Here is the scenario. I had my motor rebuilt at the end of last year. I got it back in the middle of December. About 3 weeks ago before a long trip the car started to overflow antifreeze out of the overflow tank. I called my mechanic (because I was in DE and he was down here in NC) and he told me to change my radiator cap and check my thermostat. I did just that and I even changed my thermostat out. I took it out and it seemed to run cooler and not overheat. About two hours into the trip it began its overheating trend again and I had to run from Norfolk, VA to Charlotte, NC with the heat all the way up. This kept the temp down to around 96C according to my Power FC. About a week later I went out and the motor refused to start.

Today he called me and told me that there was a lot of carbon build up in the motor and that a spring on one of the apex seals on the rear rotor was completely flattened. He said that the water seals and o-rings were fine and the engine appearred to be in good condition except for this. He told me that this was not covered under warranty because it was not engine related. What was explained to me was that it must have been loading up on fuel and causing the engine to run hot. This in conjunction with the fuel must have been the culprit according to him. The solutions that have been presented to me was 1.) might be an injector sticking and loading the engine up on fuel 2.) the Power FC from SR Motorsports that have updated maps for the mods that I told him that I have is way to rich and loading the car up (My mechanic suggest just reverting back to the original map that came with the Power FC and not the one SR sent me).

So I need you all to tell me if I am being screwed. I like to think that I know a little about these engines but this still seems to be a bit extreme for a engine that is only 4 months old and has not right since the day that I picked it up in December. (The problems seem to have lied in the inability for the car to get a reliable boost patern because I got a vacuum hose job as well). He is going to charge me $1,500 for labor and parts. This inclueds new o-rings, one new apex seal, injectors sent away and rebuilt, apex seal springs for all seals in the rear rotor, and misc. other little things. I just spent $7,200 on this project 4 months ago because I got turbos rebuilt, streetport, all new housings and all that good stuff. I didn't mind this because I knew it was the nature of the motors and when getting it rebuilt I wanted it done right.

Please let me know what you all think of this and what course of action I should take. I wouldn't mind paying for the injector rebuild or anything like that but $1,500 is a bit excessive for a 4 month old motor.

 

Anybody telling you to use the base maps with those mods is wrong. You would be running so lean that the engine would not run properly and maybe last a couple months. As for the other problems like injectors, it is prossible, but I can not beleive it was the maps that were sent to you.

 

Where did you get the motor rebuilt? Maybe the person that rebuilt it didn't use brand new parts on parts of the motor. A lot of times that happens with rebuilds is that engine rebuilders like to recycle and reuse used parts and sometimes those parts aren't that good and are sometimes problem prone. Ask your mechanic what parts of the motor he replaced, which parts are entirely new, and which parts he reused, and then go from there to see if it was worth $7200 of labor

 

I don't think he would be running so lean that the car would only last a few months with the base PFC map. He has intake, DP, CB, and a streetport. The base map is designed for intake, DP, and CB with a fair safety margin. I guess it would depend on the size of the streetport, but more importantly, how much boost he is running. BTW, you're running an intake, DP, and hi-flow cat with no ECU? Sounds like YOU'RE heading for trouble.

Speedracerrx7: How does your mechanic explain the engine running hot because of too much fuel. A lower A/F ratio reduces combustion temps. Either way, a flattened apex seal spring should have nothing to do with that, that probably happened during the rebuild.

Is this the same mechanic who rebuilt it? Sounds fishy to me.

 

Your coolant overflowing like that is a NORMAL sign of motor failure. Even after your mods, your motor should not be overflowing like you described it. Your side seals or coolant seals are basically out of commission.

Does your car smoke everytime you start it?

Anyways let us know how things go. But 4 months after and your motor is through, you'd have to be boosting over 14lbs all the time to do some damage like that if it was rebuilt really well.


see ya,

car 53

 

if i were you i would get a 2nd, 3rd opinion from one of the better tuners around

 

Who did the rebuild? How was the idle before this happened? If it was dumping in enough fuel to cause these problems as he says, I would think that the idle would have been pretty rough. It sound like someone did a bad job on the engine. Get a second opinion.

 

When you flatten apex seals, its usually from being to hot. I know, because i've had this happen to me. And i've also seen it hunderds of times working for Rob@Pineapple. CJ

 

honestly...you should not have been driving the car at all if it was doing the things you said...trip or not. you could have rented a truck and trailer for less than what your motor will cost. if that car overheats it is undrivable until it is fixed...tis just the way it goes..if you drive it when it is not operating correctly (whether you have a choice or not) then that will or can void your warrantee. any insurance warrantee will do the same thing Im sure...they will not warrantee cars that were driven when they were known to have problems mechanically.

what caused the heat damage and the overheating? Im sure there are a hundred things that could have happened...maybe you need to flush that radiator..maybe your fans were not working...maybe you drive very hard...maybe you had air in your coolant...maybe your turbos were boosting more than stock and helping to heat up the engine bay...probably many of these kinds of things...

if you can get it done for fifteen hundred and not have a headache and still have someone to service the car..then I would do it...otherwise if you are in the mood to fight...fight....but odds are that you wont win because Im assuming he has the car and the parts and did the work and could easily put together a scenerio to show that you are at fault. tis easier to pay the fifteen hundred and call it a learning experience than to make a big stink and get back part of your money and have no one to service the car.

I feel for ya man....I blew my motor when it was still under warrantee last year...however it was my fault for driving the way I was and also for running higher than stock boost thru the junk stock turbos...this lead to extremely hot temps which led to me paying more than you would be paying. I finally got my car back on saturday.

fifteen hundred bucks is a good price when you are in that situation. Id bite on it....but Id also keep an eye on the progress of the motor...check to see what gets done to it.

good luck...sorry bout your car...


jason

 

I want to thank everybody for replying. I just wanted to clear a few things up.

I have a boost guage and I made sure that I didn't boost over 10 psi at any time. One problem that kept me from ever really running the car was that the mechanic never really fixed a hole that I had in my boost after he did the vacuum hose job at the same time as my motor. It would boost good until 4500rpm and thenwould die until I hit 6000rpm and then pick right back up to 10.

The only reason that I drove it back down to NC after it seemed overflowed the coolant was because I changed the thermostat. After I did this I drove it around for an hour and had no problem. In fact the first 2 hours of the trip it kept the temp down. The temp never got over 102C at any point but it did run up to that and I would shut the car down for fear of overheating it.

I have written e-mails to a couple of rotary rebuilders and I plan on calling a couple more tomorrow to get their opinion of the situation and what I should do. Let me know if you all have anymore thoughts. Thanks again.