Another GS SE - #3 - Acquired 4/28/2013

[ganue]

Got another one so I'm starting a new worklog. See story, below.

History = http://mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=65033

4/28/2013 =



So we sold the last GS SE - KLZE + LSD to another member here. He happily drove home from the Detroit burbs back to the Pittsburgh area. Gave him extra stuff, got rid of everything MX-3, sold off an intake manifold, some rear mud guards - basically cleared the place of all MX-3 stuff save for a K801 ECU for whatever reason. Even posted all my manuals for sale here to. Thought I was done.

See, we built the old car in 2009 and drove it until April 2013. My daughter was the last recipient of the car and even got her Michigan driver's license in the car. Good thing the tester isn't required to do emissions checks before the driving test. So she came to kind of like the car. Time goes on, she goes to University of Kentucky and its time to buy another car with unquestionable reliability. The old car had 166,000 miles on it and about 75,000 or so on the engine. Brand new? Well rust was creeping in and it needed to go to a better home. And it is.

So we are innocently looking at other cars for her and Jovian2k goes and posts this:

http://mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=80857

Well, we have rescued 2 others and the short story is that she really wanted her Raspberry Metallic car back. So you know what we had to do. We hauled it back to Michigan on Sunday, April 28, 2013. Here's the car's story - broken and with my embellishments but probably not too far from reality. This is boring so I am really documenting it for myself here - go below for the techie stuff.

So the car really does only have 77,000 miles on it. Here's what I can piece together - if anyone has a CarFax available punch in this VIN to corroborate - JM1EC432P0234007 and tell me how far off I am:

1) Original buyer bought the car in Williamsville, New York, a Buffalo suburb.
2) Drove it 57,160 miles and sold
3) Vehicle was sold in Dublin, Ohio on August 23, 2002, to owner number 2 who was described as an elderly couple.
4) Vehicle stopped running in 2012 with 77,000 miles on it.
5) Gentleman tried working on the car - looked like he was trying to examine valve timing
6) Front valve cover was in the passenger seat, distributor off and labeled, air silencer removed.
7) Supposedly the elderly guy got sick around the time he worked on the car and ended up, sadly, dying.
8 ) Wife couldn't come to part with the vehicle for a year and finally - probably - let it go for scrap to a dealer of "mechanic's specials".
9) Posted on Craigslist - not sure when
10) Jovian2k posts as shown above
11) We pick up the car on the 28th of April, 2013

When my son and I got to it tonight - April 30, 2013, as we have come accustomed to, we put everything back together after lubing the year long exposed cams on the front head and tried to run the car. After some effort the car started. We ran it at idle and it settled down and purred nicely. Maybe a miss on one cylinder but that should go away after a while too [edit 5/14/2013 - miss was self induced. Sometimes when you actually plug in cylinder #6's spark plug wire to the distributor it works better] . As it was warming up it simply turned off on its own. Its like ignition was cut but when it is in this mode there is quite evidently no fuel.

So - hypotheses:

1) Fuel pump - but it simply cuts out - doesn't fade to black like I would expect. NOPE
2) Fuel filter - looks original - need to replace that no matter what but probably is not the cause NOPE
3) Electrical - we swapped the K801 ECU with the known good one I have and same results. NOPE
4) Electrical - Crank sensor - highest priority right now. NOPE - but have a new one now
5) Infamous distributor issues? YUP!!

Objective, a fun reliable car for my daughter's next 3 (or 4) years. At 77,000 miles, if we can resolve this issue, it should last years.

Other known effort - it seems like these cars do not like to sit for long periods of time. The rear subframe and suspension is quite rusty. Good thing we are driving back from Arizona soon AND there is a V6 MX-3 in a yard ready to be picked. No rust there!! Goal is to transfer the whole Arizona rear subframe and suspension, less knuckles and bearing, to this car. Then, outside of a bit of rust in the lower front fenders (I'm guessing from plugged sunroof vent hoses), the car should be very good to go forward with.

More to follow. Pics to follow too.

[MrMazda92]

From experience, take the entire subframe with the spindles. Pick the better set of hubs and brakes, but avoid the PITA of removing the bolts from the subframe.

That'll shave an hour + off your time, unless the spindles cost a lot more than a bare subframe.

[Surgeonasst222]

I doubt u will ever need any help... But your have my number Gary

Good luck!

[ganue]

Haha!! Mr Mazda - agreed relative to the removal from the donor car - everything goes - no sense messing with it out there. I would probably need to do bearings in the donor vehicle's subframe anyway so I figured I would just swap in the exiting ones into the Az subframe when I got home. I'll have time then.

Ordered a new OEM crank sensor and OEM distributor. Not messing around. Just swap it all. Ran it again tonight. This time we quite obviously had fuel and no spark once it died and was re-cranked.

My vote:

80% Disty
10% crank sensor
10%

And as she sits - in the place formally occupied by the RX-7:

[wytbishop]

I had a distributor once that worked when it was cold but started to miss as the car warmed up. Try a distributor that you know works.

[ganue]

Mmmmmhmmm. New one on its way.

[clunet]

Make sure the ingnitor module is new, and not just tested and passed on to you in a rebuild distributor. The ingnitor module is the #1 problem with the distributor on the K08. Mine died in my 93 GS with no notice in Dec 11. This ignitor module was the upgraded brand new one that I replaced my stock one with in 99. It lasted 12 years, but they can die anytime after they get some years on them. They can also test fine on a bench and fail when in use, so new is the only safe bet.

Good luck on the distributor.

Great find on the 93 SE... wish I could have been closer so I could have gotten it

Later,
Tim

[ganue]

Thanks for the heads up. Good point. The "new" one is coming from a Mazda dealer so it better be brand spanking new and not rebuilt. God knows I'm paying for new!!!

[mx3_ryder]

Car will still spark with bad crank sensor... Probably didn't need one of those but never hurts. I vote 99 % on the distributor.

[mitmaks]

That's a nice score for $500

[ganue]

Was more than $500 but I had a mental model of spending money on an engine swap. Its fantastic that the engine seems to be ok (at the moment). Does seem to be missing on one cylinder but I'm optimistic that that will clear up once we can get full heat into the engine. Can't yet.

[clunet]

Do you know when the timing belt and water pump were done last time? At 77K it should have had both plus a tensioner at ~ 60K. Those are all important preventive maintenance items to look at one you have it running again. If you have any HLA tapping, running a quart of ATF in the engine for 15-20 min right before changing the oil/filter might be a good idea on an engine that has sat for so long...

[ganue]

Timing belt, etc, are on the list once the engine runs reliably.

Look what we found in a Phoenix yard:



Then:



And after a painfully small amount of washing up:



Can't wait to get it home and replace that rusty rear suspension on the car now!!!

Tracking info suggests that the new distributor and crank angle sensor are waiting at home.

[Evo_Spec]

holy crap that's clean!

[ganue]

ARIZONA!!!!!! Simply book a one-way flight and fly to Phoenix, buy a big truck, collect all the parts you can from MX-3s in yards near the airport, and drive home.

Easy as that!!!

Well, it turns out I had other reasons to do that but that is how it is ending up!!

Donor car had 155,000 miles on it. Engine and trans were still present. Yard is at 35th ave and Lincoln st. Car is still there as of 5/8/2013. Shell is in great shape except for a little RF damage.