twinsinside

iTrader: (34)

It sounds like the car is on the edge of eating you alive. About 70k on the engine, all original parts, coolant issues, emissions issues....it's going to go downhill fast.

With less than $800 a month I don't see how you can keep it on the road, $800 is a light snack for an aging FD that is going to need some major investments very soon. Gas alone is going to take a lot of your monthly income.

I know it's not what you want to hear, but there aren't many cars worse than this one in your situation.

cewrx7r1

iTrader: (2)

You have two weeks to take it back for a second free test.
(1) Change the oil and filter.
(2) Disconnect the hose to the purge valve so the ecu can not dump fuel vapors into the intake.
(3) I use to put in 1 gallon of ethanol for about 1/8 to 1/4 tank fuel.
E85 could be mixed in your tank to do the rest. No boosting allowed with this mixture.
(4) Take the car out and get it hot before going to the shop and if they can not take it immediately, leave it idleing so it remains hot.

adam c

iTrader: (2)

If he sells the car, he isn't going to get much for it since it won't pass smog.

Keep the car. Get a bicycle. Save some money. Drive the car only when you have to.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

for the guys saying to try the alcohol trick, lets put it this way... look at his test figures, he is over 10 TIMES THE LIMIT! meaning he would have to dillute his fuel down 90%!!!! the car would hardly run under those conditions let alone make it to the testing station.... the car has major issues that need to be dealt with so he needs to sell it because he is already in debt, so let's not give him false hopes.

trade or sell it, there is no way you can trick yourself that you can work around this regardless of what us rotorheads tell you that you can do to try and keep it. this **** is a no brainer.. attempting to fix it can possibly put him further into the hole and i will not try to do that to someone just so that they can try to keep a slow-ish automatic FD that will need more work done soon because of it's age and mileage. keeping all of that in mind, your car is running so rich that the gas mileage alone must be eating you alive in town. what would cause an issue like that? a stuck FPR, filthy injectors, major vacuum leak past the throttle body, MAP sensor on it's way out the door, crimped fuel return line to the tank, spark plugs with nonexistent electrodes, etc, etc, etc, this all adds up to neglect of the car as it sits meaning it needs TLC and money, money he doesn't have. all of this with the internal coolant leak as the cherry on top of the cake.

hell, even a moped or motorcycle would be an alternative. holding onto the car can be an issue in and of itself, if it's left outdoors(possible theft or body damage) if he has no garage or in wasted tag fees/insurance to get it going again when he can afford it. it is turning into a money pit, one he can't afford. don't be one of those people who won't ride public transportation, take a job because it's beneath you or try to hold onto something just because you want to because it will cost you more in the end just trying to hold onto it, it's time for someone else to put that TLC into it while you work things out for yourself. i've sold many things i held dear because eating is something i would prefer over starving in the name of seeing an object stick with me. in the end is it worth eating ramen, bread and water as bills pile up to save the stock automatic FD that needs work? probably not, it isn't one of a kind so you can buy another later.

MattGold

iTrader: (113)

The Thermostat is the LAST of your problems. You sir are sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Take the advice, sell the car, humble yourself in a Civic or Kia, or else the $300 your borrowed this time will be $3000-$4000 next time.

You overheated it, that motor is on it's way out. The ship is sinking.

Bryan Jacobs

iTrader: (66)

if you are adding coolant every few days most likely your coolant seal is done, and like a previous poster said you can drive on this for a while if your careful, but the engine is essentially done. sell the car and get another one when your job situation improves.

wstrohm

With that much CO and HC present in the exhaust, the car should be putting out black smoke. Is it?

CYD

I heard that "someone" used the inlet hose to the Cat, and plumbed a hose into an electric air/smog pump off a corvette/Camaro ($100 from ebay), and turned the fan on to pump fresh air into the cat...this helps a lot. YMMV.

~CYD

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

the cat CANNOT eat 1300 hydrocarbons no matter if you set if on fire with a blowtorch or drop it in molten lava before reinstalling it and putting it on the test machine. even the best of catalytic converters can only eat up to maybe 1000, while carboning themselves up. fuel needs to be removed from the system, plain and simple. but you can't just tell the stock ECU to stop dumping fuel, you have to diagnose why it is doing it and repair it. unless the test was performed while the car was stone cold, those figures are out of range of any tricks you could perform.

Gringo Grande

iTrader: (97)

Blow Engine...automatic. Depending on the interior and overall condition of the car...questionable at the moment...he might get 4k for it.

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (160)

They still test car that's older than 96? We stopped testing OBD-I in IL like 3 years ago.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

grats to you... in california they cut the emissions standard by about 75% making it stricter! not all states are equal.

merc 93

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions.

All I know about the condition of the car is that it starts, runs and does everything but A/C perfectly. No smoke out the tailpipe upon start or any other time. Our other vehicle is a 10 year old SUV with 200K on it and it is that engine which worries me most.

Also, buying someone elses $4000 old POS has never worked out for me since in most cases they wouldn't be selling it unless it was about to cost them alot of money to keep running. Maybe I should search the obits and look for a little old dead lady who owned some 2000 Honda with 40K miles on it?

Looked into getting the RX7 worked on to get it to pass emissions and was told that at the least it needed a new catalytic converter and it would cost $600 or more since apparently, you can no longer buy a CC but must "make" one for the car?

We are probably looking at just using the car as is and keeping the fail inspection paperwork in the car to show a cop if we get stopped. Hopefully, if we get stopped the cop will be as much anti-enviro-wacko as I am and he will let me go without a ticket?

And, our house has a 3 car garage(since someone asked).

As for bad decisions, the only one which I regret is accepting the early retirement package from my job of 30 years... who'd have thought that I wouldn't be able to get anything remotely close to that job ever again? At this point we are stuck with what we got and unless we win the lottery or I can get a good job again, things are just gonna get worse with time.

Thanks again to everyone who offered help and advice.

Force13B

iTrader: (19)

High flow cat is 325$
http://www.rx7store.net/category_s/199.htm
Or 420$ for Bonez
http://www.rx7.com/store/rx7/fdexhaust.html

I don't think it's the cat. New o2 sensor, new plugs, new wires, oil change then take it back and test it again post up the results.

merc 93

Thanks Force!

What does a new O2 sensor cost(EDIT- looks like I can get one for around $65 and it looks to just screw in somewhere?) and is it something I can do myself? It got an oil change about 2 months ago, but plugs and wires are original(I am ashamed to say).

Also, someone mentioned disconnecting the hose to the purge valve so the ecu can not dump fuel vapors into the intake. Is this easy to do and where is this hose/purge valve located?

Oh, and someone else said my idle is too low, and I turned it up about 400RPM... will that help too?

If nothing else this problem is finally educating me about the car which I've owned for 18 years....

Force13B

iTrader: (19)

2 months and how many miles? An oil change on an FD should be changed ever 1500 if not sooner do to fuel dilution in your oil. It sounds silly but an oil change will help out quite a bit. There are numerous threads on here talking about passing emissions esp. for those of us that live in CA with much stricter policies.

NGK is 41$ Bosh is 71$ you can get them at Napa. If you look at your downpipe you can see it sticking out, i don't know how else to explain it. That should help out the high CO. I don't know if it will cut it down 10x but it will help.

The purge valve plugs into the back of of the intake elbow going into your throttle body.

Honestly man this car can and will eat you alive. With the questions you've asked so far it seems you have a tall task on your hands especially with someone in your current situation. Don't bankrupt yourself for a car.

merc 93

Thanks again Force!

So, if I combine most of the suggested "fixes", I end up with this list:
- replace O2 sensor
- change plugs and plug wires
- change oil and filter
- disconnect hose from purge valve
- get the car really hot before testing
- dump in 1 gal of ethanol alchohol(where do you buy that and do I do it right before testing or should I dump it in prior to getting the car really hot?) to mix with about a 1/4 tank of premium gas

Anything I missed???

Should I take it back to the place where it failed, and have them do the oil/filter change before retesting, or should I take it somewhere else where I would be starting new?

limepro

iTrader: (2)

You can get a reliable car for around $1500, my suggestion would be sell it get what you can and save the rest. I would think about my family before a car, but we all have different priorities. Parts are also cheaper and easy to install on say a Mercury with a 4.6 that can be had for 1-2k. A 96 Honda will run you around $1500 for the base model and get you decent gas mileage. If it were me I would sell the car to someone who would actually be able to take care of it and bring it to the condition it should be at. If Texas is like Cali or at least when I lived there, if you fail so many times and can prove you spent so much trying to fix it they will allow you to register it. But to drive without it smogged/registered will cost you quite a bit if you get caught. Then if you don't have the money to pay the fees/court costs, you lose your license and then a car at that point is a moot point. I had my rx-8 for 4 years, after I had some problems it was the first thing to go, instead I drive a crappy v6 mustang, it gets me back and forth between home, school and work. Once I pay for my wedding since I am in a better place now I will have the 7 that I want. Just get your priorities straight, if a car comes before paying for your house or food for your family something is wrong. Personally I would sell the car for what I could, buy something cheaper and use the leftover to take care of bills/food/etc.

As for buying someone elses junker, a few years ago I wanted a cheap truck to make dump runs. I bought a Dodge of all things 85 with 300k on the clock. That thing fired up every time and ran wonderfully. It had its problems but nothing that didn't make me laugh and it till kept going. I got rid of it after having it for a couple years because the transmission went on it. Spent $500 on the car drove it 2 years and sold it to a junker for $100, I think I got my money's worth out of it. Don't forget when you are buying a used car you can stop by any shop and have it checked out, they may charge you $20 but its better than a $2k mistake.

Force13B

iTrader: (19)

Do the oil change yourself it's cheaper. I don't think it matters where you take it.

merc 93

Sure, but I was thinking that giving the inspection station that business might help them find a way to pass the car... just like they did last year, BTW.

Did i mention previously that this same shop passed my car last year but when they looked at last year's record of my cars inspection on their computer, it showed my car had failed emissions last year too??? When I asked about that, the guy said that the inspector must have gotten it to pass somehow and just not updated their computer records....

Last year, besides the inspection, I had an oil change and coolant system flush and fill for a total of around $160 not counting inspection fee.

1TxRx7

iTrader: (16)

Pm'd ,tossed ya a bone..

Force13B

iTrader: (19)

I think you answered your own question right there. I'd take it back to them.

limepro

iTrader: (2)

In NC they do the inspection, they just switched the system so now anyone that does inspections is linked to the same computer. There is no way to "pass" a car under the new system, my father does inspections everyday. Not sure if Texas went to that system too but they may have.

merc 93

Thanks for the suggestions limepro.

Our FD is registered(cost me around $60 last month) so at least that is good and of course, it is insured too. If God forbid, it caught fire and was destroyed, I'd probably get more in insurance than if I tried to sell it without a valid inspection sticker and a history of failing emissions?

Supernaut

iTrader: (83)

You can do classic car insurance then stop when its time to check your mileage and go back to regular insurance.