rx-7 not passing emissions, any ideas? Options

[ArizonaRed]

I know crap about rotory. My neighbor has an old rx-7 that wont pass emissions. He says it flies but he cant drive cuz emissions. He asked if i knew how to fix. I was thinking about making him an offer for it but i know nothing about an rx-7. any idea on how to get it to pass or any common probs?

[celicaST]

rotary engines tend to have bad mileage and poor emissions do to their design, which is exactly why you do not see more of them on the road. any number of factors could be causing the emission problem, the most severe of which would be a damaged rotor and or seal that would require an overhaul to fix. here is a basic explanation of rotary engines rotary engine

This post has been edited by celicaST: Aug 19, 2005 - 4:24 AM

[Newbie]

Ha ha ha, probably, one of the apex seals blew. Is it NA or TII? NA rotary engines tend to last longer, because of the fact that the apex seals don't go through much of stress as TII's seals do. I did hear that the FD version of the seals are stronger than the rest. It would be expensive to make it pass emissions, and even though you do, you are looking at very high maintenance and expensive costs.

But for some, it's all worth it.

[Clipsetuner]

Rotary's in nature burn oil to stay lubericated so baiscly its a pain to pass emissions. refer him to www.rx7club.com and they can point you in the right direction on which steps to take 1 at a time to make it pass.

newbie - blown apex seal it wouldent start, and if it would start if would sound horrific then shut off, FD seals arnt always better its regular maintence on the engine in genearl and seals will just randomly go all the time. Rotor heads I am sorta one know this and take this into consideration when owninn a rotary, but there is just something about a spinning Dorrito.

DTE

[SlowCelica94]

Well the FD's apex seals were 3mm verus the FC's 2mm seals. If he blew out an apex seal, the bitch would hardly drive.

The car's so old I wouldn't be surprised if it was a faulty cat (we have two i believe), also check the EGR system. I don't know how emission tests are done, but if possible, don't let the secondary injectors come online as they're setup to run rich. So basically, stay the hell outta boost.