HELP I think my engine may be b*ggered!

[Doofry]

Hi guys,
          I\'m looking for some advice. I have a 55k jap FD3S, which as far as I know hasn\'t had a rebuild (I know its about that time that they go). It\'s seemed fine, always started fine, power felt fine, etc.

  The other night it all went worng. Luckily I was only about 1 mile from my home  when I\'d gave it a wee blast down to a roundabout (only to about 5-6k rpm), slowed down and when round the roundabout then went to accelerate and suddently my sweat rotary engine bogged down big time. I didn\'t fell or hear any mechanical or metallic noises and didn\'t see anything unusual coming from the exhaust in the mirror (it was night though). The best was I can describe it was of a really boggy response (i could only get to about 30mph) as if a plug lead was disconnected (though I doubt this to be the case ). I checked the temp guage and it was normal. So I thought if its a rotor then I\'m screwed anyway so I soldiered on and limped home. As I cam round my street I did notice a red warning ligth come on for a second, which I\'m sure said \'HEAT\'. As I said the temp guage was still normal. I let the engine cut out after this and free wheeled down the road and into my drive.

  I was looking for some advise as to how I go about diagnosing the problem. Honestly, I expect that knowing my luck its a rotor and I\'m going to need a rebuild and being in Glasgow I\'m not looking forward to trying to organise this. I\'d love to hear that it\'s maybe something less expensive like a cracked hose, etc. but I won\'t hold my breath, so....

  Should I start with trying to arrange a compression test? Would this be a good first step to see if its the rotors? Would the tips normally fail like this? I don\'t suppose there\'s anyone in the West of Scotland who\'d have the equipment and be kind enough to help me with this (I\'d pay obvoiusly) is there? If this doesn\'t look as if it\'s the problem what else should I check? And then can anyone recommend a good RX specialist in Central Scotland who could repair my baby? I\'m assuming if its a rebuild then the engine still needs to be sent down south?

  S....O....S....

[Doofry]

Sorry about the spelling in this post  :Hammer . I\'ve just re-read it and it\'s shocking....should have went to school more!

[iaint]

Could be the boost pipe to the map sensor popped off - this will make the car run really rough and quite smokey too.  Do a search for this one, there\'ll be details on how to look at it.

What ECU are you running?  If non-standard I know the Apexi uses the heat light (this is a cat heat light not engine temp) to indicate knock amongst other things.

ECU could also have gone into \'limp\' mode, maybe overboosting due to cold air?

Other vacuum hoses can case odd problems but it should run/rev okay if it were that.

Thinking about the CAT heat light coming on briefly - maybe the cat\'s blocked and the extra back-pressure would prevent the car from revving properly (would be more gradual though I think).

Probably not a boost leak - this would still rev but just no real power.

How does it run at idle now and what mods are you running?  It\'ll help \'diagnosis\'.

Maybe some of the scots members can shed some light on \'local\' garages that are FD savvy?

Iain

[Doofry]

Iain, thanks for the pointers. I\'ll check a couple of these points out tonight hopefully and then post an update. Hope it is one of these as I was hoping to get a new garage built this year rather than having my engine rebuilt.

[nikp]

Thinking about the CAT heat light coming on briefly - maybe the cat\'s blocked and the extra back-pressure would prevent the car from revving properly (would be more gradual though I think).

I was thinking this one. Maybe a chunk of the cat material has fallen off. These give consistent results of complete lack of power. Dunno if you can get these tested or anything!? You could try and take the CAT off (Very easy job to do) and turn it from one end to the other - if you hear something large sounding move or rattle, then that could be the case.

[Doofry]

hmmmm....if it were the CAT, how much are you talking for one. Or should I just get a decat pipe   ? I\'m assuming it still has a CAT at this point but it does have a 3" stainless zorst so it might not. Suppose I really need to get my head stuck under her....which isn\'t easy as they\'re bloody soo low. Ramps are a no no so i\'ll try my j-olley tr-ack and see if it gets under it.

[iaint]

hmmmm....if it were the CAT, how much are you talking for one. Or should I just get a decat pipe   ? I\'m assuming it still has a CAT at this point but it does have a 3" stainless zorst so it might not. Suppose I really need to get my head stuck under her....which isn\'t easy as they\'re bloody soo low. Ramps are a no no so i\'ll try my j-olley tr-ack and see if it gets under it.

A replacememnt cat would be expensive as a new part.  You may be able to get a 2nd-hand one cheaper but no gurantees on how healthy it is!  I opted for a slienced de-cat rather than streight-through pipe, makes getting on track days a little easier.

Iain

[Doofry]

Do any of you think it sounds like an f*cked rotor? Just wondering or are you all trying to be positive to begin with

[rx7veilside]

if uhave blown a tip or bad compression car will be hard to start especially when warm and will idle rough..if u have a boost gge the vac reading will be fluttering as the rotor runs thru its combustion cycle

[Doofry]

Ok I\'ll check this out also. To be honest I\'ve been scared to try starting it since this happened. Thought it\'d be safer to get some facts before I did incase I possibly caused more damage.

[Donato]

hi mate, i would suggest as Iain has said, first port of call is the map sensor, then check all the other vac pipes.

If you cant find it yourself, Marc at the garage in Wishaw would probably be the closest people that could have a look at it for you/

i would offer myself but im very busy at work at the moment..

Cheers

Donato

[sadgoth]

I\'ve managed to throw a tip in a Gen 1 and my FC! The effect is sudden and quite dramatic! Similar to the effects you described in fact sudden loss of power (like the car is running on half an engine strangely!) and a bugger to start from hot (or cold for that matter). The real test is whether you can start it easily. If you have actually physically thrown a tip, it may get caught in the exhaust port causing the engine to suddenly stop (quite surprising when you are moving at 20mph!) as the seal sticks between the housing and the rotor. I\'d check all your vacuum hoses as suggested check the plugs for signs of fouling, give the CAT an check and then try and start her up. Hopefully one of the other problems is the cause.

[Doofry]

Not looking good! I tried starting her last night (very cold and dark). Took a while to \'catch\' but did eventually run under it\'s own power, but still as before As Sadgoth described felt like it was running on half an engine - which it probably is

[iaint]

What mods do you have installed?  Pretty rare (but not unheard of) for a stock engine to throw a tip.

[sadgoth]

Still may not be the dreaded dead engine. Is there a rich petrol smell when it\'s idling? Could indcate unburt fuel which may mean fouled plug or plugs rather than boogered apex seals (I had that recently with my FC which after having spent out a new bridgeported engine I was more than a little scared when I started losing power!) At 55k the engine may be on it\'s way out, but the circa 60k is a guideline, not an absolute.