It may be blown :(
 

Well, i had a post yesterday, and i thought it was fixed, but it wasnt. I found a hose that popped off, and when i put it back on the car does run better. I have a stock port, intake, dp,mp, PFS. When im at idle(650-700) i only have about 12.5 vac. You guys think its blown? I just got the mazda reman, and they intsalled it. I only have about 6k miles on it so i should have a warranty. Im going to have to take off all of my mods and put it back to stock. When it is at idle it does shake a little, sounds like its missing on one of the plugs. I got 4 new ones and am going to put them in hoping for a miracle. I already checked the map sensor hose and its ok. I think when im doing my plugs i will check all the other hoses. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

anyone got any suggestions?

Before you go and splurge all that time on removing all your mods, do a compression check first to verify that it isn't a vaccum problem.

Does the needle on the vacuum gauge shake at idle? Do you have very little power at low rpms? What does the exhaust note sound like at idle? irregular?

Suggestion # 1: don't ever take it to Mazda again.

I would not be suprised if they left a few vaccum lines unhooked or mis- connected.

I just had a FD in the shop that Mazda just worked on ( Same thing installed a reman.) And they decided the car would run better without the Vaccum tank and any of the Check valves. Plus a few just open to God and everyone.

Call me sceptical but i doubt they did it correctly.
What is the distance to Gotham or another good shop around you? Or get the classic chart from Robs site and do it yourself. That way you can tell the techs what they did wrong. Always fun!;)

wow, thats gay. I hate mazda service. Owning one of these cars really makes you mechanically inclined. I am going to try and take the top off and look at the rats nest to see if any hoses are cracked or popped off. For the past day the car idles at 15 vac. The exhaust still sounds like its missing, but i experience no power loss at all. The gauge doesnt shake at all, its a steady vac which is why i think its a plug or hose. It would fluctuate if one or 2 of the apex seals were blown wouldnt it??

...thanks for the help/info

Sounds like the motor is fine.......

hope so, im ripping it apart tomorrow morning!!

Engine should be fine. Just check your vacuum lines.

Why what does that mean....

i looked at all the hoses and they are connected. None look cracked. I still need to replace my spark plugs, but it looks like its time for a compression test :(

deux post.

All of those are symptoms of a cracked apex seal/irregular compression. Once you've seen it enough, you can pretty much tell a blown motor just by watching and listening to it idle.

Iceman, from what you described you dont have a blown motor. a popped motor does not pull 15 inches of mercury at 700 rpm. Check your plugs, plug wires, coils. Could be you are not firing on all cylinders, heh. Get a spark checker. maybe a leaky injector? could be lots of stuff, and if mazda dropped in your motor I am surprised the sucker even starts :)

well, not the idle is back down a little to around 12-13ish. It might be a coil, or injector because it was bucking a little when i would accelerate. Its amazing how much you learn about these cars in such little time.

"Very little power at low RPM" by what RPM do you mean? Lately I've had some funky stuff going on so just looking for some options.

below around 3k or so. The car will sound like a lawnmower and pull kind of "choppily," if that makes sense.

below around 3k or so. The car will sound like a lawnmower and pull kind of "choppily," if that makes sense.

*shakes head* Not good IMO.

Much as it sucks, just pull the plugs & see what kind of compression you get.

-=Russ=-

Im having similar problems. Now that its cold out, when i start the car, i would let it idle with me on the gas holding revs just below 2k for about 15 seconds, then i let go and let it idle til warm.

But today, when i started it, i held it just below 2k but it was missing and i could feel the car shake a bit. I let go for the throttle and the car was shaking more, vac gauge shows 15 in. So me being a bit surprised and scared, i held the revs at 2k for the next 2 straight minutes. As the car ran longer, the idle and vacuum smoothed out.

No unusual smoke from the exhaust except the normal when its 30 degrees out.

My question is could it be as simple as spark plugs? I checked the map, thats fine and other related fixers that i searched here and they all seem fine.

The last time the spark plugs were replaced was 1 week prior of me picking up the FD for the first time, and that was 2 years ago. Even then i dont know for sure if the previous owner changed the plugs, he just "told" me he will do it before he gave it to me.

Funny thing is that this never happened to me before, i never beat on the car daily, maybe wot once or twice a week. Always did a warmup and cooldown. Never boosted past 10psi. Car runs normal when warm, only on the cold startup it acts funny.

Spark plugs right?

Or a dripping injector. In that case, the fuel that accumulates causes a slightly flooded startup that takes some time to clear.

Dave

Possibly but damn just out of nowhere? This just happened to me, first time. All other times it would let me hold revs to 2k with no problem. Now it lets me do it but i can still feel the car miss and stutter and shake til its warm, then it will even and smooth out.

Im gonna wait for a non rainy day this week and just change the plugs since i have 4 Ngk 9's in my drawer right now just sitting there lol.

they don't call it an FD...."f'ing disaster"....for nothin :)

we're all passionate but naive young men who love to throw our money into the arms of an evil, seductive beauty :)

I hate to even type the words but it sounds like it could be a chipped apex seal. but with the plugs being 2+ years old you gotta change them and see what happens. If this doesn not clear up the issue you should do a compression check, that's the only definitive test for the motor's health if you are still having problems.

Yeah i hope not, im almost sure its spark plugs.

We'll find out this week.

http://www.fd3s.cc/blown/

If the exhaust tone sounds like this and it starts like this, it's blown.

^faze gauges for the lose :rofl:

No wonder that engine let loose!

j/k

I had this problem. If I let the car sit for a day or two and then started it, it sounded like it was running off of one rotor and the vacuum would drop to around 10-11 in for a few minutes. I would just keep giving it gas until the excess fuel would clear out and the car would then run fine.

iceman4357, how does the car drive when it's warmed up? Did Mazda clean your injectors when they put in your reman?

Well those video clips dont say much imo, except for the boost gauge clip. The exhaust sounds normal to me, i guess i havent been much around rx7s long enough to determine the difference but my exhaust sounds like that.

In fact, my exhaust sounds the same the day i brought the FD home, and that was 2 years ago. The only thing that acts funny is the cold start. Vaccum gauge shows 15in and it stutters and shakes unless i gas it a bit for about 1-2 minutes, then it evens out and idles normal with 18in vacuum.

But i wont know for sure until i pull/replace those plugs.

Probably the plugs. with that kind of vacuum i very much doubt it's a seal.

you think the sound of that exhaust in the vid sounds normal? sounds like its idling like it was a bridgeport or pport, and that air hissing noise isnt normal either

I must have a hidden port i never knew about the past 2 years. Or maybe magically i been driving with no problems on a blown engine the past 2 years.

We all know a large majority of FD exhausts sound funny, like choppy i guess you would say.

Rich, seriously....
Come on, I know we've had our differences but you "doubt that's a seal"?

That's my motor prior to you rippin it out, that shit was broke.

Honestly, I know people who have never broken a motor are all like "it can't be broke", I was one of them, but trust me. Listen to the way my car idles and the way it starts, that's a dead give away. I've broken my fair share of motors and I can tell instantly.

Yeah that was custom huh? That's so freakin far from normal....

They're may advertise as rice, but the fuckers work. And they were free to boot and match my stereo and e-01 which was all I really cared about.

"we have our differences" because you owe me money. I busted my ass for you and you fucked me. don't even get me started.

talking about ulost's FD pulling 18 inches of vacuum, without being there in person to check it out and driving the car, i say again, i doubt it's a seal. just check the compression and be done with it. hell, ulost, you live right near me. I will be happy to look at the car if you bring it up my way.

Rich

Sounds awesome. Will do that if i need help.

Im pretty scared actually cause i think it may be my "time" and if that happens, i can say goodbye to the 99spec front with paintjob i was planning to do. So hopefully its not the engine.

On a side note, i had to start the car today just out of curiosity and it didnt do it. I started it in 1st and it idled normal with 17in. Then when the engine got warm (about 8-10 minutes), idle dropped to about 750-800 and the vacuum was 16-17. Then when i turn the fans on manually, gauge showed 18in at 1k rpm.

Mind you i have a pos autometer gauge but still, i hope those numbers are good.

those #s sound pretty decent for a motor with some miles on it. Is the vacuum nice and steady given a constant rpm?

Yes

Except that one time that i started it last week where the idle was funky as hell upon startup where i had to gas it to keep it from stuttering even though it was still jittering with my foot on the gas, the idle and vacuum is normal after like 1-2 minutes.

I really dont know what happened on that particular day. Maybe the humidity? But idk, in the summer, i never had this problem. Only in the winter where i have to gas it a bit for the first 20 seconds.

Im gonna do the plugs this week and maybe the fuel filter soon after. I cant take any chances. Maybe i can prevent something drastic.