Engine stopped mid drive
Hey guys, so my tach went out, I have a 12a engine and I probably revved it to 4 cold, and I usually don't push it past 3 until it's completely warmed. ANYWAYS driving home the other day I was going over a hill, (this is the first drive after maybe revving it to 4) and my.engine completely gave out, my RPMs dropped, but everything else stayed the same. I couldn't start it, but I got it started once and it idled at 100 and shook really bad. Ended up towing it to my dad's, he got it to rev to 2 like it normally does and he said it seemed fine, he thinks it's a gas problem. I dont know what this could be, I instantly assumed the worse, blown Apex, but now I'm not too sure. Any ideas? Any help would be appreciated
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Start with the basics before u assume the worst. Check fuel system then check the ignition. If that all looks good compression test it.
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Welcome to the board. :)
So I'm a little confused. You said the tach stopped working, then you were saying "revved it to 4 cold" and "idled at 100". Are those guesses, or is your tach working again? If the tach is not working, then that's a fairly good sign that your trailing ignition is dead. The car should run on just the leading system, but not optimally. If the car ran fine before your tach died, then I would focus on getting the ignition systems back up to par before looking elsewhere. Check everything - igniters, coils, plugs, wires and plugs. If the tach started working again, then I would look at your fuel filter and then your pump. When was your last tuneup? |
Tach
The tach worked again, I think it was a wiring problem. I hit the dash while driving and it worked like normal, that's how I know it idled around 100. I'm gonna check this weekend for fuel lines, plugs, coils and such. I had a coil problem before and had to get a new one, so I'm gonna get those tested. Does anyone think it could be a severe vacuum leak? I was going to check that too, gonna research on the forum how. If anyone wants to know I'll keep them updated
Update: I might have a faulty gauge cluster. My original one that came with the car was literally broken, (pieces missing from the motherboard?? They snapped off) so I bought a new one, and this one is giving me trouble too. Any ideas what to do about it? |
Vacuum leak is not off the table, there are a few places on the manifold where rubber hoses can crack or break resulting in a leak. However, I would tend to think given you said the car shut off while driving that there was probably disruption in fuel supply.
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Thanks
Alright I'll check it if I have time. Got a lot of stuff this weekend, but I'm determined. I'll update yall on what I find
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Alright so I checked the car today, everything for the ignition seems fine, except my spark plugs are extremely fouled, looks like someone took black spray paint to em hah. Gonna change those out, sounds like the engine is flooded too. Next im going to check the gas, which seemed fine but I'm gonna be more thorough. There was one thing, in my carb with the top lid off (lid of the air filter part) when I tried to crank it a puff of something came out for a second after I stopped cranking, again any help would be appreciated, thanks guys.
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What fuel pump are you running?
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I dont remember, I got it from a friend who thought it was broken. He was going to junk it. The fuel pump was changed about a 2 years ago, one of sitting and one of driving less than 5k miles. I got it started an hour ago and warmed her up, it still idled like crap, I think it might be an apex because the whole thing sounds weird, revving sounds like normal but then it also sounds like just something (maybe a rotor) is just spinning and it just sounds like its trying to move air. The exhaust doesn't sound like it used to or anything. Im gonna compression test it another time and hope for the best. I have spark on both trailing and leading, and everything else looks fine. How would I go about checking the pump if you could help?
EDIT: I'm not sure how much this matters, I know people say rotaries blow after 80k miles, I find that to be false, I think it depends how well you maintain them, but my engine also has 260k something miles on it, it was the original 12a with the car |
Originally Posted by Sir Surr
(Post 12308744)
... except my spark plugs are extremely fouled, looks like someone took black spray paint to em hah. Gonna change those out, sounds like the engine is flooded too.
If you lost an apex, so bad that it's affecting starting and idle, then you should be able to tell by simply turning the engine by hand with one plug removed from each chamber. You will easily hear (or not hear, rather) the two dead chambers. That said, a compression test is a great idea. It is useful, actual data. Especially at 260k miles! Congrats, by the way. :)
Originally Posted by Sir Surr
(Post 12308764)
EDIT: I'm not sure how much this matters, I know people say rotaries blow after 80k miles, I find that to be false, I think it depends how well you maintain them, but my engine also has 260k something miles on it, it was the original 12a with the car
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I would definitely check the fuel pump and any fuses/relays that pertain to the fuel system. It almost sounds to me like your fuel pump locked up.
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Alright I know this has been a long time, but I checked the car by removing the spark plugs and trying to listen for the 3 distinct poofs, and I'm almost positive I blew an apex seal. I'm planning on taking the engine out as soon as I have enough for a rebuild kit from Atkins, if anyone has a cheaper way to get one please tell me. I'm gonna search the forums and watch rebuild tutorials and I also bought the Haynes manual for a 79-85 the other day. Thank everyone who replied and if anyone could help me with anything else I'd greatly appreciate it. There's a few major things I'm planning on doing to the car before it runs again, I'd say if I were lucky it should be running around the summer of '19 but that's hoping.
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Before pulling the engine, do a compression test.
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Compression test
Okay, did a compression test today the front rotor was at 60, 65, 65 (hopefully I'm saying this correctly) the rear rotor barely didn't anything although one face had another 60. I read that if one Apex seal goes it ruins 2 chambers, is that correct? it makes sense
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Originally Posted by Sir Surr
(Post 12322981)
Okay, did a compression test today the front rotor was at 60, 65, 65 (hopefully I'm saying this correctly) the rear rotor barely didn't anything although one face had another 60. I read that if one Apex seal goes it ruins 2 chambers, is that correct? it makes sense
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The engine is gone. If you want to get it started you might try a pull-start and popping the clutch in second gear. You have to be really careful doing it this way so you don't hit your pull car. A big hill also works. This will raise the RPM from 200-250 using the starter to 2000-2500. This won't fix anything but it will give you an idea of how it runs.
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Originally Posted by KansasCityREPU
(Post 12322987)
The engine is gone. If you want to get it started you might try a pull-start and popping the clutch in second gear. You have to be really careful doing it this way so you don't hit your pull car. A big hill also works. This will raise the RPM from 200-250 using the starter to 2000-2500. This won't fix anything but it will give you an idea of how it runs.
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I'm surprised it idles at 100 RPMs. I've never seen a rotary idle that low. What happens if you hold the choke out to try and raise the RPMs? Most of the time when they run one only one rotor, they won't idle below 1500-2000 RPM.
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Originally Posted by KansasCityREPU
(Post 12323002)
I'm surprised it idles at 100 RPMs. I've never seen a rotary idle that low. What happens if you hold the choke out to try and raise the RPMs? Most of the time when they run one only one rotor, they won't idle below 1500-2000 RPM.
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Time to rebuild. The first step would be to remove the engine and disassemble to check what parts are reusable. Fingers crossed the rotor housings are good.
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Originally Posted by KansasCityREPU
(Post 12323038)
Time to rebuild. The first step would be to remove the engine and disassemble to check what parts are reusable. Fingers crossed the rotor housings are good.
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UPDATE
Its been four months, been kinda busy but I managed to pull the engine and disassemble, and bad news. The rear rotor (the bad one) was completely gone, along with the housing, gouges and scratches everywhere and one really deep scratch. Also the other rotor was fine, but the housing near the bottom had a part about an inch long and 1mm wide where the chrome was worn, so from what I've researched that's not really reusable either. Sad news. I was thinking of buying an engine from Ernst at rx7world, anyone have any good news about them? I've searched the forums and seen both good and bad. Also I have a question if anyone could answer, the bad rotor had a huge dent in it, it looked like someone shot it with a gun, I was wondering what would cause this?? Is the impact of it hitting an apex seal after it pops that powerful? |
Post pics of the bad rotor please.
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https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...de3d23304b.jpg
This one's that weird dent https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...04aee2a01e.jpg Here's where the broken apex seal was https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c2923d059a.jpg Here's the housing from the good rotor that had the chrome missing |
Wow - All those parts are toast.
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