Hey guys I am looking into buying my first rotary. I am looking at a 1986 rx7 gxl with 42000 original miles. The body is in great shape and every thing else seems to be in great shape,but there are some things that concern me with the engine. I have been doing as much research as possible and the gentleman tells me that the car has a leaky injector, which he has temporarily remedied with a fuel pump cut off switch. Also something I can't get over, he said it has been running a japanese synthetic oil that he special ordered (I can not recall the name), but he has recently switched to castrol synthetic. And from all the research I have gathered synthetic is a no no. So my question is there a good chance that the engine could be in rough shape and I should keep looking? Or could I reverse the damage, if there is any and end up with a great new ride?

 

Leaky injectors are fairly common and a straightforward fix. A little searching will give you the procedure.

And good synthetics are fine. If the OMP's blocked off, it actually doesn't matter at all. Although castrol's not on my preferred list, there are members here who swear by it.

So on to the big question... when did he rebuild it, and what's the compression? Low, low, mileage cars like that come with a bevy of their own problems.

 

the engine hasn't been rebuilt, the throw out bearing has been replaced but that is all the work that has been done to the car. It was garaged its whole life and im not sure how much it was driven while garaged. he said when he bought the car a 3 years ago and the compression was about 90.

 

welcome to the board.

as with ANY 27 year old car, there will be work to do. just pull all the injectors and send them out to be refurbished. if the car is clean, non-molested and otherwise solid, then get it.

synthetic oil is not an issue.