jeffn

Hi,

My FD has been experiencing progressively worsening symptoms of something definitely bad that I now think I have enough data to post a plea for some help before I throw too much money at trying to fix the thing with my trusty service manual…

So here’s the symptoms:

Cold startup: More and more frequently over the last 3 months the car sounds like it’s running on one rotor when I start it up. I say that cuz I kinda liken it to the sound of a piston motor running on something less that all cylinders. This happens almost every time I start the car now. It goes away after about 15-30 seconds of the car running and everything sounds fine after that… Runs and drives good—cept for the occasional surge on the highway which I am not assuming is related cuz it’s always done that to some degree. On the times when the car doesn’t start up like it’s on 1 rotor, it often does the instant rev up to 3,000rpm. This goes away with the blip of the throttle though.

Warm startup: Now the car is becoming increasingly difficult to start when the engine is warm—to the point the other day I thought I was going to get stranded—not cool. It sometimes also does the rough idle thing once it gets started warm as well.

Oh, and I did once get a Check Engine light while driving a few weeks ago, but it went away and has yet to reappear.

I checked the spark plug wires and they all appeared to be plugged in ok, but apart from that I haven’t really checked much else… I read the troubleshooting section in the service manual and it kinda pointed to a few things it could be, but without one of those diagnostic tester things I thought to try here and see if anyone has experienced the same thing and could help narrow my hunt.

I’d really appreciate any help you guys can provide,

Thanks!

-jeff

1sicsol

Your apex seal could be stuck when your trying to start it. Try some premix in the gas tank and see if it loosens it up. Also it sounds like your getting too much fuel when you try to start it warm. The fuel pressure is suppost to lower so it starts when its warm. It my be malfunctioning. Someone else may want to chime in here, but that could point you in a area to start.

Hope that helps.

Gadd

If your ck. eng. came on, you have a trouble code set in the ecu.. ck for codes and let us know what comes up.

A compression check is probably a good idea also.

jeffn

Just checked it... I didn't know they got stored like that, cool. So I got the following codes:

1 long, 6 short -- which is code 16 if i'm reading it correctly -- EGR

followed by:

5 long -- which is code 50 - Solenoid valve (double throttle control) <--Which I know is gone because I broke that when i was doing the silicone vacuum lines. I read I didn't need it, so it didn't get replaced.

Does that help?

thanks, jeff


1sicsol, does that mean putting oil in my gas tank? Would that really work to loosen up a stuck seal?

rynberg

"stuck seal"?

Sounds like you have bad coolant seals to me -- it's typical that the car will only run on one rotor until it's clear enough to run on both....couple that with hard hot starting....

Do you have white smoke (not condensation) at startup? Pull the spark plugs after sitting overnight -- are they wet?

Gadd

and are you loosing/ having to add coolant?

If not when's the last time you changed the plugs and wires?

DaveW

How long since the spark plugs were replaced? Fouled or worn plugs could lead to hard starting and your symptoms (flooding on one rotor). Bad (discontinuous internally) plug wires could also possibly cause this.

As previous post said, have you lost coolant lately, and/or are the plugs fouled with either coolant or gasoline if you pull them during a hard-start incident?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry to repeat what you just said, GADD, I should pay more attention...DUH...

Hyperite

I'll vouch for that. My car hates starting, loves smoking, drinks coolant like a lush. When I DO manage to start it (usually takes no more than 3 seconds and a little gas feathering), it'll chug along on just the rear rotor until the front gets lubricated and burns off the inhaled coolant (between 10 seconds and 2 minutes).

I've always said I'm not going to rebuild until it leaves me stranded. Never has.

jeffn

*gulp*

Actually, I did recently add about 4 fl oz of water (add coolant light and beep came on) ...Spark plugs have not been replaced since I've owned the car (~2 years and 10k miles)

I guess the next step would be to pull a plug and see if it's wet? Should it be wet from just sitting overnight, or should i try cranking it over a couple times without starting it? Apart from that, is there a definitive diagnosis without pulling the motor--like pressure testing the coolant system or something?

If this is a bad coolant seal, could that be the cause of the hard starting hot--and if so, how come? (for my own knowledge)

I really appreciate all the responses!

thanks,
jeff

1stand3rd

Do the ol' 'champagne bubble test' for signs of a blown seal. On cold startup, open your coolant filler neck and look for bubbles. Check for little bubbles that gets progressively worse as the car warms up.

jeffn

I just went home for lunch and tried the champagne test. Started it up and it did the usual run on 1 rotor thing, made a lot of white steam/smoke out of the tailpipe, etc.

pulled the fill cap and then the surge tank cap--no bubbles from either. I ran it about 15 minutes till I'm sure the thermostat was open and the water started getting warm. Once it got warm though, the water started cycling between receding down the neck and rushing back up and overflowing out the top--so it was kinda hard to tell if it was bubbling, but it didn't appear to be, nor was the water frothy or aerated looking.

-jeff

DaveW

Sometimes a failing coolant o-ring will leak in only one direction - either (a) pressurizing the cooling system, resulting in pushing coolant into the overflow tank, or, (b) as in your case, pushing coolant into the combustion chambers after shutdown when the cooling system is pressurized. So, the absence of bubbles is not a conclusive answer. If there is coolant in the combustion chambers, and a lot of white steam on start-up, it is most likely from a failing coolant o-ring.

jeffn

I see... OK, well I guess the next step is to pull a plug and see if it's wet. I'll probably not get to that till the weekend, but I'll report back what I find then. Thanks again for the help everyone!

-jeff

Hyperite

Mine leaks both ways

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

I would also change the plugs bigtime. A really worn set of plugs will cause many of the problems you're having. Do the easy stuff first.

Dale

majikeye

i just came across your post and i am having the EXACT same problem. my car ran fine until a couple weeks ago when i replaced my water pump. not too sure if there was anything i could have done during that job that would have caused this or if there is even a direct relation.

have you figured out what the problem is yet?

i am going to work on this tomorrow and will post my results if succesful.

jeffn

well, i called Mariah Motorsports here in town, actually inquiring to see if they sold cheap copper plugs to test whether i had an ignition problem or the fateful coolant seal prob. boss guy there told me not to even waste my money on the plugs, these cars rarely have ignition probs as described. I'm going to do a compression test to get the definitive judgement perhaps next week.

in the meantime though I'm shopping around for an LT-juan motor...