Hi. I have a Lotus kit (Rotus) with a 13-B engine. The engine was rebuilt by RP Performance at Summit Point, WV. Anyway, it is still under break-in and it suddenly quits on me and seems to be starving for fuel. So, first thing I did was replace the fuel filter which was really dirty and deteriorated but the problem still didn't stop. It might fire, but under the pedal it would stop. Then I'd wait 5 to 10 minutes and give it full throttle and it would start.

Yesterday I found that it was 1.5 quarts of oil low in just a few hundred miles of break-in. After i filled the oil the problem went away. One prior suspect was the fuel tank, but yesterday there was no problem driving the car for 45 minutes. Maybe yesterday was a fluke and it really is a fuel problem. Still, I was wondering if the RX-7 engine (1987) with the fuel metering system can shut down due to oil starvation?

Ideas?

 

Rotaries do burn a lot of oil cause its used to lubricate the rotar in the housing... but it shouldnt burn that much... have you checked that you'r using the proper weight oil? and i'd also reccomend checking your tranny fluid, cause i know older cars have a problem with oil leaking into the transmission....

 

being down 1.5 quarts isn't going to really hurt anything, not unless you are driving the crap out of it.

 

plus it doesnt hurt .... to check your oil every week

 

^Exactly. I check mine every time before I drive it.