Well it all started last Saturday morning, car was running fine. I decided to change the water pump since I had one anyway and the engine was losing a tiny bit of coolant, and I suspected the water pump seal.



Water pump job went more-or-less okay until I lost the bolt for the air pump bracket. After much searching I decided I'd just remove it entirely since the bolt had evidently gone to Tumbolia (same place where files you accidentally delete go). I also decided to remove the front part of the main pulley on the e-shaft since it wasn't being used.



Well I went to start it and there was a considerable bang. Car had almost started, then quit. Checked what the trouble was and like an idiot I'd forgotten to replace the bolts on the main pulley so it had come off the hub. So I fixed that, then tried to start it again. Wouldn't start. It had flooded. Pulled the plugs and tach connection (to disable the fuel pump), spun the engine a while, tried again, flooded again right away. Also the engine wasn't sounding good when cranking without the plugs, very uneven, so I checked the compression - front rotor good, rear rotor no compression on two chambers https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...O_DIR#>/11.gif



Tried to pull-start it hoping to knock loose what I thought to be a stuck apex seal; it started but blew massive amounts of blueish smoke, and wouldn't rev above 2800RPM even at WOT.



So I got some ATF, got about half a litre of it into the engine, let it sit for a couple days, cleared it out and checked compression again. Sounded a little better, also tested a little better, one chamber was good, one had about 50-70lb, one had nothing. Pull starting it had the same results as before except that the max RPM now was only 1800! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...R#>/violin.gif



So tell me o wise ones, what's my next step . . .



J

wierd, next step is check compression



mike

Pull her out and open her up. See what going on in her

I thought you rebuilt that motor?

Well sort of, I replaced the coolant seals. Didn't replace any of the rotor seals. That's what I can't understand, when I put the engine back together last September, all the rotor seals looked quite good, should've been good for a long while yet. That's why I'm having a lot of trouble believing that I have a blown apex seal. The other reason I can't believe it was that it was running fine in the morning, and how do you blow an apex seal with the engine shut off, I would like to know! So I think it's stuck . . . but I'm not sure whether it's just that, or is there something else I should be checking as well, or, or . . .



J

yeah, i dunno. compression test, and then go from there



mike

I did compression tests . . . first one, front rotor 100-100-100, rear rotor 0-100-0. After ATF soaking for two days, front 100-100-100, rear 70-100-0.



J

you have a bad corner/side seal i think



mike

its possible a piece carbon broke off and cracked a seal :(

That could be, there was surprisingly much carbon build-up on the plugs (so, I'm guessing, just as much in the chamber).



J