Just thought I\'d check this out, as I wondered if my car is \'normal\' or not!
I only drive the car at weekends, and whilst the car starts absolutely fine (requires a bit of foot-on-the-gas encouragement, but I guess that\'s normal?) it takes a while to warm through properly. I need to keep the revs up using the pedal or the choke for a little while, otherwise the revs drop to around 400rpm and soon after the engine cuts out.
Once it\'s warmed up it idles okay, but still quite low (around 800rpm). On a couple of occasions I\'ve been waiting at a junction and the car has cut out, even after it\'s been warmed through and has been on the road for 30 mins or so.
I am running the car with around 1/4 tank currently (waiting until next month to replace the fuel tank), could that be the problem?
Also, it looks like there is some liquid in and around the filter (not sure if it\'s oil or petrol or water or maybe a combination!), again is that normal?
Sorry for all the questions guys, I\'m new to this and would welcome any insights / suggestions. As I mentioned I hope to get a new petrol tank next month, and at the same time I\'m going to have the oil changed, a new oil filter put in and new plugs too. Anything else I should look at?
Thanks very much!
Adrian
i looked at this months ago on your car!
i got it running better and checked the timing but told andrew he needed to change the plugs
all the early 7\'s have a crap choke and dont always run well untill warm although you shouldn\'t see any fuel or water in the filter
i would pull the plugs and invest in some new ones if you are still having problems run it over to pip at WGT to check it over :Thumbsup!
Mark
Excellent, thanks for the advice Mark. I\'ve got some plugs already and will get them in ASAP. I\'m not really using the car a great deal at the mo due to the fuel tank issue (a friend relayed a story about an MG he owned combusting due to a fuel leak which scared me a bit!) so I hope I won\'t do it any further damage.
I\'ll take a pic or two if the filter, as it\'s tricky to describe.
The other weird trait my car has occurs when cruising before backing off the throttle. For example, if I am doing around 30 in 3rd (or 4th) and using part-throttle to maintain the speed, as soon as I lift the pedal the car judders a bit for a second or so. Interestingly it is fine in second. I realise that the engine responds best to revs, and have learnt to adapt to it (seems to always need to be in the gear below the one you think you need!) but this one still puzzles me.
Any ideas?
Thanks again for the advice! Once I have changed the plugs, oil and fuel tank I\'l take it out for a proper shake-down. If it\'s still a bit off I think a trip to Pip might be next on the cards!
800 rpm is a bit low. i find a carb adjustment up to 1100 rpm gives much more certainty at the lights! You need to adjust idle and mix screws together. Let me see....... I recall something like..."adjust idle to get a reasonable tick over.....then screw in the mix screw till it start\'s \'hunting\'....then back off the mix screw until its just smooth again, then drop the idle speed to 1000" ( or 1100 as I prefer it).
Juddering or \'bucking\' in higher gears at light throttle is a problem I think you have to live with. It seems necessary to dip the clutch on our FB from time to time if it gets onto a really bad section of road, ie when the gradient or trafic speed means its in high gear and it\'s not having to pull very hard. I have a road test report from the launch of the 1st Gen which suggests they all do this. I think its low inertia in the lightweight RX7 drive train which causes it.