Cutting my losses on my rx7

[lanciachris]

Learning experience accepted, moving on. My gut said \'there something not right here\' when i looked at the car, but my head couldnt spot anything, so I ignored my instinct.

The final straw was the insistent bzz of the add coolant warning yesterday as i set off home from work. Whilst there was no drastic loss of coolant - the quantity was only just at the low marker on the header tank, the temperature gauge now reads halfway up it rather than about 1/3 as it used to.

There is a small drip beneath the car after its been running.. i guess the water seals are on the way out. Cant see anything at the base of the rad to suggest its that

[ds2000]

Could be and is more likely a coolant line that\'s on its way out.

Jack the car up (with stands), let it warm up to normal temperature and carefully get underneath and see if you can see where the drips are coming from.

If you can\'t; get someone to hold her at 3000rpm and have another look.  This will pressurise the system and should revile any hidden leaks.

[grinder]

i never used the header tank as a guage - i always take the caps off and fill from that point

dont know why - i just do and never had a problem

try it that way - it might be airlocked ??

Stu

[lanciachris]

I will definately check these points, but im really losing any trust in the car which is a shame, as when its working its great!

[ds2000]

Personally I wouldn\'t loose trust, make sure you have AA cover instead

I bought mine 2 years ago, only used it for 2 months before the turbo hoses started leaking.  A lot of my time later and I finally got her started again this weekend.

Without being rude, its almost expected that you\'ll have some issues when owning an RX-7

[grinder]

if its running great then dont worry about it

my old EGI used to use 1 litre of oil every 100 miles - didnt worry me one bit

[lanciachris]

But its not running great

This series of little issues just makes me thing the car hasnt had enough care in the past... little things like speakers not being connected, wrong fuses etc.

This weekend will be more tinkering I think, but if stuff isnt improving after that.. well ill just run it till it pops as ill never get my money back!

Current problems -
wont idle, just stalls at lights etc once its warmed up
misfire under load (ht leads are quite bad - replacing)
coolant loss
Gets through about half a tanks worth of petrol in 100 miles
sump gasket looks to be a bit iffy
heater has 2 settings. warm, and hotttt

If i can get past the first 3 problems ill be happy...

Last thought - if anyone lives anywhere near Frome and knows their way around these cars and how they should behave id apprecaite their opinion - will reward with beer or whatever

[grinder]

the idle - thats a worry i suppose - but if its got a bad spark - that could cause this ( plug leads )

misfire under load - never had this so cant really help - sorry

coolant loss - hummm could be a few things - i would get it running then look into this

the 100 miles to half a tank - dont worry about this - thats normal

Stu

[lanciachris]

100 miles half a tank is normal??!



Oh well i suppose its less thirsty than my xjs was, and i havent even had to jump out of it for fear of it going up in flames yet.

Just spoken to magnecor who said they had to recheck the plans for the non-turbo non-pas version as they had feedback that the coil leads werent the right length. They are all sorted now though so once the ignition system is in order I can have a decent attempt at figuring out whats wrong with the thing.

Thinking back the idle problems started after the battery was flatted by me.. would disconnecting it and reconnecting it \'reset\' the ecu or is the egi not fussy like that?

[Brett]

Sounds like you are doing OK mpg wise, I used to get around 140-180 from a tank in mine

 Change your leads and plugs if at all iffy.  Whats the history of the car? is it Turbo or n/a, how miles has it done?

[lanciachris]

Its a n/a and its done 125k

so... filler cap in the middle eh..

*looks at boiling coolant and expansion tank forcing coolant out the top*

crap.

Fingers crossed i didnt destroy it yet.. ill actually fill it this time i guess...

[grinder]

i have seen cars with that problem - usually down to a faulty cap - start cheap and work upwards

[Brett]

Open the top filler cap and fill it until its full up.  
Gently squeeze the top rad hose a few times (should get a little air expelled)
Leave the cap off and start the engine, if theres any air in there the level will drop a little, top up as needed.
After a minute or so refit the top cap.
Hold a hand on the top rad hose, once the water reaches 82deg the thermostat should open up and you will feel the top hose get warm.

[lanciachris]

I am in a better frame of mind today having thought about it... this problem started about when the air pump was removed, and absence of any coolant leaks except when its hot.... went and checked.. massive amounts of slack in the fan belt (now being the only thing that drives the water pump et all).

Unfortunately no mazda dealer in the immediate locality, so ill have to try a halfrauds belt and see if that makes an improvement. If it does ill go hunting for a proper belt.

The only thing that doesnt match this theory is that theres no sign of the battery going flat

[lanciachris]

update...

The only thing that didnt match, now matches. Replaced the fan belt and leads today and went to start it.. battery flat.

Old fan belt was horribly perished and cracked.

Tune in tomorrow for more updates