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Pulled the trigger and bought my dream car! She died on me in the middle of my second drive and I had to have it towed home, so I've received an exciting introduction to the rotary world. It's probably something silly so I'm looking at it as a opportunity to learn. Already learned how to do the de-flood procedure and change the sparkplugs so we're picking stuff up fast. Tomorrow I'm excited to figure out how to test the not a crank trigger crank trigger. Wish me luck!
Thank you for the words of encouragement! She ran like a dream until the moment she shut off. Car only did like 2000 miles in Japan over the last 10 years, so I expected there to be some growing pains.
Before you drive it anymore you should run a battery of tests to identify any issues and avoid expensive damage:
1. If you still have the stock ecu, you most certainly should run codes. JDM FD do not have a check engine light. You have to manually run the codes. The codes can pinpoint maybe as many as 50 malfunctions, some more serious than others.
2. The codes will not identify vacuum/air pressure leaks. Run a smoke tests to find these.
3. Run a compression test - with a proper compression tester.
4. Run a coolant system pressure test.
5. Check the gasoline. If it is very old, this could be why you stalled out. Drain and put in new gasoline (highest octane you can find locally - say "93".
6. Replace plugs and o2 sensor.
Very Important
It looks like you have a Version 5, or newer, car. It is very important to make yourself very aware that for Version 4, and newer, cars Mazda changed the mounting order of the coils. People unfamiliar with this (most mechanics in the USA) might hook up the coil harness and/or spark plugs in the wrong order. This can result in the plugs firing in the wrong sequence and damage the engine to the extent of requiring an engine rebuild. Do not rely on the USDM Shop Manual regarding hooking up the plugs and coils.
If the car sat for 10 years there may be considerable corrosion in your fuel system. Check the tank. The corrosion could be clogging the intake sock and fuel filters.
Before you drive it anymore you should run a battery of tests to identify any issues and avoid expensive damage:
1. If you still have the stock ecu, you most certainly should run codes. JDM FD do not have a check engine light. You have to manually run the codes. The codes can pinpoint maybe as many as 50 malfunctions, some more serious than others.
2. The codes will not identify vacuum/air pressure leaks. Run a smoke tests to find these.
3. Run a compression test - with a proper compression tester.
4. Run a coolant system pressure test.
5. Check the gasoline. If it is very old, this could be why you stalled out. Drain and put in new gasoline (highest octane you can find locally - say "93".
6. Replace plugs and o2 sensor.
Very Important
It looks like you have a Version 5, or newer, car. It is very important to make yourself very aware that for Version 4, and newer, cars Mazda changed the mounting order of the coils. People unfamiliar with this (most mechanics in the USA) might hook up the coil harness and/or spark plugs in the wrong order. This can result in the plugs firing in the wrong sequence and damage the engine to the extent of requiring an engine rebuild. Do not rely on the USDM Shop Manual regarding hooking up the plugs and coils.
Has anyone changed your plugs recently?
It's a 2000 with 40,000 miles, I've had it a week. I probably didn't do even 50 miles in the car. It idled a little rough but ran like a dream otherwise. Did a 2-3 pull getting on the main road and it just shut off. Haven't been able to get it to start ever sense.
1 - Car is on a A'PEX-i
3 - I had a PPI done on the it, and all faces were even and over 100 psi. Really really hoping this isn't suddenly an issue.
5 - Had almost no gas when she got delivered. I filled it up and added premix.
6 - I replaced the plugs yesterday and confirmed everything was getting spark.
It's a 2000 with 40,000 miles, I've had it a week. I probably didn't do even 50 miles in the car. It idled a little rough but ran like a dream otherwise. Did a 2-3 pull getting on the main road and it just shut off. Haven't been able to get it to start ever sense.
1 - Car is on a A'PEX-i
3 - I had a PPI done on the it, and all faces were even and over 100 psi. Really really hoping this isn't suddenly an issue.
5 - Had almost no gas when she got delivered. I filled it up and added premix.
6 - I replaced the plugs yesterday and confirmed everything was getting spark.
Thank you for the heads up about the coils!
Looks like everyone is steering you the right direction for diagnostics. Where abouts in Indiana are you?
Here is the proper hook up of the coil harness. Also make sure your leading and trailing plugs are hooked up to the correct coil posts.
Was a proper rotary compression tester used for the compression tests? Some shops will try to make do with using a piston engine compression tester.
Since you seem to have had a sudden failure, I recommend another compression test.
Also look for rat damage to wiring.
Note that the S8 coil harness is different from the one used on USDM (Series 6) cars.
A proper rotary compression tester was used.
I'll confirm that the coils and plugs are all hooked up properly. Thank you for the photo reference.
Currently I'm leaning towards taking it to a shop. I was hoping/planning to have a post purchase inspection done anyways just to give me a good bassline of what the car needs. Given the current issues it would also be nice to, as you suggested, have another compression test done. It sucks that now I would have to tow it there, though.
I haven't been able to get it to run for even 1 second since it shut off, but it smokes and sounds like it really really want's too. Very different to the Hondas I'm used too. My first mod is probably going to be putting it on a Haltech so going forward I can see what isn't working right.
Looks like everyone is steering you the right direction for diagnostics. Where abouts in Indiana are you?
I'm on the west side of Indianapolis. If you know a rotary shop in the Indy area you should let me know.
I had previous knowledge that Gator Motorsport worked on rotaries, so I had spoken with them about doing a post purchase inspection when I was buying the car. Now I'm considering having them address the current issues as well if I'm unable to in a timely manor. If there is a reputable specialty shop I should know about, though, please let me know!
I really want the car to just work for a bit so I can enjoy it. Getting to drive it twice was such a tease.
Finally joined the FD club!
