A bad bearing causes loss of oil pressure at idle.

Well the car uses a bucketload of vacuum lines and vacuum is critical for proper engine and turbocharger operation in these cars. If you've owned it for five years, why have you not at least read some info here about how the car works or the operation of the sequential system? You can't just go "Oh the pulleys went bad!! I dunno how, but they did!!"
And then also say "But I dunno anything about those vacuums thingums!!"
"I'll title my post in a way that makes people look at it faster because it blames Banzai!!"
The train of thought there is a little worrying.

 

I don't see what the point of this thread is? You are claiming that a cheap set up pulleys damaged your motor yet you show a video of your car idling poorly. I was expecting to see a broken pulley or belt noise. What does this have to do with the pulleys? I would look into it further and report back before blaming a part. It sounds like your map sensor hose is off.

 

Ok guys, my intention was never to bash Banzai's product. I was just pointing out the fact that my problem started just after I installed the pulley, I NEVER bashed the product or the company itself. Sorry for the topic title, I should have chose something else.

SA3R, I appreciate the time you take to answer my topic, like I said I'm not a mechanic, to be honest I've searched about the vaccuum system on the FD, but I can't find something clear enough for me to understand. The only thing I didn't do in all the things you mentionned is plugging a vaccuum gauge, so that's definitly something I will do, after figuring out the vaccuum stuff.

I didn't unplug any hose or electrical connection when I changed the pulleys. The only thing in my way when I changed them was the intercooler, so, no I didn't forget to plug back something.



Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

spray brake cleaner or starter fluid around the intake manifolds to see if you have a leak.
Check the map sensor vacuumn line.
Check your main belt and accessory belts are properly tight, since you said you could hear it slip. Rev the car from the engine bay with the throttle cable to see which one is slipping.

You are probably better off searching for "rough idle" instead of pulley related items, you sir, need to re-read the new members thread.

 

Well I think were all just a bit bothered by the title of the thread because Banzai has been around for a very long time, and they make some solid products. So our problem is that one someone google searches rx7 cheap pulleys, what do you think would come up as recent? Thats not really fair. That would be like your neighbor mowing his lawn across the street and 2 weeks later one of your sprinkler heads break. Your problems aren't anything to do with the pulleys. And you should really have that thread title changed. And do yourself a favor and look up a reputable shop to take a look at that car, but don't go burning all your bridges early in the game, people might not want to deal with customers who righteously bad mouth their products.

 

Request already sent, would have been already done if I could do it myself.

 

Yea a pulley is pretty much a pulley, lol.
Anyway I saw both your low oil level, and low coolant level red lights flick on & off in the first vid at the same time as it was sounding funny, that to me would suggest electrical/ground faults....
check your battery terminals are tight..........

 

So, let's see you removed the UIM and now you think the pulleys are at fault? I think checking for appropriate hose connections and ensuring everything is connected would be the first place to start.