Turbo's blown, coolent leak, bad idle, fouled plugs, etc...
 

Ok, well, I've been trying to get my car over the RX7 store for the past 2 weeks to have them look at it per Zavier's idea, but, the plugs keep fouling out and it keeps dying. And since I can't have a tow truck tow it without messin up the front bumper, I've decided to try to take on this task myself.

SYMPTOMS:
-Car idles at 650-700
-Blows blue/white smoke out the exhaust
-Oil in the Intercooler piping, oil on plugs, oil residue in intake tubing.
-When it idles, it sounds like popcorn popping and car shakes bad.
-After the car heats up for a bit, white smoke plums out from both sides of the car under the firewall area and under the hood; smells like burning coolant.
-When you give it gas, it rev's smoothly.

What would you think the prob would be? Anyone in Columbus wanna gimme a hand?

I bought the car a few months ago with a Greddy PE and an Apexi S-AFC2 if that makes a difference.

Blue smoke is burning oil and white smoke is coolant =/ it may be a bad coolant seal problem. Sorry to break it to you.

yea, i know, but, out the exhaust, it starts out blue, then to white, then it none after a period of about 15 mins

Best way to check is the chamgne bubble test. Get a funnel and stick it into your radiator cap. Start the car and let the car get warmed up, once the Thermostat Opens, the water should start going up the funnel. If you see bubbles then its new engine time =/.

how would the air get in the cooling system in case there would be some bubbles?

or you could pressure test the coolant system... sounds like a coolant seal to me

Air would get in from the coolant seals gone or broken, from the combustion chambers.

could I replace the coolant seals?

Nope it would need a whole rebuild. Same as piston engines you cant take them apart without replacing certain parts due to wear.

i see, well, if i could actually get my car to idle now, i might try it.

Has to be hot enough to get the T-stat to open.

yea, the other prob is that i think my turbo's are blown and may be why it's dumping oil on the plugs.

It could be a mix of both. By chance do you have your precat still on? or main cat? If you do have the main cat whats the miles on it?

Re: Turbo's blown, coolent leak, bad idle, fouled plugs, etc...
 

So the car does or does not idle? If it won't idle on its own, then it sounds a whole lot like my car when my engine blew. Mine was an apex seal though, not a coolant seal. First step for you should be to do a compression test and see what the results are of that.

When did it start doing this? Did you start it up one day and it just started acting like this? Or were you driving it and something went "pop" and it started doing this?

And BTW, whats a Greddy PE?

Re: Re: Turbo's blown, coolent leak, bad idle, fouled plugs, etc...
 

Greddy Power Extreme catback.

"my name is jason", take a chance on the bumper and have the car towed to the RX7Store.

Re: Re: Re: Turbo's blown, coolent leak, bad idle, fouled plugs, etc...
 

:doh: Thanks Mahjik :bigthumb:

Re: Re: Turbo's blown, coolent leak, bad idle, fouled plugs, etc...
 

No, it stopped idling recently.

One day, I was just driving it, and came to a stop and the idle went down to 700 and started popping. Greddy Power Extreme exhaust.

I have a conventional compression tester, would this work on rotaries the same as it would on piston engines?

Yes. The thing to look for on rotaries is three pulses of the needle for the three rotor faces. Stick it in the spark plug hole, crank the engine, and count the "woosh whoosh whoosh" and just pray that the needle moves to the same PSI each time. Do that for both rotors.

Yes, cats are still on with 102k on them.

Since the coolant system and oil system are separated from the combustion chamber by only seals, then symptoms of either getting mixed (air bubbles in coolant, coolant in exhaust or combustion chambers) indicate these seals have gone bad. Likewise, you can test compression to see about leaks going out of the combustion chamber (across the bad seal) or the opposite direction - pressure testing the coolant system.

Can you change coolant seals? Yes, this is one of the core tasks in rebuilding a rotary engine. DIYers can do a rebuild, but it's a long complicated process that requires planning, workspace, tools, and time.

Dave

well that explains your problem....nothing like clogged cats to keep a man warm during the winter

j

so should i have it towed to the RX7store or just tear everything apart myself and get educated?

have the car flatbedded to rx7store, you are definately in need of a motor. Make sure you buy a downpipe after you purchase the new motor. The precat is almost definately the problem that you had. i hope it works out for you bud.