As I was exitinga parking lot two days after buying my first FD, I started to accelerate and as I went to push the clutch in to shift into second, it didnt feel "right." The car was running like complete ****, and my throwout bearing was making wayy more noise then it usually does.

So I get it to the side of the road, shut it down, look over everything, and try to start it again, no go, it wont turn over. I get someone to bring me some gas, thinking it may have ran out (gas gauge apparently not working :/) and try it again, after some effort it turned over, but was still running like ***, Idleing around 800rpm and just sounding terrible.

This came at a very large surprise to me, as it made the six hour drive home just fine, with the exception of a blown intercooler hose, which I repaired when I arrived home.

I'm going to load it on my fathers trailer today and get it gome to run a compression test on it, but I'm fearing the worst for my 3 day old car.

 

I blew an engine due to an apex seal and it's true it they run like *** when they let go but there is no way that it would idle. I had to keep the thing almost floored to keep it running and even then it was up around 4-5K.

Is there any smoke coming out of the exhaust?

 

Ive had customers daily drive a blown apex seal fd for a month at a time Believe me, Ive seen a lot idle and run but not correctly. They will usually have black fuel smoke coming out the exhaust and you can watch the needle bounce on the boost gauge at idle.

 

Start with the easy stuff first - MAP sensor hose popped off?

When in doubt, do a compression test, that will tell you for certain.

Dale

 

Damn, lucky them. Mine shook so horribly when it blew there was no way it would run without revving.

My experience is with only one so this sucks, I was hoping it would be something else for this guy. maybe if he's not blowing too much smoke it still could be something else.

 

I'll run over in a bit and check her out, if I recall it wasn't smoking very bad, if at all. The boost gauge was reading anywhere from -15 to -5 at "idle" if you can even call it that.

 

+1 to Check the MAP sensor...

Every FD owner should pull the Vacuum line off the MAP sensor to experience what this is like. After reading so many, my FD runs terrible now, threads I went ahead and pulled the line to make it super loose from the MAP in the name of science (or rather me learning something new - Hey this might make a great short YouTube video!!).

Check this out, as its right next to the elbow and if you did any oil filter checks chances are it popped off.

 

Its a strong possibility, as i was playing with the intercooler piping shortly before this happened. I'm hoping it is something this simple.

 

Was the car already at operating temperature? If so, the ECU probably saw heatsoaked IAT sensor temperatures and pulled fuel. I hope I am wrong.

 

I just pulled into a gas station, and realized I forgot my wallet; I never turned the car off, so yes it was at temperature.

 

little update here, checked the MAP sensor, its all good, and all the hoses are connected to it. I'm going over in about two hours with a trailer to load it up and bring it home. On the upside it started right up, however, it still ran like ****.

 

Doh... Having the MAP disconnected would have been good news and an easy fix.

 

+1

do a compression check and let us know how it goes.

 

Haven't checked compression yet, but i'd venture to say its blown. And to make things even better, the transmission ate it somewhere in the midst of the whole incident yesterday. Although I knew it was coming (throwout bearing VERY noisy, 3rd, 4th, AND 5th gear grinds) its awfully convenient that they both went at the same time. I was able to drive her up on the trailer, had to start it in gear though, and boy oh boy was she reluctant to drive up those ramps.

 

Damn thats a lot to go bad after a 3 day purchase

 

I drove my FD for almost a year with a blown/warped/whatever apex seal. It wasn't DD but I took it to SevenStock and out for grocery runs on the weekends.

One day it decided it wasn't gonna start anymore. Then I had it rebuilt.

 

My engine builder was converted to FDs after he drove my car with a blown seal....he still thought it was fast!

 

This is what happens when you buy an FD for $6-8k.....it quickly turns into $14k, which is about what a decent one costs

 

Could be a blessing in disguise. True there is aggravation and cost (welcome to FD ownership) but now you may be able to get the engine/setup you want. Maybe even look into the darkside of things...good luck, hope it all works out for you.

 

Why did I get a chill when you mentioned the darkside....

Please, not after 3 days. You need to have many more stories about how your car has frustrated you before you can validate that.

 

What a bummer about only having it for 3 days. Makes me reconsider getting my FD for the price (some say it's too low to be good)

 

Just make sure you test drive it and have it inspected by a competent mechanic, have a boost gauge in there to see what it does.

If it has quirks or if you are unsure, either renegotiate the price or walk away.

 

What is "too low to be good"?

 

Compression check #1

 

update: just ran a poor mans compression test, with the result being psst.............psst...........psst.............p sst. I'm no mechanic, but I do have a friend who is coming to look at it sometime this week and give me a full diagnosis. what are the chances that the rotor and housing are still intact, and I'll only need new seals?


Also, I bought this car off the forums (https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-rx-7-1993-2002-vehicles-107/1994-mazda-rx-7-pep-858672/) and the engine supposedly only had 25k on it.