Broken engine!

[Mike]

hi people, have had a problem with starting on my 93 Type-R so did the usual de-flood thing. No luck. So I've just gone and carried out a compression test...

First rotor (rear one), spot on! 85psi or there abouts. But hold on
no noise out of the front rotor whilst cranking.... so move on to
test this one and nothing! No compression at all! Is this normal? No!

The car was running fine, or seemed to be. How can one rotor be good and the other so bad? What would cause this failure, any ideas? It turns over fine, i.e. no 'nails in a washing machine noise'.

Anyway, which ever way you look at it I forsee a rebuild! :(

Where is a decent place to get it done/get parts from (I live in
Kent) and is it worth me trying or leaving it to the pros? I've done
piston lumps before, but this would be the first rotory rebuild.

Mike.

[Glenn Butcher]

Hello Mike,

Sorry to hear about your engine :(

If an Apex seal has failed, it could have potentially ground out a grove around the entire front rotor housing - hence not creating any compression in all chambers.

How many miles were on the car?

Any mods. to it?

Send a PM to Carl (http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=99) who is on this Forum.

He is very good with rotary engines, really knows his stuff.

Le us know how you go.

[Bobfish]

if the car was flooded and the engine has high miles, you could have washed away the coating of oil which facilitates compression.

Put a couple of tablespoons of oil in the spark plug hole and try starting her again.

[Martiny]

Or just squirt some in the little pipe for the boost gauge.

[John Yorke]

You should have a total of 6 compression readings, 3 from each rotor, 85psi sounds good but I would be a little suspect if you had 3 readings on one rotor all the same, are you sure you are doing this right?
As for building, if you have not tackled a rotary before, my advice would be to buy one of these re-build vidio's and follow the instructions very closely. The biggest worry as with all re-builds is cleanlyness and make sure you have all the correct gaps ect.
As for pro's have a look on the vendors list, unfortunatly none in the Kent area :(

[Bucky]

If the car wont start without ATF or any other oil then your f*cked. I have been there.

i got my scrap yard engine started on ATF and it ran on 1 rotor but very lumpy, I thought the rear was just f*cke till I stripped the engine down and seen the front and rear housings and they were both scored and can never be used again.

Sounds like an expensive rebuild cos once the apex seals go they take the rest of the engine with them the little b*stards.

i had good compression on the front rotor and it ran but when i stripped it down I **** myslelf. I can get pics of the housings to prove

[TRex]

Fantastic, trying to offer advise on a broken engine that happened more than '3 YEARS AGO'... :Hammer

And who said this club ain't helpfull..

[Bobfish]

LOL WHOOPS

Ive no idea how i managed to resurrect such an old thread!!

[TRex]

Lol, that car probably now has 2 or 3 rebuilds since then anyways.... :p

[Martiny]

Lol ................

[Mike]

Ha! :rollin Good to see people here are willing to offer their advice, if a little late. Thanks guys...

Mike.

[TRex]

By the way Mike, did you manage to get it sorted in the end.... :Giggle