A compression check will give you a better indication of your engines health not your vacuum reading. I got a small vacuum leak on my Fd caused from major wheel hop at the strip due to my torque brace being mounted to my UIM. My stock car idles I little higher because of this. My vacuum also dropped after the run. I'm not sure if my leak is from the LIM mounting surface, but I do hear a hissing noise near the back of the engine that wasn't there before. I sprayed some carburetor cleaner in the area while the car was running and it stumbled. So a vacuum leak can very well show a low reading. Don't assume it's your engine. By the way I have more miles on my original engine than you do (95,550) and have great compression. So once again, don't assume it's your engine. When my car hits 100k, I'm going to pull the engine and fix all the little minor problems I have.

 

I'm going to TRY to take some "quality time" with the car tomorrow afternoon. I live literally around the corner from the LaSalle gate. PM me if you wanna stop by sometime.

 

Thanks for keeping my hopes up. I'd hate to have a bad engine after only owning the car for a half a year. Going to get a compression check in 2 weeks when I get it serviced. If i'm not mistaken, aren't I supposed to get a certain compression check since some testers don't get an accurate reading off of a rotory?

 

You can use a regular piston compression checker, just remove the Schrader valve, or keep your finger on the release button. Check for 3 bounces. The Mazda one is mainly used by the dealerships, though Chris(the guy I sent you the PM about) has one. If you're going to have it serviced at Hampton Mazda on Mercury, one of the younger guys on the board works in the service department there. Smart kid, did a TII swap in his 1st gen. Though amost all the guys on the board would advise against sending your car to the "stealership".

 

Since your going to do a compresson check in the next few weeks, start searching the forum for any info on de-carbonizing the engine first. This will help you get a more accurate compression reading. Carbon sticking of the seals is very common on engines in this mileage range. 84k isn't a lot of miles for a rotary, but it's high enough that the side and corner seals will start to stick in there grooves fairly easily because of excess carbon build-up. I do cleanings on a regular basis which is one of the reasons my engine is still going strong.

 

If you mean Chris aka "Mr rx-7 tt" on the forum, he's def. a good guy to go see, and he's down in your area.

As for Northern VA, you have Ray Wilson of PFSupercars. Prob one of the best 3rd gen mechanics in the country (has more experience than most, that's for sure).

 

off topic question, could a vac leak be the source of idle surge? and a guy i know suggested finding it using blake cleaner or something. any info on this test?

 

Yup, he's the one.

 

inHg (inches of mercury), Bar, psi (pounds per square inch), Pa (pascals), among others, are measures of pressure. If the pressure is sucking, most refer to is as "vacuum". I think that's kind of bogus, since vacuum actually refers to the absence of pressure (like 0 psi). If the pressure is pressing, people just call it "pressure"...

I'm not sure exactly why they use inHg to measure negative pressure and psi for positive, but it's nice to remember that 1 inHg ~ 1/2 psi (so if you have 18 inHg at idle, that's ~ 9 psi). Perhaps it's because if it was in psi on the vacuum side, they'd have trouble scrunching all the numbers in on the gauge... it would be harder to read.

 

I got about 16 when car is warmed up with 750-800rpm or 18 with fans on at 1000rpm.

Damn i hope my engine isnt dying.