1981 Rx7 High School Shop Question Thread.
 

So I just got back from a tour of China and my car has recently been having some issues. Whenever I am driving it will just randomly die in traffic. Every time so far that it has died, I can usually give to between 10-20 minutes of sitting and it will start back up and run fine. It has been getting progressively worse and will die every 5 miles or so. So right now she is sitting until I diagnose the problem. My buddy in the shop I had bought the car from says he replaced a lot of the electrical components in the ignition. So I'm thinking it might be the fuel pump going out. However, right after dying I can turn the key on and still hear the pump running. Could it be running, but on its last leg and not pumping well? Also pumping the gas several times sometimes might decrease the amount of time it sits before it will start again. Does anyone have any suggestions on something else it might be? Or am I on the right track here...? :scratch::icon_tdow

Also, Its a 12a

welcome. :)

start with a fuel filter. cheap. and probably needs changing anyway. no loss even if that's not the issue.

That was something I had also thought of. But according to the previous owner, it had been done about 2000 miles ago. Might go head and throw a new one on there anyways... However the car was $900, rebuilt 15k ago, and has about 128k miles total on her. I'm just ready to find out whats wrong and get back on the road before I go to bootcamp!

pish posh on what the previous owner said. 2000 miles ago doesn't matter. these cars can be pretty finicky with those filters. it really comes down to how much crap is swirling around in the tank.

it's new to you and you should just do a full tuneup. the pump may actually be at fault, but i think it might be the wiser move to tune it up and see what happens.

As far as a tune up goes, so far I have only done spark plugs. The spark plug wires look new and I think I'll go pick up a new fuel filter tomorrow. What else would you recommend for a full tune up? I'm new to rotaries and cars in general.

just basics ... plugs, cap, rotor, wires (but it's your call since you said they might have been recently replaced), filters (fuel, oil, air), oil and any other fluids that you don't know the history of or are on schedule. it's not a good practice to trust a previous owner. even if they're not trying to actually deceive you, they simply might not know certain things and maintenance, though it may not always be fun, it's always better than repair.

i do those things and more for any car that's new to me.

There also is another thing I was worried about.. When I am driving the car and get over about 20mph a weird "wopping" like sound comes form the rear end. As the car speeds up so does the sound. And sometimes after I drive for a little bit it will just stop and sometimes come back.. Anyone have any ideas on what this could be??

Also, for the problem described above it tends to die more often the harder I push the car...

But yeah I'll have to go pick up some parts and see if things change... Thanks for the advice Diabolical

Also with having the 4x110 wheels, I am having trouble finding good aftermarket ones for the car. I heard somewhere that fox body mustang rims will fit, is this true? Also wondering the same with the 4x114.3 rims...

Diabolical--Your suggestion on fuel filter is timely for me too. My tech was arguing that it was unlikely to cause the inconsistent idling in my 83 S, but there's visible debris in the bowl so I'm going to swap it out anyhow. Thanks.

well, if your only problem is the idle, then your tech is probably right. by the time the filter alone would significantly affect idle, the car should be showing serious issues while driving (sudden sputtering, hesitating, stalling, etc.).

as i said, filters are cheap and you lose nothing by changing them, so go ahead. it can't hurt, but are there other issues besides your idle?

also u might need to take ur carb apart a check the jets inside