Hi, I have a 93 FD3S which had a recon engine fitted 9 thousand miles ago.

This engine cost £3890 approx $5000 fitted, It was done by one of the UK's
oldest and trusted Rotary engine works.

It started to make a loud ticking noise from around the Twin Turbo area last week.
This noise got worse, so I descided not to drive it, to the problem noise was investigated.

As anybody who has worked on one of these twin turbo engines can tell you that it is not easy to see anything around the Turbo and exhuaust manifold area due to the heat sheilds and the tight position of Turbos at the side of the engine.

So I gave up my weekend and started stripping down the exhaust pipe and all items to get to the Turbos and Exhaust manifolds.

What I found pissed me off, because as I said, this engine has only done 9000 miles since it was fitted as a fully recon unit.

Two of the left hand Turbo nuts were finger tight, so had never been Torqued up by the engine rebuilder.

These nuts are a special design and will not come loose once torqued up, they cost $8.00 each and you need to replace 10 of them when removing Turbo and down pipe, according to the Mazda Workshop Manual.

Then came the shock of the PRICE of the exhaust manifold and down pipe gaskets
over $300.00 for these.

All because some body forgot to recheck the Torques when rebuilding the engine.
So I phoned the Engine Rebuilders and told them what I had found and the could not give a ****!!!

They could have sent me the new gaskets & nuts as a gesture of Goodwill but No such luck.

So be warned when you buy a recon engine, get them to give you a milage gaurantee as well one in month's/time.

It is now back on the road, but I am over $400.00 out of pocket and have lost a weekend of my time.

I have posted some photo's of where the gasket has blown due to nuts not being Torqued up correctly.

 

That's definitely annoying. Fortunately nothing difficult was damaged.

Next time have a look at aftermarket studs and nuts. The stock inconel parts are just insanely expensive and the locking pinch on the nut causes them to gall something terrible. Or if the stud and nut come out together, re-use them but add a single flat washer under the head - then they will work like a bolt.

Dave

 

Its a shame that it happened that way but look on the bright side of things you are now more familiar with your 7.

 

hey im new i just but a 93 fd .. i cant start it so my freind told me it could be flooded so i checked it removed the spark plugs and removed the fuel pump fuse and turned the starter like hella fuel and antifreeze started to fly out of it

if i have the antifreeze coming out of my plug holes what dose that meen blown coolent seal?
ill appriaciate it if you help me

 

Yes.

 

Yes, that is a good indication you have compression blowing to your coolant sytem, and yes you need a rebuild or another motor, sorry for the bad news.

 

hard to trust anyone to rebuild a rotary... best bet is finding a true rotary specialty shop and spending the money to get best and worth money results... regular shops do decent work cost less but the motor wont last as long

 

Yes thats a great tip, using a washer under nut if it comes out on the stud, as ALL mine did.
I replaced all the studs & nuts with new ones.
I work as a Tech for VW and used new studs from our parts dept. The nuts came through Mazda.
It has given me a better in sight into working on these engines, but its now running like a demon again and makes me smile every time I go out in it.....lol's..