slingo

I got my 1985 GS today, 5 speed, H1 paint code (black metallic, nicely oxidized..lol)
well, it runs....but..the transmission doesnt even catch, i had to be pushed home (ghetto!) but worked...gears wouldnt catch even going 40 i put it in 4th and it was as though it was in neutral..also the car wont idle (i did locate what looks to be a vacuum nipple that is disconnected but i dont have the haynes manual yet to find out where the other end is.) engine runs good, no smoke, bogs badly if i let it down to below 3k rpms though.. oh..also.. i noticed on the right side bottem their is a canister that has oil on it...havent located the source yet...

any suggestions ?? thanks in advance

inittab

Congrats! Well the tranny sounds like it's toast. Click here to find one in a junk yard nearby.

slingo

was thinking maybe slave cyl before but now that it wont engage in gear im worried more :| ...

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

congrats on getting the 7, dude!

sounds like the tranny is shot ... mine did the same thing. i could put it in 5th or Reverse and let up off the clutch fully, and the car would just sit there

going to have to be more specific on the vacuum hose, though.

duboisr

I would check the clutch first ,the clutch disk hub could be broken and nothing would turn , a bad trans will pull in 4th unless a shaft is broken.

slingo

i need to borrow a friends digital cam and take pictures of the before-work (restoration) shots and the after fixin up shots...since i dont have near the money to fully restore it... :| but anyway, the tranny is screwed, reverse grinds if i try to put it in gear without the clutch in, but all the others just act as though its neutral... im thinking pressure plate and probably some other stuff..going to buy some jack stands pretty soon... ill try to get a pictureo f the vacuum hose ASAP to show you guys...going to try to get the haynes manual also....their is a nipple behind the carb near the firewall that has several ports on it and one of them is open with no hose connected....thinking that MAYBE this is part of the idle problem...

slingo

i put it in 4th while i was being pushed and nothing happened..

slingo

oh, one more thing.....the storage bins..
the key to the door and ignition dont fit the storage bins on the car... is this normal? do i need a different key for the bins? or are my bins not original..

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

well, i think it's safe to say the tranny is dead. however, before condemning the tranny, i guess you can wait 'til you pull it down to see if maybe the disc exploded or something ... just to make sure. wish i coud be of more use, sorry.

i'm 90% sure i know exactly what you're talking about. it's pretty much where the exhaust starts to curve downward to go under the car, right? if that's the case, i don't remember what it's rightfully supposed to connect to, but if you're not worried about emissions, then just plug it.

Manntis

If the clutch is toast (as in nonexistant) it won't do anything in 4th or any other gear; whereas if the gears were bunged you'd get SOMEthing, esp. in 4th.

slingo

i really dont care about emissions at all (theirs more 18 wheelers on the road than their are heavy emission pumping vehicles, plus i see people running around POURING smoke all the time, so i really dont give a .....) but all in all i put my finger over the nipple and had my mother let off the gas, still doesnt idle...carl ooks like it was wired by monkeys on the inside (SOMEONE PUT IN AN AFTERMARKET STEREO AND SPLICED THE DIN OFF AND CUT THE CONSOLE...) theirs wires laying around, aftermarket horn installed (dont ask) and the original is still on the car... *sigh* its ghetto, but i'll fix it.. i love the way it handles (even though i got it on two wheels already when i was being pushed home taking a 90 degree turn at about 40mph... i noticed the reason why once i got home..one of the rear tires is on the front (the last owner had big tires on the back and small ones on the front) and one small tire on the left rear *sigh* so its sitting kind of strange..oh well, i get a new set of tires ASAP anyway..i just want to find the other end of that nipple so that i can find out if thats whats causing the idle problems..if thats not whats causing the problems i need to get the haynes manual and find out what is (then again i bet once i unbolt and remove the tranny it will function a little better, having that POS connected to is surely doesnt help the engines feelings.)

slingo

im still praying its JUST the slave cyl

Manntis

...or the master cylinder, for that matter, but then the clutch pedal would stay at the floor or something

slingo

well, the clutch moves up and down as though its working, but it feels like no resistance pushing it all the way in, and it doesnt engage the gears...car was only $200 and it has a straight body, which its always nice to have a good starting point for a project right?

Manntis

yup, 'specially as clutches aren't HUGE money...

slingo

not huge, but they can be a PITA..i think the bushings in the shifter are gone too, its insanely funny feeling when i sit with the clutch in with the car parked and shift, its rough...

Manntis

It's odd that your storage bins won't open with the key. I wonder if those li'l locks can be rekeyed to work?

When I bought my SE I got the main key which opens everything and a valet key which only operates the ignition and door locks - not the glovebox or storage bin locks. Perhaps you got just the valet key?

geikiganger

Just checking, but you're sure the nipple you found isn't the bleed nipple for the clutch, right?

85RX7GS

iTrader: (1)

Bogging: Not sure if you fixed it yet, but maybe your secondaries are stuck open or something's wrong with the linkage.
Stalling: Check the big fat hose on the passenger side that goes to a little grey box on the air canister. It may have a leak.
Trans: Maybe the trans is good but the clutch is bad. Drop the bell housing, trans and tail shaft and have a look at the inside. You might save yourself some money.

slingo

i think it is the bleed nipple *sigh* after further investigation it is on top of the tranny .. ive been so excited i forgot to think "maybe the gas gauge doesnt work" and put some gas in the car.. lol, ill be putting some in later... maybe it is just the valet key (i figured their was another key which operated those since you wouldnt want a mechanic or something in your storage bins... well i think its just out of gas, if i spray carb cleaner in the carb and crank, it idles at 850 or so for a few seconds and dies... probably going to get the car up in the driveway tonight..already broke 2 pieces of the interior while working on undoing the ghetto wiring someone did..the little defrost cover, i broke the last section in half reinstalling it, and the **** that moves the headread of the seats back and forth was sun rotted and cracked apart as soon as i touched it, im thnking of ordering a digital camera from surpluscomputers for $10.00 so that i can give you guys some pictures (its nothing great, but hey, it'll show you guys my ghetto car, and the not so ghetto product..also i think the oil leak may be the o-ring for the oil cooler (if this part exists) since the oil is coming from around a small canister on the lower right front of the engine... the car has 107K miles on the original engine (cobwebs in the engine bay and all ) and im very proud...it has autolite spark plugs and a new distributer that the guy who had it last put in it (he ripped the clutch out of it and bought a chevy to replace the rx-7..) i took the air cleaner apart today and did what the haynes manual says about checking the idle compensation valve, it is pretty tightly sealed, but i was able to open it with my finger putting enough pressure on the bottem of it... so i suppose thats the correct working manner..i cleaned the wheels up and gave her a bath last night, looks better, didnt do crap to the oxidation (didnt expect it to, but it got the bird crap off the car) the wheels are almost mint, minus one center cap on a rear wheel
...anyway...

jr69187

bad thing autolite plugs get rid of them quick. get ngks unless this person knew what they were doing to a rotary those plugs can cause some big problems.

jr

geikiganger

Already started busting up interior pieces, eh? Welcome to your first 20 year old Mazda interior . I've started just making my own interior pieces or cobbling them together from other auto-makes. Sadly, it's darn near impossible to find decent orginal interior parts from junkers.

$200 ain't bad, especially if the engine is running. If you can find another RX laying about for that much you can usually cobble two together for something decent at a bargain price.

Another, 'just to check', but you have clutch fluid, right? It's not impossible that your master and slave are shot (though I'm inclined to think it's the clutch too). If you look around on ebay and the net, you can probably get both of them for about $40 new. It might be worth replacing them anyway...they do seem to have a tendency to crud out. Then you can rule out another possibility.

EL PAALO

My clutch release (slave) cylinder went out week before last. The clutch pedal did the same as yours. Van's (the import parts store in Austin) had a NEW part for $15. Somebody screwed up the price, obviously, but I didn't mind. Replace the master and slave cylinders (AND hoses) first. It could be that simple.

Good luck.

slingo

well, i got the car to idle for about 10 minutes..the choke was jammed or something, it created ap erfect idle so now im inclined to believe that somethings wrong with the idle system..... and another problem..the cars getting insanely hot, insanely quick..overheated and spewing out the overflow..doesnt look good for this car at all... *sigh*

ok after it idled for a while, i cut it off and went to fix the choke, got back in the car, same crap, no idle, if i let off the pedal... thats the end.. should i adjust the cable on the choke so that it pulls it tight enough to idle with the choke all the way in?

slingo

arg ok i found another possible problem..
the distributer cap is marked with T / T1 / T2, T being the input from the coil ... T1 and T2 are connected to the front rotor (closest to front of car), and the frontmost coil..shouldnt it be connected to the rear rotor and the rear coil...

btw, dont think water pump is working, car is getting insanely hot, after the car stops i can hear water boiling somewhere... my assumption is the water pump, anyone have any thing else it could be?

edit: by looking in the haynes manual i see that my coolant reservoir cap is missing as well as the hose that leads from the radiator cap to the coolant reservoir cap... hum.. / i knew the small reservoir cap was gone but didnt know their was a hose that connected the two caps..hmmm