So Im at school letting my car warm up everything is fine and dandy as usual. Then as soon as i reach my driveway approximatly 5 miles away, the idle drops to around 700 rpm and slowly drops and then dies. I open the hood check for any problems and then start the car again. This time car revs to 1000 rpm and sputters up and down between 250-750 rpm and does not stop.

My first move was to call a shop I like to goto around my area and they told me most likely that it was the oil metering pump. What's an oil metering pump? Where is it located? What is its purpose? So anyways, they told me the car is in limp mode and to take the car to them and they could diagnose and see if it really is this pump.

What do you guys think the problem is? If it is the pump does it just go whenever it wants? The car has been well maintained and I just changed the oil and filter approx. 300 miles ago w/ Catrol 10w30. What do I do? Thanks

 

The oil metering pump has nothing to do with the problem your having. It will likely be leaking before it fails, when it starts failing, your check engine light will come on. I believe the oil metering pump supplies oil to the apex seals.

BTW, don't let the mechanic take you for a ride. A new oil metering pump is about $1400( ) with atleast 6 hours of labor.

 

So I suppose the pump is located near the rotor housing? I did have a leak that i suspected was from beneath the oil filter where the oring is. Its a very slow leak and i figured id just do it the next time I am doign an oil change. You think this has something to do with it? BTW I dont think the mechanic is trying to take me for a ride (I have an oil metering pump for cheap) but of course anything is possible. More input! HELP!

 

the OMP (oil metering pump) supplys oil to the apex seal through the two tiny pin-holes in the rotor housings. If you had a bad OMP, I suppose you could be experiencing the symptoms you have (it does seem odd, tho)

How does it handle above idle? any loss in power? Do you have a boost gauge? If so, are you getting full boost?

the OMP is circled in red in this pic (it's kinda difficult to decifer this pic - the OMP is at the front of the keg toward the ground on the passenger's side ):

 

I had a similar problem. I took it to a Mazda dealer, and to my suprise, the rotory tech said that my ECU was recalled. I had heard of the cooling system, brake booster, and fuel line recalls, but not ECU. Anyways, they replaced it for free and the car ran fine after that. By the way that new ECU is for sale as I'm now running the PFC.

 

If you want to have a bit of added security, just add some premix the next time you fill up your tank.
I had the omp go bad on my FC, it did go into a limp home mode(idled fine but had fuel cut when pressing the gas, it ran but just enough to move) I put some premix in it a few days ago and it seemed to have helped(w/o premix at start up it sounded like ****, but after it warmed up w/the premix in it, it ran fine).
Today, I filled up the tank on my FD and added 16 oz of 2cycle to it and got a very nice surprise. The oil preasure(it used to work on and off) is working and i got a bit more vaccum on my boost gauge!
My advise, run premix!! It couldnt hurt and it seems to work better than the omp or at least help it along!
I am going to get some protek r from pettit since it seems like a good investment(synthetic rotary specific oil as opossed to regular 2 cycle).
Best of luck,
ps as it seems, ive heard the omp going is not a life or death thing... do a search here and read up on it.

 

BrianK: I recently purchased this car about 2 months ago and my next mod plan was to get a boost guage, EGT, and new water remp guage but havent got to them yet. I havent yet tried to drive the car yet but I will today after I reset the ECU (maybe this will kill the code thats putting it in limp mode, if it is in limp mode). Thanks for the pic as well.

2FAST7S: Yeah when i searched earlier about the OMP I saw that some people did use premix. I may do this when I drive it today. I was hoping this thread would be a good source of information on the OMP since I didnt find much on it on the forum.

Keep the thoughts coming guys and I'll keep you posted, Thanks

 

Ok well I just went outside to test her out and she is smoking a ton out of the exhaust. A whole lot of smoke making me afraid to attempt to drive the car. Is this a symptom of something? Im scared help!

 

what color is the smoke? does it have a smell?

white smoke with a "sweet" smell = coolant = very bad.

black or blue smoke may not be so bad. If you're having some real problems with the OMP, it's possible that it dumped a crap load of oil into your housings and the smoke you saw was it just burning that oil out... possible, but unlikely.

 

Ok so I reset the ECU and the idle became more stable but still not like it should be. It is jumpy directly at 1000 rpm but still slightly visible on the tach. The smoke was white pouring out of the exhaust. After about 30 seconds the thick white smoke faded and more darky colored smoke came out but not as white as before and not nearly as much smoke. The smoke smells like fuel but I am still new to all this and am having a hard time telling the smell of it. I noticed slight smoke coming from the engine bay on the passenger side from below somewhere. Im def. getting worried now.

P.S. My car only has 36000 miles on an original motor what is happening?!

 

ttt

 

Doesn't sound good. Speculation, at this point, really isn't a good idea. Get it towed to a good rotary mechanic and prey for the best. Driving it may not be the best idea if you've got cooling problems - there's no reason to compound the problem.

like I said, white smoke usually means bad news, but there's always a chance that it's something simple.

36K miles sure seems like its on the low side for blown o-rings/coolant seals. hmm

 

Yes I think you are right BrianK, please check ure PM.

 

Wait! I think I may have found the problem. Im looking at the "sensor - boost" on the firewall closer to the drivers side and noticed the vacuum hose underneath it is not connected. Where does this hose connect to? How do i connect it. Thanks! I hope this is the problem!

 

I can't comment on your smoke from the exhaust, could be a whole host of things.. I think most of us get some on a cold start. I know when I start up my car after it has sat and fully cooled I get some smoke out of the exhaust for a good 30seconds.. but the smoke on the passenger side could be an oil leak from the turbos. Mine are leaking a bit right now, so when I start the car I get a some smoke from that side of the engine bay.. just burning off what leaked onto that side of the motor. I know the leak is coming from one of the turbo oil drain pipes but I haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

Matt
93 SSM