Leshrak

Damn... my car is not running well right now. It's the last day of school and i have apresentation and a test to take as well as two labs to turn in, so I drove in here anyway.... but im not sure if i can make it up the big hill on the weay home. Last night, pulling into the driveway I heard a "pow" sound, kinda like I hit something with my exhaust. My idle raised from 1000 to 2000 before I stopped. I had a shitload of work to do, so i figured I would work on it when I got home from school.

During the night it hailed and rained for a long period of time.
This morning it was still idling at 2000, I didn't have any time to mess with it, so I started driving to school. MASSIVE lack of power at all RPM ranges. backfires and popping galore. My exhaust sounds like metal. It sputters and surges under heavy gas.
At first I thought moisture opr something got in the dist cap from the rain. Pulled over and checked... dry. I continued to drive it to school, making arrangements if i cannot make it over the hill.

Sorry for the long post but i really need help, It's an hour long drive home, and im dangerously slow. I have no idea what could raise the idle to 2000, make the car run like crap, but not have any power in the higher rpms.

Even if my secondaries were stuck open i could still accelrate in the relly high revs.... I'm slower than a semi towing another semi.... ****, need help quick. Thanks in advance.

P.S. I have no timing light with me, shoulda grabbed it when i left. The tach works fine and it didn't stall on me.

Keaponlaffen

sounds like a broken apex seal Perhaps you should perform a compression test. The "Pow" noise - was it kinda metallic?

Jeff

error402

ditto

Leshrak

*WARNING* my thoughts are scattered today, read at your own risk

Actually that was the first thought I had this morning... which happened after I posted this message ( was up till 6am coding and only got 3 hours sleep.)

Would a broken apex seal raise my idle though? I mean, if it weren't for the idle raising I wouldn't be confused. Is a raised idle a typical symptom of a broken apex seal? P.S. I'm going to do the cheap sound checking way of checking for a broken apex seal as soon as the engine cools off when i get home, throw on the new dist coil, cap, and plugs I bought earlier this week.
If the apex seal is gone I think im going to try and follow piston pounders footsteps and shoot for a cheap halfbridge.

Maybe this is just my cars way of saying "don't save up for that TII swap... just get a 12a and learn how to port me"

/me gets the "crap I've got a broken apex seal and still have to drive home" blues.

For the record the engines currently at 191k miles, never smoked on start up (except when it had a MMO bath) and was generally a good girl. On the way home last night I was being very good to her, bought her up to redline 10 minutes after full warm up, and drove very midly and nicely the rest of the way.

P.S. Yea the Pow sound was rather metallic... as i heard I swear i thought "God I hope I hit something and that wasn't an apex seal"

SilverRocket

Doesn't sound good to me... but before you do anything else like replacing plugs or whatever, do the free 'home compression test'; search the forum for instructions.

Keaponlaffen

When my car's two rear rotor plug wires were undone (first time I ever started the car after putting the new engine in), the idle skyrocketed and sat at about 3500 rpm... don't ask me why.. it just did. After I connected them, the idle returned to normal. This would be the same as not having any compression on the rear rotor, so I'm assuming that having lost an apex seal would create this same situation. Especially since not having compression on a rotor would allow it to spin more free, and have less resistance.

Jeff

Leshrak

Damnit...... that's not the answer i was hoping for. Something along the lines of
"Your (insert $2 car part here) went out, but don't worry it's available in all stores, is easy to reach, and is colored bright pink so you can find it. It's only used for ( insert some obscure exhaust purpose here)."

Yea...... I got that "kicked in the face" feeling right now. Still going to do the compression test when i get home (friends bringing over a tester so I don't have to try and buy one on the way home). But it sounds like I'm going to be calling up junkyards for used engine prices and renting a cherry picker real soon.

P.S. Anyone know a good way to check how good an engine is in a junkyard? Heard you can check the apex seals through the exhaust ports... anything else?

Sterling

About your friend and the "checker"...I've read that on a piston engine compression checker, you'll have to remove the schrader valve inside for it to work on a rotary.

Also, yank your plugs, and see what they look like. If you could get a dental inspection mirror, you could hand spin the engine, and look directly at the seals from the plug hole.

Let us know the follow ups.

Leshrak

OK update on my condition.
Got home safe and sound without pissing off tooo many other motorists with my insanely slow speed. (On the hill I started at 73 in 4th since i was flooring it down hill for a good time, ended up going 23 in second at the end; I typically go 75 up the whole thing no sweat.)

Pulled the plugs to take the compression test.... front comes out black and oily, rear rotor comes out nice and whitish brown.
Go to take the compression...... absolutely nothing on the front rotor. Nothing at all, zlich. Looks like i lost two of em I suppose.
Rear is running about 60 I believe with nice even sounds galore.

I have now come to the conclusion: I lost an apex seal or so.

I will now be looking around the junkyards and pricing pulls. On the positive side it's going to make it easier to clean my engine bay, and I'll have a motor to pull apart and take a look at (possibly rebuilt and port as well if the housing isn't too fucked)

I'm going to go get shitfaced now, thanks for the advice, be back on tomorrow =]

piston pounder

Damn that sucks!. Dont you love the way these engines die!. I geuss I shouldnt have said anything about rebuilding your engine last week when we met!. So I should plan on doing a rebuild for you pretty soon?. Keep me informed!. Later Jami.

Keaponlaffen

Wouldn't black and oily discharge mean a blown oil seal? really blown? I dunno, I haven't got much experience with broken apex seals and such... And NO compressions whatsoever would mean two apex seals are gone, otherwise you'd still have one bounce on the needle... That's why I was wondering about oil seals...

Jeff