Rotor Tips

[Woodsy]

Afternoon All,
 
Ive just had my car delivered today to the local garage thats prep-ing the car for uk roads and they suspect the Rotar Tips may be on the way out due to the smoke that coming out of the exhuast.
 
Now i think there are lots more things this could be, especially as the car has been sitting for about 4 months hardly moving.  
 
Does anyone know what i should be looking out for, or how to decifer weather my rotar tips are on the way out?
 
thanks all in advance.

[pdtaylor18]

Lets put the Rotor tips to one side for now as the only way to tell is a compression check.  Firstly oil can be introduced in several ways:
Oil metering pump
blown seal somewhere inside
turbo

As it has been sat for so long i would have given it a good blast along the roads to get everything working and settled and to clear the cobwebs and then pick away at the causes.  Check the exhaust and see what oil is in there, my turbo went on me and it took ages for oil smoke to go away, in the end i changed the exhaust, usually collects in the mid/2nd cat.

attached the lube PDF info if its of any help.

Also because this car has come from Japan then sometimes you have to suspect that there may have been engine trouble as the reason why the get rid of them, but hopefully it may be that the engine just needs to be loosened up as the tips may be just stuck a little after such a long period not being used.

[johnf]

I\'m no expert but I\'d be looking at what colour the smoke is, this may help

define if it is oil or water.

John

[Prof]

A little smoke is expected on startup
 
White smoke could indicate water getting into the combustion - let the engine run a little and see if the smoke stops.  It could also be the result of too much fuel in the combustion
 
Black smoke is very rich combustion - possibly leaking / flooding injector - but your going to be able to smell both the above.
 
It\'s possible a lot of fuel got into the engine as it hasn\'t been started a while - so as Pete says - if you can take it for a good shakedown then it would be a good idea.
 
Also, try restarting the car from hot and also from cold - is it hard to start ? Does it idle steadily ?  Are there any dead spots in the rev range ?
 
Finally blue smoke - oil - bound to be some if it\'s been sat a while - but after a good workout, it should disappear - if it\'s smoking constantly, then there is an issue somewhere - as Pete said it could be seals, it could be turbo.  Might be worth checking oil level and making sure it wasn\'t over filled as well.

[Woodsy]

Well i havent had a chance to start it from cold yet but from hot it starts beautifully. When i went round to see it the guy had only just started it and there was some blue smoke coming from the exhausts. By the time i got there it was only minimal.
 
I took it out and gave it a quick blast and didnt seem to see any smoke, also when i got it back to the yard no smoke was coming from the exhaust. The drive was smooth (well apart from how hard the ride is, gotta love coilovers) and there was no dead spot in the rev range.
 
Im sure im worrying for nothing but i just wanted to check.
 
I would think that when a company ships a car they would remove the plugs and drop a small amout of oil in the wells to stop them ceasing up, if they did this im guessing on first start up it would smoke a little whilst burning it off. Does anyone know if this is a proceduer that import/exporters would follow?
 
Thanks for all your help on this :o

[ro284]

I would think that when a company ships a car they would remove the plugs and drop a small amout of oil in the wells to stop them ceasing up, if they did this im guessing on first start up it would smoke a little whilst burning it off. Does anyone know if this is a proceduer that import/exporters would follow?

I would not have thought they would risk fouling the plugs up, so that the engine would not start when the car arrived! myself, apart from that unless they turned the engine over slowly by hand the oil would only go into 2 chambers out of the six!

Im sure im worrying for nothing but i just wanted to check.

I think your right there, all seems fine from the sound of it.

[pdtaylor18]

These cars comer from the Auctions,pretty much the only way the japanese do business so they are sometimes sat for months the other end.  Some could have sat still for 3-4 months before it reaches you !!!  I very much doubt that anyone the other side would touch the car apart from stealing anything they can(and they do quite often).
Sounds the smoke was a bit of a false alarm, you will always get some smoke at start so unless the garage has seen RX\'s before then he would never know.
Be nice to see your car in the flesh.

[D2BBA]

Fingers crossed all is well mate, welcome to the joys of rotary ownership

Make sure to get some pics up when you get her home and washed

Chris

[Woodsy]

Dont worry ill get some pics up when shes back on my driveway and clean and ill be at the first sho that comes round.
 
On the stealing front, you were right. They had the gear shifter and both rear speakers, Broke the rear speaker casing in the process.
 
Anyone know of anyone thats breaking an old RX that i may be able to get some interior parts from?

[Woodsy]

oh btw, thank you all for the advice. you\'ve put my mind at rest :-)

[TiddlesRX7]

I\'m breaking a red TII. Think i\'ve got the rear speaker cases. Post a pic up of which bit it is thats broken and i\'ll have a look next time im at the car. The gear lever is a bit mankey though so I don\'t think you\'d want it. You can buy nice shinny ones pretty cheep nowerdays though!

[antnicuk]

if you have taken your car to someone who tells your tips are on their way out as its smoking, remove your car from them asap and take it to someone who knows what they are talking about!!

Tips are not like piston rings, they dont make a car smoke if they fail!  If you smash your tips to pieces and fire them out of the exhaust it still wont smoke!  Could be a worn turbo, because its been sat or your oil control rings worn,  probably in that order.

[Woodsy]

Ok so the car came back from the MOT centre today with a failure on the emisions test. Apart from this the car seems to be ok.
 
Any ideas on why the car might be kicking out to much co2?
 
Im going to do a full oil change and see if this helps but if anyone has any suggestions id welcome them :-)

[Nick The Doctor]

Hi Ya woodsy
Nice purchase there mate , I know this car did not come from auction site as it was owned my non other than Daijoru Inada of Video Option and the man behind the D1 Grand Prix also the engine on that car was rebuiltby non other than RE Amimeya 6 months ago , so you sure got a sweet car there , Andy is a good bloke and always advices on problems of cars before they leave Japan as i have bought a good few cars from him in the past , iam sure your worried about nothing , we have had skylines ect in and they all smoke for a bit when they arrive after sitting for so long as it not as if there sitting still on the bumpy waves from japan to the UK , once they have had a good run they run sweet as , must remember to put good old V power from shell in the old girl .
 
Cant wait to see more pictures

[Woodsy]

Hi Nick,
 
thanks for you thoughts mate. Im hoping i am worrying about nothing. its my first rotary though so im a bit edgy.
 
Is Nick one of the guys from powervehicles? ive been dealing with Emily.
 
Im sure the smoke issues will resolve themselves with a good ole blast but im still a bit concerned about the emisions, there has to be a problem somewhere for it to fail an MOT :-s