86 RX7 Oil Issues
 

Hi all. I just recently purchased an 86 "Base" rx7 non-running at a charity auction. Paid about $2k, probably too much but the body is in decent condition which is rare for Wisconsin. From what I understand about the trim levels, it nows resembles the gxl trim more than the base trim. It seems to have been sitting for a couple years, and after flushing all the fluids, a new fuel pump, & some lines, it fired right up. It burned a lot of oil in the first ~30 seconds of idle, then started to clear up some but was having some trouble keeping going. At that point I noticed that I had no oil pressure. I tested the gauge, it works fine, and my oil level is fine. Is it normal for them to burn that much oil after sitting for a while? What's the best approach to troubleshooting an oil issue with these engines? I've looked at the FSM, it's fairly vague. Is there an easy way to test the sender unit without just replacing it, and how often do they fail? I have a hard time believing the motor would run at all with 0 oil flow, but I'm inexperienced with rotary engines.


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welcome to the board, WillyM. :)

congrats on the car. you should make an intro thread in the Intro section and post up some photos of the car. would love to see it and hear anything you want to share.

for your oil pressure issue, i would say if you filled it appropriately when you did the oil change, then you're probably fine. that said, either fix the gauge issue or find some other way to verify oil pressure before you actually try to drive the car.

you said you checked the gauge per the FSM, so that leaves the sending unit. i have heard of them failing on occasion, but as for myself, i have never had one fail on me in decades of driving these cars. what has happened a few times to me is the connection either gets filled with crud and interrupts contact, or the wire itself somehow starts failing to make contact. i would start there. clean it up and make sure that the wire is not loose. see if that works, if not, then i would imagine a multimeter should be able to check it. there is a thread around here that showed a table of resistances with the corresponding reading on the gauge. failing that, just replace it.

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...rking-1125504/

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...rking-1125504/

it is not totally uncommon for them to smoke a bit when they haven't been started for a while. when you straighten out your gauge issue and start driving the car, my guess it will clear itself up. if it does not, then start logging oil consumption.