My car worked fine last sunday. I noticed a little bit of white smoke on start up but after a minute or so of driving it went away. Sunday night i went to take the car out again and it wouldnt start (would crank, but wouldnt turn over) I went to open the radiator cap and the coolant system was pressurized because coolant shot out all over. I topped off the filler neck and tried to start it again. Same exact thing happened. I also noticed a slight fuel smell like the car was getting flooded. Monday morning it wouldnt start again so i had the car towed to a dealer. I know, i know dont take them to dealers but its very close to my house and ive heard from ppl in the area that the service manager knows a great deal more about rx7s than other dealers around. I got a call later that day saying that i need a new motor. That a seal(s) are shot and compression is blowing back through to the radiator. Worst news EVER. Going by this, i either sell car as is, fix and sell, or buy new car and later down the road get rebuild for my fd. Any suggestions/ideas? Anyone know of a great shop around the St. Louis area?

 

how many miles are on your fd?

 

Around 185,000 but i had a rebuild around 110,000 (the rebuilt was through extended warranty so the dealership handled it - same dealer its at now).... so approx 70xxx on the rebuilt one. if all of what i was told is true, which its seems as it is, im pretty surprised ive only gotten 70 out of the last one

 

70k is decent mileage out of a rebuilt engine.

 

You are surprised that you only got 70k miles out of your engine?

You must be the only person on the planet who has not heard the 'rotaries are not reliable' rumour. Which is doubly odd since you own one.

 

you should be proud of yourself! 185k total miles and only on your second rebuild, thats amazing

 

you act like i own a car and know nothing about it. as well as i take care of it and as long as the 1st engine lasted, yes i was caught off guard. not to mention the ppl ive met and stories ive heard from many ppl who have engines that last longer.

anyone know any great shops around st louis?

 

Sounds like LS1 material to me!

 

Why did you get an FD if you dont have money to fix it?

Dont you know how these cars are?

 

I think that rumor became a fact many years ago

 

It's going to cost you in the neighborhood of 5k if you pay someone to fix it, fwiw. Hope you have twice that stashed away.

 

I live here in St.Louis and on the the 20th I drove my engine down to Marristown ,TN to Kevin of RotaryResurection to have it rebuilt. We dont have anyone in STL who I felt could do the job. I know alot of people and alot of different shops around here and still wanted it done by someone that the rotary community was backing. Give me a PM if you got some ?'s I might be able to help.

 

Or he could send it to Kevin @rotaryresurrection.com and have a rebuild, pull and install and cover shipping of his car both ways for about $3k give or take a few hundred bucks

EDIT: I didnt see Adams post above mine. Sorry, but that should just further confirm that Kevin is the route to take when needing rebuilds and pulls and installs.

 

when did i say i dont have $ to fix it? i dont remember mentioning that in any of my posts. just because im asking for ideas and info doesnt mean i dont have money to take care of the car. its still just as frustrating/stressful with or without having the money.

thanks adam and djseven for the help. Adam, i probably will have a couple questions if i end up going that route... which looks like the case

 

Where about's in STL are you?

 

I live in Chesterfield

 

Cool I live in St.Charles but my car is in my friends garage in Ballwin.

 

cool

 

ever get that car running?

 

jutFD,
i dont know why u come across as being so heart broken and down and out on your luck. you just got 70,000k out of your engine. that is plenty. did u think it was gonna last forever?. look around u. the guys on this forum are putting in new engines everyday, and alot of the old engines didnt make it any where near the mileage of yours. this cars need routine maintenance just like any car, except routine maintenance on a rx7 includes engine rebuilds. if your engine had only 7000k miles on it, then u might get some sympathy.

 

You might also take a look at Banzai Racing in Indiana. Not too far away, good rep, and seem very reasonable on pricing.

 

I know how the cars and engines are. I was just frustrated because it seemed like everything was going wrong at the same time. When i got the 2nd motor it was under warranty so the dealership did everything and 2 wks later I had to take it back because the rebuild was done poorly and needed to be rebuilt again....but i wont get into that. No, I have not gotten the car running again its still in the garage. I was waiting til it got warmer to start the process.... although at this point im still unclear if I want to keep it or sell. If I do the rebuild I was thinking Mr rx7 tt or possibly banzai. Someone else told me rotary resurrection is good too

 

I got 2k miles on my "rebuilt" engine (it was rebuilt wrong but still)

Then I got just 150 miles out of my reman which had a pinched bearing. ugh There have been a lot of reman horror stories lately. To bad Mazda... So of course, It's under warranty so I'm swapping it for a new one. Anyone want to buy a reman with a 12month 12k mile warranty?

So I sent my old motor to Pettit. I am not going to waste my money at a half-decent shop (who actually used to be reputable) or bother with a reman.

Be happy you got that much out of a rebuild! If I were you I would send your motor somewhere you know it will be done right! Even if it is all the way across the country!

Good luck!

 

jut I would highly recomend Kevin adn rotary resurection and also Speed and Sound in Arnold for everything else. thoes guys got my RX-7 running great.PM me if you need more info.

 

sell it? why, buy another car to drive, thats what i did, my coolant seal went about a month in a half ago and iv been getting all the parts/upgrades together and ended up buying a 86 corolla to get around since my FD was my dd. Has 84,5xx miles original miles before the seals went.