HumanShield

Hey. Just imported a 1994 RX7 Type R from Osaka, Japan. Car has 10,000 original miles. Car runs and drives and looks great, but a 27 year old car that only drove 10,000 miles probably needs lots of maintenance. I'll tell you what I'd doing, can you guys tell me what else you would try to fix before getting on it?

1) Coolant Flush
2) Oil Change
3) Spark Plugs/Wires
4) Injector Testing
5) Compression Test
6) New Battery
7) New Tires
8) New shocks/springs

What else should I consider?

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Get a copy of the Factory Service Manual (FSM). If you can’t find a RHD specific at least a NADM version. Downloadable free from here: http://wright-here.net/cars/rx7/manuals.html


* ALL fluids. brake fluid, transmission and differential gear oil.
* Fuel filter (OEM)
* I wouldn’t pull injectors for testing unless I suspected issues. But I would invest in some good fuel system cleaner. I like BG44k or the Techron stuff. Same with the battery. If it’s good why replace it?
* Compression test is good to have BEFORE purchase. But sounds like that ship sailed…literally. If you don’t have hot start issues you’re likely OK.
* Check brake pads for life.
* If it’s not heavily modified and at stock boost stay with stock NGK plug heat ranges and stock plug wires.
* Don’t rely on the stock coolant temp gauge. It’s not linear. Install a decent aftermarket gauge. There’s info in the 3rd Gen. section for convenient sensor placement in the throttle-body coolant line.
* As time allows you could run some additional grounds in the engine bay. Make a circle….Battery to engine, engine to chassis, chassis to battery.

I usually recommend no performance modifications for the first year and just enjoy the car as is. Doing the above, reading thru the FAQ stickys in the 3rd Gen section and the FSM and sorting out any other issues that come up will usually save you a lot of grief, time and money.

HumanShield

Thanks for your list.

I have the results of the compression test from Japan that was done when the car went up for sale a year+ ago (see below). The shop I'm taking it to (recommended from this site) said that while they were doing the plugs it was easy to do for peace of mind that the test I was sent was real. I'll hold off on pulling injectors. I don't have any real reason to believe their is an issue, just thought it may be good preventative maintenance. This is why I come seeking advice.

This car has no mods whatsoever, and only 10,000 miles. So I don't plan on modifying it at all. I just want to make sure that I can take it out for pleasure drives and have taken care of the obvious preventative maintenance that should be done. Thanks again.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Injectors are in deep and that job will almost certainly result in collateral damage. In this case, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

The car might be low-mileage but it’s still almost 20 years old….
* Also check belts and hoses. Even with the low mileage, special attention to the turbo coolant hoses for signs of swelling or bloating.
* When you’re changing coolant it would be a great time to replace what’s probably the original t-stat. Easy job and not expensive.
* When reading those stickys watch for terms like “reliability mods”, especially with respect to the plastic AST and radiator end-tanks.
Cooling is everything on the car.

Akagis_white_comet

iTrader: (4)

There aren't TOO many differences between LHD and RHD Series 6 FDs, mostly minor things like the Exhaust Temperature Sensor feeding directly into the ECU on LHD, whereas it goes through an amplifier on RHD. But as said before, regardless of mileage, one thing we can all agree on would be to examine the vacuum system. Some may disagree that such a low-mileage example wouldn't need any attention here, but I would do so just as preventative maintenance. Plus, silicone vacuum line is cheap on Ebay (about $1/foot for 4mm). I'm not too sure if the diagram is different from a North American one (found easily enough), but if you need the Japanese one for verification, let me know.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Actually I don’t think we all agree on that. If his boost pattern and idle is good and there aren’t any other issues that would require disturbing the rat’s nest I would recommend leaving it alone.
I DO agree that even at that mileage the OEM rubber vacuum lines will be hard as *****’s heart and brittle. But left alone they don’t typically cause problems. It’s not an easy beginner DIY job, plus solenoids and check valves WILL be broken, screw heads stripped etc.
Now…if anything else ever requires moving them, say, a coolant seal failure from really old stale coolant, I’m absolutely with you on replacing them with the silicone versions and viton check valves.
my .02

Akagis_white_comet

iTrader: (4)

Agreed, if it's not broken, don't try and fix it. I would still take a look at them with a mirror or inspection camera just to assess the situation fully, since it wouldn't take much for one to fail at that point. Also, with such low mileage, I have a gut feeling that some of the solenoids are probably sticking or failing from disuse. Even brand new ones have been DOA too, more info can be found here:
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...-stuff-802060/

Akagis_white_comet

iTrader: (4)

So I did some digging and got these from my FD manual collection. Sorry about the images being massive PNGs, my usual utilities weren't cooperating for some reason and trying to make a Jpeg upped the file size from ~800kb to nearly 9mb a piece. So crystal clear PNGs for all.

Series 6:



Series 7/8:

Redbul

iTrader: (26)

Smoke Test anyone? Shop plugs up a smoke generator to various air input points. Smoke will show any leaks in the air delivery and vacuum system. Worth the $50 or so a shop will charge.

Have $2000 in hand before diving into the rats nest.

Those diagrams are wonderful, but the actual rats nest looks nothing like that (many vacuum hoses are three inches not one foot for example).

Best to scrounge up someone's deleted rats nest and study the actual thing first hand.

Lots of deleted rats nest around.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Why smoke test if you don’t suspect a boost or gasket leak? That’s not maintenance.
And really, while it may be a reputable shop, ask them why they think a compression test is warranted if the car has no hot starting or other issue that might be related to engine health? If it’s just to confirm the test done in Japan, what will you do if the domestic test is different…send the car back?
Neither will give a good base for future maintenance. Both seem like a waste of money unless they’re doing it for free.

Redbul

iTrader: (26)

Blow smoke and be surprised! Its a cheap precaution.

Helps prevent going full engine bay whack-a-mole.

Where one suspected problem leads to another and suddenly you are $2000 in the hole and it still does not work.

Also find someone with a JDM code reader and run the codes.

Worth its weight in gold.

There is no "check engine" light.

Instead the ecu will throw you into "limp mode".

Which means, limp your car to the dealer so they can run codes.

Problem is, JDM code readers are rare in North America.

So then you are into a guessing game.

And the whack-a-mole, begins.

Akagis_white_comet

iTrader: (4)

Sgtblue and Redbul, I'm gonna stop you both right here before this gets ridiculous.

A compression test is common sense on ANY rotary, period. This establishes a baseline for all other diagnostic and repair efforts. Trying to diagnose any issue without doing one is like playing Whack-a-mole blindfolded and having to ask someone every single time to swing the hammer for you.

As far as the whole Diagnostic Whack-a-mole game is concerned, I can vouch for this. While there are two different manners to read Diagnostic Fault Codes, the "simpler" is the two is the DT-S1000 and it opens a whole slew of can of worms. The biggest one being the documentation is completely in Japanese. I was looking in Japan a few weeks ago for a DT-S1000 to play around with and see how it worked. Every single one I found was well over $2000. Even still, the System Disk is in Japanese and uses all 3 alphabets (Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji). Plus, it's a magnetic floppy disk. Not exactly common hardware these days.

As for the codes themselves, most of the turbo-related codes are essentially "hey, this device's resistance value is abnormal". I've seen a couple threads somewhere in the 3rd Gen section that detail some attempts at reverse-engineering the DT-S1000 to replicate the functions years ago. Far as I know, the project fizzled out. So at this time, when it comes to using a DT-S1000, I literally wrote the book on it when translating the Cosmo Workshop Manual.

About the Japanese Vacuum Diagrams, they're in the same style and format as those we are all familiar with, which we all know and love. Separating devices like the Upper Intake Manifold from the Lower Intake Manifold and Solenoid Rack/Vacuum Unit in the diagram is so a human being can follow each line. Same thing was done outside of Japan as seen here:
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...-turbo-749702/

Since it's still rather complicated, some clever chap decided to colorize them. Big props to that awesome fellow. Anyway, as it's related to this, I have added the Japanese diagrams there as well.

Redbul

iTrader: (26)

All colourized vacuum line diagrams are not the same.

Not sure which JDM code reader our member had, but no floppy discs involved.

Also the codes seemed to correspond to the part. Get a code, replace a part. (Since there are about 75 possible codes I realize that is perhaps too simplistic to say.)

Got several false reads for the OMP. Maybe it was faulting on and off. Definitely a limp mode event.

Interesting that much of the "Japanese" on the diagrams are English words written in Katakana (the alphabet for foreign words).

Spend a weekend learning the 50 katakana and you are half way there.

Watch out using USDM FSM for S7 and S8. More of a divergence from S6.

Particularly watch out for hooking up the coils to the plugs.

The coils are mounted in a different order than S6.

Are the Australians hiding the English Language RHD manuals? How about the RHD manuals for the UK?

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

……..