well i just pulled the motor from my project FD and was hoping to use it for my dads FD when his motor (90K) went. anyway, i just pulled it and it was filled with rust and water!!! this sucks becaues the previous owner told me it is a mazda reman w/ 10K i dont know if anytihng can be done (cleaning, rebuilding) or if its just garbage at this point.... here are some pics tell me what you think (beware this is scary)

 

Nice. Where did they store this 10k reman before they sold it to you? The bottom of a rain barrel?

 

in the car with an engine fire (but yeah might as well have been a rain barrel)... i tried squirting some wd40 in the exhaust and intake ports... it seems to have very low compression in the rear rotor but the front one seems to have come alive.

oh yeah, i had a quick question... can i spin the motor both ways when im cranking it?? just wondering

 

Sure. There's nothing internally that would be harmed from rotating backwards that won't also be harmed from rotating forwards with all that crap in there.

Your best bet is probably to prop the engine on its side, exhaust and intake ports up, and pour some ATF into both rotor housings and turn the engine over a few times by hand. ATF should A) keep more rust from forming, and B) loosen up some of the crud that's already in there. Let it soak and turn the engine over every so often.

In fact, if you added new ATF through the intake ports and managed to get the engine to expel the bad fluid through the exhaust port, you'll probably minimize harm to the housings.

 

With only 10k mi it should still be under the one year warranty. Call Mazda's main office and see if they can verify with your VIN. I can't tell you whether it would be covered but it's worth a shot. Seems like it was left in the rain. It doesn't take very long for the internals to rust sitting still. If not, i've seen some front clips and engine/trans packages from Japan on ebay. Since, it was an engine fire then a front clip would be best. Just match the correct PFC with the wiring harness.

 

just to clarify this is an "extra" motor that im trying to decide what to do with. the car with the engine fire is going to be the new home of my 20b so im ok in the motor department. im just trying to decide what to do with this thing.... ill get some atf to go in there, but im wondering why that would be any better than say motor oil

 

If you give up on trying to ger it back to good lemme know what you want for it. Looks like it is gong to need alot of work from just the little that i have seen so far.

 

The warranty on a reman is 10k miles OR 1 year (whichever comes first). I know, I almost had a fight with MazdaUSA on my reman a while back.

 

mazda told me that it was a 1 yr. unlimited mileage warranty on 93's and 12k mile on 94 and up.

when i turned mine in under warranty, they didnt even ask me about mileage.

 

its not under warranty anymore because im sure a year has gone by since the last owner purchased it... im really not sure if its salvagable at this point based on rust im seeing... this one might be headed to rotary fishtank heaven

 

It's good for a trade in. Otherwise, most likley you would change hosing anyhow. So add new rotors to the bill. The side housings are prolly still good.

 

Was this MazdaUSA or the dealership who sold you the reman? I was told the same thing by the dealership at the time of my install (granted this was many years ago). When I thought there was a problem, I contacted MazdaUSA who said it was 1 year or 12k miles.

 

i have no idea.... this is just what the jackass (excuse my french) told me when i bought the car.

 

I think you should use LIBERAL amounts of cleaners and lubricants on that thing. At this point, you won't have lost anything if it doesnt work out, but I think you may be able to save it.

Try a couple cans of wd 40 or the like for a day or 2, and then a lot of atf (a quart or 2). With the plugs in, do what was recommended above...lay it on its side with the ports up, and rotate it repeatedly, either way you choose. When you loosen up some of the crud, turn it on it's other side, so the BS can run out the ports, then turn it back over and repeat. You can also use compressed air through the ports to try and loosen some of it.

Even if you decide to do nothing with it and just let it sit, saturate the internals with atf or oil before storage...this will displace most of the water inside, and prevent more rust, so that it may be rebuildable later. and in fact it might even loosen everything up in there right now and get it working again.

 

well i ran 2 quarts of atf through it so far and it seems to be cleaning up a good amount. to me it sounds like i have low compresion on one of the apex seals at least... sort of hissing and not much of a puff like the others. ive been working in the seals by hand every few rotations and it seems to be regaining some lost compression. im also using a toothbrush to try and clean some of the crud off of the rotors. maybe this engine can be saved??? i wish i could do a compression test.

anyway here are a few updated pics



notice the wear on the housing


getting the gunk out


starting to clean up a bit


trying to wake this sleeping beast

 

9 out of 10 dentists recommend Oral-B for removing rust from rotary engines.

And for cleaning the teeth of thread dies and taps, for that matter...

 

I had a motor that sat outside thru 10 typhoons for 2 years. Took it apart and the rotors were junk. The housings came out beautiful and the e-shaft was good too. The end plates however...eww.

 

i was just gonna say that! no typoons here though, just rain

 

the low compression ou hear might not be a cracked apex seal.. with all that rust in there, its probobly just stuck in the rotor. try a bunch of wd40 and let it sit for a while, turn it over, let it sit etc... it might come free