Barry Gardner wrote:

Paul wrote: "Here is the reason it would not idle. This cracked
rubber hose was underneath the smog pump and hidden from sight.
It fed air to the turbo from the mass airflow sensor."

I had to laugh when I read that, Paul. After 12 years on the
road, they ALL--or nearly all--have that problem. To think that a
guy was willing to give away a car because of that most-common
problem is incredible. On second thought, maybe that's not
incredible; what's incredible is that someone could take it to
mechanics for a year and a half and not have someone find the air
leak.

If anyone out there has a Turbo II with a lumpy idle--it sounds
like a big race cam in a piston car--look for a crack like the
one on Paul's picture. The thing to do is spray starting fluid
around all your hoses to see if the idle increases. If it goes
up, bingo, you've got a leak.

Frankly, the biggest issue for maintaining RX7s is that no one
knows much about them any more. I saw one outside a mechanic's
shop the other day, so I stopped in to see what the problem was,
just out of curiosity. I talked to the mechanic and he confessed
to HATING working on them. He said, "They're wierd. I don't know
what to do with them, really." Then he proceeded to give me the
symptoms for this one and told me how he'd "fixed" it. The car
wouldn't start, so he changed all the plugs, wires, etc. It
starts now, he says. I'll give you dollars to donuts that the guy
has a leaking fuel injector causing a flooding problem--another
extremely common problem. The mechanic won't be able to "fix" it
next time and another owner will conclude that "those rotary
engines are nothing but trouble."

Glad the car worked out for you, Paul.

Barry Gardner
Wheaton, IL

Wait till a lot of these new OBD II cars get old and hit the shops.
I worked on my 94 Cougar for six months. Took it to two different Ford dealers
with totally different diagnoses. Turned out to be an almost invisible speck
of dust on the mass air flow sensor wire. The latest thing is the auto transmission
could not make up its mind on what gear it wanted to be in around 50 to 60 MPH
for almost six months. Turned out to be a loose connection INSIDE the Motorcraft 
battery. I never would have figured this out until one day the car refused to start.
The horn blew and the lights were bright but when you hit the starter switch
the battery went dead. These computer cars operate in mysteries ways.

Paul Lamar
 
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