Hello, I just recently bought a '88 RX-7 (no turbo).

Anyways, I just have a few questions for y'all. First, the car smells like a skidoo when it's idleing or you have the window open. Is this normal, and can someone tell me what causes it?
Second, the engine skips every once and awhile when it's idleing. Sometimes its quite frequent, a skip every couple of seconds. If it had pistons I'd say changing the plugs and or plug wires would solve that. Unfortuneately, the plugs and wires are new and it's a rotary so...
Third, and this is just for curiosity, how would I know if the seals were going. It's got quite a few miles on it, and I'm the third owner. I don't know when the seals have been done last, or if it's even the original engine. Is there anything I should be looking for, beware of, so that I can keep this car running prime without pouring a whole crapload of money into it?
Regards,
Zokus

 

Bump

 

I'm in the same boat as you - 88 N/A
funny smell
"skipping" idle

and just like you, I don't know why. Hopefully someone can answer these questions.

 

Right on guy, I felt that I was in my own personal bandwagon. On that note, everyone I talked to say that it's normal (at least the smell is.) And my mechanic says the skip is nothing to worry about. Have you had any shifter problems. The flexible boot that holds the handle in place had deteriorated, so the shifter rotates freely and vibrates quite a bit. Looking for parts, but I'm too busy to fix it right now.

 

The guy I bought the car from replaced the whole tranny and installed a short shifter,so I don't have that problem. I think the smell is from running rich.

 

O2 Sensor(s)?

Sorry, I have a first generation and don't know how much the ECC reads the o2's for calculations...

Air Pump, Catalytic Converters get rid of that smell as well.

 

Yeh, I guess that makes sense.

 

'you know you own a 7 when you are scared of the toxic smell from the motor' is pretty common around here. it is normal, as for the idle skip, this is also pretty normal, as long as it 99% goes away when car is warm. as far as i know, plugs, ign(coils), and idle control things, contribute to it. maybe just dbl check all wire connections to the coils and plugs.. as the cars get older the wires get weak, im sure that crap stock connections is prolly the biggest culpret.

good luck

 

Like Nubian says the smell of the rotary is something that's just there.. i never take my car out if im going on a dinner date or anything like that lol. but search around on the forums on how to lean the motor out a bit if it really bothers you that much.. other then that regular tune up and clean cats should take car of most of it..

 

A properly functioning '7 with full emissions control shouldn't smell much, if at all.

A '7 without emissions control will keep tailgaters away on the highway, and you'll get to your destination smelling of car.

However, after a while, you realize that the smell of a rotary engine with no emissions control running premix is a sweet, sweet smell.

-=Russ=-