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Warning, this will be a long post…. I had a SA and FB back in the day and have had this FD for about 20 years. I stopped driving it around 2015 because of a oil leak that was getting worse, from the front cover. Made several attempts to start taking it apart to fix but life kept getting in the way, I occasionally would move the car out of the garage to have more room for working on something else but it never spent the night outside. In the process the car started acting like some part of the fuel system was stopped up, start and idle fine, but wouldnt rev up. Finally last December, I decided it was time to get this car back on the road, I checked around for someone to work on it that I trusted, but no luck. I found one guy but he was determined that we needed to rebuild the whole motor and fuel system, but I felt like the motor was pretty healthy. My goal was to make the Spring Harpers Cars and Coffee event, that was my inspiration.
I decided that I would figure it out myself, if I am going to own this car, I need to be able to work on it myself. Since it had sat for about 6 years, I decided to just get it running first before tackling the oil leak. I was pleasantly.y surprised to find Mazda had put a drain plug in the gas tank, but I was fearful of what was going to come out. Lo and behold, the gas was perfectly clear and smelled good, I said wait a minute, I recognize that smell, I had put in race gas for some reason and it did not break down! Maybe I knew it was going to be setting for a long time. I put in a new battery and fresh gas and the car started instantly and idled great, but once again, would not rev up. After much poking and prodding, and a whole lot of searching on this forum, I learned how to check the codes, I have the FSM, and determined the car was in limp mode, I didnt even know there was such a thing in 1993. The code showed front secondary injector, my car is totally stock, so it took me awhile to dig down that far. The FSM shows how to test the injector with an ohm meter, and it appeared to be bad, so I tested the other one and I got a different reading, so that gave me confidence that was the problem. Got a new injector from Atkins, put it in, the car revved perfectly. I got to drive the car around a few times over about a 10 day period, but then started smelling gas and then finding a big leak. So much info on this forum about failed Fuel pressure dampeners, I ordered one of those and prepared to go in deep. I was pretty intimidated diving into the rats nest, but I was determined. After getting it all stripped down, I hooked the fuel lines back up now that I could see them, turned on the pump through the diagnostic box, and saw it was not the FPD, but old rubber fuel lines attached with screw type clamps, they were leaking because the rubber shrunk. I replaced the FPD, all new FI hose, and while I was at it, all new silicone vacuum lines. I had labeled all of the hoses before I removed them, but it was still difficult getting them back in the right places, but searching this forum over and over, I believe I got it right. I also had to replace one solenoid that I broke a nipple off of removing the old hoses even though I was being careful. It was a glorious day when I finally got all that rats nest and other piles of stuff reassembled and the car started up and ran good. I got to drive the car some more but it had a high speed stumble and developed a hot start issue which it never had before,, back to the forum and had to sift through old posts about the motor needing to be rebuilt until I finally found something about a crank angle sensor causing hot start and stumble at high speed. Checked the codes again, and it said crank angle sensor connector, which kind of made sense because I am not sure the CAS itself can go bad. I also found RX7 CAS connectors for sale on EBay, so figured it must be a thing. I also did a spark check, and there was none, the CAS has to be able to tell the system to spark. Here I go again, stripping down the front of the motor, but it started getting complicated when I got to the power steering pump. At this point I could actually see a glimpse of the connectors, and with a good flashlight, it almost looked like one of them wasnt pushed together very well. Took a long screwdriver, put some pressure on it, it moved, then went click! Before I put everything back together, I test fired the car and it started instantly. I was planning on going all the way in to the front cover at this point, but Cars and Coffee was only about a month away, I was afraid i would get busy and not be able to finish it and not make my goal so I decided to go back together with it. I was able to tighten the front cover bolt closest to the leak a bit though. I got the car back together, and it has never run better, and the oil leak is at a manageable level for now, and I got to take it to a very large Cars and Coffee event, and it was very popular among the masses. I will plan a time to do the front cover soon, but for now, I want to enjoy the car for awhile. Thank you all for this forum, I couldn’t have done it without you!
Welcome to the club. It sounds like you've had quite the adventure already. On the plus side, you figured out early that taking your time to do the job right is easier, faster and cheaper. That lesson alone will take you far. As for your Front Cover oil leak, this is typically done out of the car. Unless you are quite skilled and VERY careful, most whom try to replace the gasket with the engine in the car end up crushing the Torrington Bearing due to gravity when torquing the front bolt to ~90 ft.lbs. The correct procedure is to have the shortblock facing UP (Flywheel facing DOWN) so everything can be aligned properly before torquing. Also, this presents the perfect opportunity to re-seal the Oil Pan. To make a long story short, the proper oil level is ABOVE where the pan meets the shortblock. This could very well be the source of your leak, depending on location.
Rotary Resurrection does consistently good work. They're also pretty close to you, about 1hr away. You might see what they think about addressing the leak. Maybe they know something I don't. More info here: https://rotaryresurrection.com/contact/
I had contacted the Rotary Resurrection guy a couple of years ago, but I eventually decided that I wanted to learn how to work on the car myself. I have an extensive mechanical background from racing powerboats and now operating a dirt bike dealership, but still, the FD was intimidating to dive into! I wouldnt attempt it except for all of you great guys on this forum.
I am aware of the Torrington bearing issue, on the FD you have to wedge the flywheel forward to keep the bearing in place. When the time comes I will decide if I attempt to do it in place or pull the engine out.
congrats on defeating your fears and getting in there. this board is a great resource to have, no matter which level you're on - from shadetree, all the way to expert. no matter what, most issues have been discussed and can serve as a great base on which to build a solution to your problems.
I usually do the Harpers Cars&Coffee events and am trying to get RX7 guys together but it has been difficult. Is that something you would be interested in?
i would be interested and also do the cars and coffee. I missed the all Mazda and RX7 events at tail of dragon this year but going to try and make it next year.
It's this Sunday! Who all is going to make it? Personally, I don't think I've ever got there before 9am (maybe once) and last time I was stuck in traffic for over an hour.
I am meeting up with one other at Trader Joe’s at 5:40, then over to the show. I know thats early, but thats what it takes to get a good spot and park together and not wait in traffic. I am a little concerned that even this want be early enough because this event will be filmed for a TV show but who knows.
06-22-22, 07:45 PM
