Just got the car about three weeks ago first turbo car 1st rotary so please excuse my ignorants and please help me, have had lots of problems and have lots of questions. The previous owner rebuilt the engine and converted turbos to non-sequential. Have read everything I can find no ones problem is quite like mine. The car had been running fine boost is set at 7 right now. I was in 1st gear running wot and boost fell to 0 and heard a whining noise. Boosted to 2 in second and 7 in third.

Since it happened nothing has changed no boost in 1st gear just on engine. 2 psi in 2nd and 7 in third and i can hear the blow off valve go off when i shift from 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th. Car holds vac at idle and while driving

I checked all the pipping from y pipe to intake with car running and could feel no leaks. Took everything off from y pipe to intake and checked for tears found nothing.

felt around y pipe did not feel any cracks. Started car with everything off and turbos were pushing air out the y pipe.

Not sure where to go from here found many loose connections and repaired but none proved to be the problem. Can not find a good diagram that shows how vacuum lines should run on a non-sequential set up. When I bought the car there were and still are numerous open vacuum line connections so I cant tell if something is out of the ordinary.

Only thing I have noticed is a vacuum line coming off the charge control actuator or at least what I believe to be the charge control actuator. It sits on top of the y pipe and has a small lever on it that pushes a plunger in. I noticed a 2 inch long vacuum line hanging off of it with a clamp on the other end of it just dangling there from the second port. Believe 1st port was capped but not sure saw a piece of a cap and plastic tie still on it. capped it after running loose hose to it and seeing no change.

Does charge control still do anything if turbos are non-sequential? Where should vacuum lines go on it and run to?

If you got through all that and help me you are a saint and thank you in advance. Have been trying to figure this out for days. It is two in the mourning now I've been working on it and searching for answers all day it beat me again. Car hates me no matter how much I love it.

 

figured it out finally

 

Damn! Wish I could figure out my FD problems in just 1 1/2 hours.

 

Having boost problems not sure if its a leak or something else. Usually I get 2psi or no boost in first. 5psi in 2nd gear and always have full boost in third. Have checked all piping for leaks several times and found nothing. If it was a leak would I be able to have full boost in third? Turbos are non-sequential. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

It sounds like a boost leak to me. Try checking all the vacuum lines.

 

I checked all of them everything looked fine just got the car cant find a good diagram showing vacuum line for non-sequential. Wouldn't know if line was out of place or missing but everything that is there is tight and looked good will check them again. Thought I had the only rx7 in cincinnati never seen another around here before.

 

wasn't an hour in a half has been weeks and I was wrong it still a problem

 

Found y-pipe had loose bolts. Replaced gaskets and put it all back together thought that had to be it but was wrong. When I had the y pipe off I could pull it apart into two pieces. Had an o ring inside and it separated very easily. There was also some oil dirt around the connection and on the pipe. Does this sound abnormal? Is the y pipe bad? This is bull ****!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't stand it that I can't figure this out. Any advice would be more than welcome.

 

There are both vacuum and pressure lines you need to check for leaks. There are check valves that need to be checked for proper function, vacuum solenoids, and actuators. Do a search on boost and you will find many people with boost problems and how they solved them. But I would start with "autosportracetech.com" to begin to understand how the turbo system works on an RX7.

One of the first things I had to do when I first got my RX7 is replace all the vacuum lines with silicone hoses and checked each solenoid and check valve. This solved all my boost issues.

 

nb7 knows how a non squential works, it's basically same like a single turbo w/ internal wastegate. I'm the one that sold him this car and I'm pulling my hair about this problem. I don't think it's a bad bov cause if it's bad you can hear whoosing noise wot. nb7 think the wastegate might be sticking and it sound a very likely possibility. Please if anybody had this problem similar to this let us know.

 

Have already checked vacuum lines several times found no tears all lines were secure. Car holds vacuum at idle. Checked blow off valve with vacuum pump from work holds vacuum. Have not checked waste gate door yet but will, probably is fine but running out of things to check. I have searched this site several times and have read all related threads. I understand how the turbos functions and how a rotary works I grew up working on cars. It is my first rotary and first turbo car and I thought I would have more than a few weeks to get to know the car before it started to have issues. Researched car for a long time before buying one. I am not asking for help with out trying everything I could and reading all I could find. Hoped maybe someone could save me some headaches and could point me in the right direction. I am just not that familiar with the car yet but dont think that I am missing something obvious.

 

Thanks James. You have been more than good about trying to help me figure this thing out. I will get it.

 

If you aren't getting more than 7 PSI on primary turbo, then it sounds like a wastegate issue. Have you checked for the restrictor pills?

They are in the following lines (or should be depending on what turbos are on the car):
http://rx7.voodoobox.net/howto/vachose/pills.jpg

 

I have not checked for the restrictor pills but I will. Thanks for the help. James do you know if the restrictor pills are still there and if they would cause the problem.

 

I think the restrictor pill is in there but think it'll cause boost issue unless the primary turbo is bad. I guess checking the primary turbo by taking the hard pipe that bolt onto the turbo and check for any shaft play.

 

http://www.autosportracetech.com/RX-...leshooting.htm

 

Still I don't see anything that would help if you're running non-squential. The car gets full boost and sometime doesn't. Beside vaccum leak that I don't think cause if it is than the boost would be low on wot. The wategate might sometime stick open but how often does this happen?

 

Standard rule: Don't think, know.

i.e. if you don't know if the pills are positively there (i.e. you have felt/seen them), check that first. You need to rule out what isn't the problem so you can find what is the problem. If there is no restriction in the the lines (i.e. no pills or the nozzles do not have the restriction built in), the car will boost only to wastegate spring level which is about 7 PSI.

 

The car was boosting 7psi on the non- squential setup, it boosted 7psi when he bought the car from me. He told me that sometime 1st gear got no boost,2nd gear 3-4 psi and 4th gear around 7psi. For 1st gear not making any boost means massive vaccum leak or wastegate is stuck wide open or maybe turbo on primary is bad. This is what I think could happen since the non squential setup is similiar to a T2 setup. If I'm wrong please correct me?

 

Sounds like there are more than one problem. If he's getting some boost sometimes, and no boost others, it's hard to say without seeing the work done for the non-seq conversion. The wastegate is something that needs to be checked/verified.

It's very doubtful that it's a leak since its intermittent. Seems like a mechanical issue. However, when he is getting boost and at the highest its 7 PSI leads to an issue with the wastegate solenoid (most likely missing the pill).

 

For anyone who has or will have similar problems heres what it was. Decided it had to be the waste gate took it out for a drive thinking maybe if I drove it awhile it would work its way free. In third gear at about 5500 rpms I see smoke start rolling out of my vents I look in my rear view and I had just smoked out two lanes of traffic. Thickest smoke I had ever seen come out of a car. Thought I had blown the engine but car was running and idled fine but smoked like crazy. Turns out its a blown turbo. It makes sense thinking about it now that weird sound I heard when the problem 1st started was the turbos. Hope it helps and thanks for all the help.