I just purchased a new FD, 93 CYM R1. I got it for a pretty good price considering that it is from a dealership, but the biggest concern is that it has 110,000+ miles on what i am assuming is the original engine. After just a day of driving the car, i've found several problems with the car. Here's major problems i've run into so far and what i think is wrong with it:

-on cold starts, engine blows excessive blue and black smoke (oil and rich fuel) for a minute or so which then goes away and is fine... i know that it is normal for rx7's to puff out blue or black smoke on cold starts, but this is noticably more than normal. could this just be that a tired engine will blow out more smoke?

-on hot starts, when starting the vehicle, the car will crank for at least 5 seconds before it finally fires up. Cranking is normal, nothing wrong with battery. it seems as if its either not getting enough fuel or it is flooded. The 5 second cranking, hesitating, and sputtering will ALWAYS happen when i've been running the car, shut it down for not too long and start it up again. Once it starts, it will rev up to 4000 for a moment, lower to about 1500, then idle very low, as if it will die at any point, and does occasionally, for a couple minutes.

-this one really freaks me out. i don't know where the hell the water temp guage is getting its readings from in rx7's, but sometimes my temp gauge will go all the way to max. It usually happens at cold starts when it starts warming up, probably waiting for thermostat to open, but it is the worst right at hot starts when it will jump all the way to nuclear meltdown and stay there until i start getting the car moving real fast and get air flowing to the engine bay. It goes all the way to max even with the fan on. Only way to cool it down seems to be getting airflow through the radiator/oil coolers/intercooler, which will then steady at below half. what gets me is that it climbs and drops so fast, is this normal for the rx7's, as opposed to a honda where the temp needle climbs to below half, where it will then not budge at all.

-add coolant buzzer will come on and off intermittantly in about 2-10 minute intervals. will always buzz for at least 5 minutes every time i start the car.

i haven't even tested compressions and boost yet, but at 100,000+ miles, i know that the inevitable will happen. i just want to bandage everything and milk it for all its got before i rebuild it.

P.S.- that coolant buzzer is FKN ANNOYING!!

 

happyham, I'm sorry to say, but it sounds like the car is just about ready for a complete rebuild at this point.

Odds are, very soon you will have to/should do the following:

Yank the engine and get it rebuilt. While it's out, inspect/replace the cooling system (rad,water pump, thermostat, hoses), do the hose job, replace or rebuild the turbos. While the engine's out, you should check the clutch and flywheel as well. How are the transmission synchros? Also, consider installing a downpipe at this point. It will be very expensive to fix all of these things at once but much cheaper and easier at the same time. Good luck. Hopefully the paint and interior are in good shape.

Welcome to the club....

 

HEY BRO DAMN THAT COOLANT PROBLEM IS SCARY I HAD SOME SIMILAR PROBLEMS LIKE THAT.BUT WAS A WATER PUMP AND
LATER A THERMOSTAT.U SHOULD DEFINETELY GET IT CHECKED ASAP
I SEE U SAID U JUST BOUGHT THE CAR.TAKE IT TO THE MAZDA DEALER OR TO A LICENSED INSURANCE SHOP.IF MOTOR IS SHOT THE DEALER THAT SOLD U THE CAR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REBUILD OR ETC. I CHARGED THE DEALERSHIP WHEN I BOUGHT MY CAR FOR WATER PUMP & ETC.ITS CALLED A LEMON LAW.LOL
IT WORKS EVEN IF URE CAR ISNT A LEMON.SHHH.

 

Wow that doesn't sound good... Ok, first, with an engine with that many miles your oil seals are probably not doing that great so that'll explain the smoke at startup. It could also be your turbos, but either way there's not much you can do about it besides rebuilding, and as long as the car makes good power I'd just live with it for now. Daily driven cars, if stock, should not smoke at all, but a little smoke isn't really a big deal. As for the hot starts, there is a TSB about that (it may be something else but its a good start), I recommending reading up on all the TSBs, check out http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/ for more info. Lastly, the temp thing worries me the most. It sounds like your temp sender is fried, as well as the low coolant sensor. Either that or the sensors are right and your motor is in big trouble . Right now I'd get your entire cooling system checked out, flushed, pressure tested, and replace the thermostat and the thermosensor. I'm not sure how much money you have but an aftermarket AST and radiator is also a good idea. Oh, and make sure your fans are coming on properly too. A properly working cooling system should never exceed 221F at idle (low speed fans). This would only be halfway on the stock gauge. Only under heavy loads will even the stock cooling system be overwhelmed if it is functioning properly. Good luck man. Some time when I'm in Glendora I can stop by and help you out with whatever if you want, there's a lotta stuff to learn about these cars.

 

Sounds like your coolant seals are toast. If I was a gambling person, I would bet you'll have no alternative but to have the engine rebuilt (or get a remanufactured engine).

 

Are you burning oil? If so, how much? Better check your oil level every wk or two.

Cranking for 5 sec is too long. It should be a second or two. Your plugs could be fouled up so trying changing that.

Thermostat could be faulty or maybe the previous owner linearize the temp gauge. There is a mod that some people have done to linearize the temp gauge. This makes the needle move a lot. If it's really hot, definitely something is wrong.

Are you running low on coolant or burning coolant? Is that why the coolant buzzer goes off?

Have one of the rotary shops in So Cal check the car out. Don't go to any dealer as they know nothing about RX7 and will most likely screw you and your car. Don't wait until your car breaks down or your engine blows. Do it TODAY!!! Most shops have long wait line and won't even take your car in a wk.

If the car is bought AS-IS, I don't know if there is much you can do. Do a search on Lemon Law on the forum. SOmeone just had a post a few days ago on this. You just may be able to recoop some repair costs if you still want to keep the car. However, definitely have a rotary specialist check it out so you know exactly what's wrong with the car and you can decide what to do next.

Good luck and let us know what's up.

 

yep my short list to you...

new turbos and new engine...

 

If you JUST bought it from a dealership, then I think in CA you're protected by a limited warranty(30 days? after purchase). Get a proper diagnosis and repair estimate from any of the Rotary Shops down there and then talk to the dealer you bought it from. Also consider retaining legal counsel to get appropriate advise and course of action.

Still, these problems should've shown up on a thorough test drive.

 

are you actually losing coolant or is the buzzer just going off seemingly for no reason? if you're not losing coolant, there's probably air trapped in the cooling system and you probably have to "burp" it, but then it doesn't usually buzz for 5 minutes... that's a bit longer than i've ever experienced, usually it's like 10-20 seconds.

 

ok, well, its been just one day (less than 24 hours), since i bought the car at a used car dealership. The car will now officially not start. I just drained the battery cranking the car trying to start it. What will happen is every time i crank the car, it would crank for 5 seconds then it would get a very slow start to about 300 rpm which then lasts about 5-10 seconds then dies. I don't need any more diagnosis, the engine is toast

i called the used car dealership just now about it, it ends up being that the only thing they did was an oil change. they didn't even do a thorough check up on it because they said the car was "running perfect". and i think the stupid ******** put synthetic oil in it. so now they are trying to just blow me off. now, i just want to know what i can do anything (other than paying 5000 more dollars of my own money) about this. I bought a one year warranty with the car, do you guys think it will cover a new engine or will they not and say that it was a pre-existing problem before the coverage started? since i purchased this car from an authorized used car dealership, is there some way i can get them to cover the costs of fixing it? I think there is a 3 day return law but i really don't want to return this car, the body is in very good condition. I'll search the lemon law thing, but that sounds like i'm going to have to contact a lawyer.

 

Well since they said it was "running perfect"... it definately wasn't a pre-existing problem. Get them to fix it under warranty.

 

Well, you'll have to check the warranty. Chances are, the dealership knew the engine was toast and the warranty won't cover it.

I would imagine the warranty only covers standard maintenance (which usually excludes things such as engine, turbo or transmission replacements).


Just FYI, putting synthetic oil into the engine won't kill it.

 

Mostly normal, that just might mean your turbos leak some extra oil. If it is coolant burning then you might have bad water seals in the engine.

Quote:

-on hot starts, when starting the vehicle, the car will crank for at least 5 seconds before it finally fires up. Cranking is normal, nothing wrong with battery. it seems as if its either not getting enough fuel or it is flooded. The 5 second cranking, hesitating, and sputtering will ALWAYS happen when i've been running the car, shut it down for not too long and start it up again. Once it starts, it will rev up to 4000 for a moment, lower to about 1500, then idle very low, as if it will die at any point, and does occasionally, for a couple minutes.

The excess cranking might be a bad motor or..... when my pulsation dampener was leaking it didn't like to turn over easy(does the engine bay reak of fuel). I had stalling out problems forever on my car. I thought it was a bad corner seal or something but just yesterday I put on a new fuel filter and reset the idle screws... now it runs great.

Quote:

-this one really freaks me out. i don't know where the hell the water temp guage is getting its readings from in rx7's, but sometimes my temp gauge will go all the way to max. It usually happens at cold starts when it starts warming up, probably waiting for thermostat to open, but it is the worst right at hot starts when it will jump all the way to nuclear meltdown and stay there until i start getting the car moving real fast and get air flowing to the engine bay. It goes all the way to max even with the fan on. Only way to cool it down seems to be getting airflow through the radiator/oil coolers/intercooler, which will then steady at below half. what gets me is that it climbs and drops so fast, is this normal for the rx7's, as opposed to a honda where the temp needle climbs to below half, where it will then not budge at all.

Sounds like a bad thermostat, You shouldn't be running the car with this or whenever the needle goes above half. Extemely bad for the engine.

Quote:

-add coolant buzzer will come on and off intermittantly in about 2-10 minute intervals. will always buzz for at least 5 minutes every time i start the car.

I had this problem when my upper radiator hose had a small crack in it.... I didnt relize this until the whole thing blew out when I was driving!!! Not a fun experience. You might want to take a look at some of your coolant hoses.

With 100k+ all these sound like it is the downfall of your engine but you never know. Some might be problems that you are running into. Never the less a compression test will help you. Seems as if your car isn't getting any compression if it wont turn over now.

Chris

 

2 months after buying my RX7 with 68k miles i noticed
some smoke on startup and oil leaking.
After a compression test my extended warrrenty covered
both a mazda rebuild engine and rebuilt turbos.
During the life of the warrenty they performed 12k worth of work including a whole new rear suspention since mazda could not find the cause of the knock.
The only parts they would not cover were egr valve and clutch pinion.
Best deal I ever had for a $1000 extended warrenty.

 

Yikes , no wonder most warrenty companies won't cover FDs... Good for you though