My car is an 87 non turbo 180K. Went to work just fine, when I left work the car suddently went into a major hesitation mode, lost all horse power and the muffler sound much lounder and usual. The engine vibrated really bad and I barely got home on 1 and 2nd gear. I thought the cat. was out, so I got it replaced. I also replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires. Still nothing seems to improve. The "CHARGE" red warning light is on and I check the battery while the engine is running I get about 13.5V or so. it's still on now. I have an extra alternator, so I changed it out - nothing change. I changed out the coils for both... nothing change.

What could it be? Anyone had the same problem before? It seems like an electrical problem, but how come the muffler sounds different and the care barely stay idle and vibrate really bad and have no horse power. By the way, there is no black smoke or stinky smell.

Please help!

Thanks.

Maggie

 

Check engine codes: http://www.teamfc3s.org/info/article...odes/main.html

Compression test: http://mazdarx7.iougs.com/myfaq.shtml

 

No engine code problem, the 2 leds came on and gone off as engine started. Charge warning light still on all the time now. If I have compression problem, would it still run smooth at high rpm?

 

do you have an automatic or manual transmission? Because I was having the same problem with my 7 and my transmission was the problem.

 

it's a manual transmission. what did you do to fix it? But, how does transmission cause the engine to shake or not be able to idle. when the car at idle, nothing should be engaged.

 

oh. well i had an automatic transmission and it wasn't compressing the engine properly so it wouldn't hold an idle. but if i held in the gas pedal the car would stay running. i have a new rebuilt engine too so i just started narrowing things down. now that i have a new transmission it runs great. the car had sat for about a month and a half, as well so i had to de-flood the engine because it has leaky injectors. i don't know if any of this helps you. let me know if you need anything and i will help you out as much as i can. my bf knows rotary engines inside and out so he is sure to have good advice. let me know if you are still having trouble

 

Thanks Ashli, nothing new going on with my car. Of course, it's flooding now, but I can deal with that no problem. I think there is a vac. leak somewhere, I can hear something is not right, but I can't seem to find the leak. Anyone got any trick to look for leak? It's hard when it's not idling. If it has high rpm, then I can find the leak easier. Anyone has any suggestion, just throw it at me, so I can at least try it out before I pull everything apart

 

Spraying some carb cleaner around the intake manifold is a trick for finding a vacuum leak. If it gets sprayed near a leak, idle speed will increase. But if it's not holding an idle, you'll need someone to give it some gas while you spray.

But what your describing sound more like a loss of a rotor than anything. Poor idle and a dramatic loss of power are the usual results. You should test the compression before anything.