Lack of power-What Do you think is wrong with my car?
 

06 stick with 52K miles.

Had it since 07 when it had 25K miles.
Last out of town trip was last month. 700
something miles. No problems
Is not a daily driver.

Got up this morning, decided to go to eat lunch. Taco Cabana.
Drove there and then drove back. No problems. Total
miles driven ...about 4 or so.

Got home and about an hour later, decided to go to
the grocery store. Well 3 of them

1st store..went in and came out..about 30minutes in store or so
Car drove fine.

Get to second store,,do the same, go in come out and drive off
no problems.

Get to 3rd store,
go in, do my thing, come out and proceed to drive off.

AS soon as I step on the gas and the car starts forward, I hear a noise
Seemed to come from the engine bay. Sounded like a pop but really did not get what
happened...Car dies....cruise to the road. restart the car but car seems to not
have much power.

Get to the first light, car does not idle but dies
When light turns green, I restart the car but again
not much power.

Same thing happens at the next light

At the next 2 lights I just rev the car so it will not die

Get home
Car has a hard time starting.

If I step on the gas while trying to start it, no go.

If I do not step on the gas, car usually starts but
has a hard time starting and wants to die.so I step on the gas pedal and car runs
but with what seems to be, very little power

Some times it will not start so I leave it alone for about 30 minutes

CEL flashes. It is normally on since I replaced the cat with an agency power resonated midpipe and a RB muffler about 3 years ago:crying:

Bought the car in sept of 07 with 25k miles and dealer
changed the sparkplugs.

I am thinking, needs spark plugs and coils changed
Might as well replace the fuel filter while I am at it.

What could have gone wrong
Am 65 and have never had a car that has done this
nrxt step doing some googling

TiA
myardor.

Cuz' that cuts the fuel, you'll never be able to start it with foot on gas.

Flashing CEL = misfire.
If you haven't change any ignition component since you bought the car, do it. Plugs, coils and wires.
Average changing time is around 30k. Some people last longer, some don't.

Fyi, the fuel filter need special tool to reach it.....wel, actually it's the "ring" that you need to remove before you can access to the fuel pump.

Have you done compression test before purchasing the car?

Yeah. First place to start is the ignition system. Unlike a regular 4 stroke engine that fires once every other time around our cars ignition systems fire three times on every rotation. Regular 4 stroke 6000 rpm = 3000 times per minute ignition firing. Rotary at 9500 rpm = 28500 times per minute ignition firing.

while the spark plugs do fire every time a combustion chamber comes around, instead of half the time a combustion chamber comes around like a lazy piston engine, the rotors are geared 3:1 so only one chamber per rotor fires per revolution.

so the 2 rotor 13B has a combustion event every 180 degrees of crankshaft revolution, just like a 4 cylinder piston engine.

I have bookmarked this and will return soon more about it thank you.

Lack of power
 

> ShinkaEvo, No, I bought the car back in sept 07, it is nov 2013 now
it had been running fine till now.

Took it my local mechanic
changed spark plugs
changed/replaced the spark plug wires and the coils.

While it runs better it still is not running right
it is now smoking
Will do compression test next

Questions:
1. if compression test is ok then what?
2. if compression test bad, what could be wrong?
3. what is the correct compression readings?
4. Which is rotary 1 and which is number 2?
Front is i one? back is 2?

5. Which is L and which is T spark plug port?Top spark plug is leading or trailing?

Since I did not do the work, I did not see which is which

Hope it is not the engine

It runs but smokes and has lack of power
sometimes it does not idle right,, ie low rpms like 600 or so, sometimes it dies. sometimes it idles ok ie 900-1000 rpm

smoking?

make sure cat isn't clogged.

if it smokes really bad, especially after car is completely warmed up, your engine might be shot.

i would say its probably something in the ignition system, could be coils, plugs or wires did you hook it up to a diagnostic to pull the code if you get a P0300 or something similar its a misfire (just fixed that problem with my car ended up being bad coils) best of luck

yes front rotary is 1 and back rotary is 2
if the smoke is black you might have a problem
if it is white its just coolant which would make sense if your engine is misfiring

As per first post, i removed the cat , replace with AP midpip
e. a few years ago.

Already replaced coils,spark plugs and sp wires.

did not do a diagnostic test
runs with cel on. since I have a midpipe,no cat
cel still flashes on and off

Smoke is white, mostly when I first start the car or gun it


if it is cool]ant, what could be causing that?

if the cel is still flashing then you still have an ignition / spark problem ... misfire city

Um... not true pretty much on any point.

Faint black smoke is normal for a catless rotary.
Thick black smoke is a car fire
White smoke is typically coolant, which is NOT ok
Blueish grey smoke is oil.

Mixing stuff can mix smoke colors, and slowly cooking off gas or oil could also be white.


If you have white smoke constantly after starting, then let it sit overnight, then crank the engine without starting (gas pedal to the floor while cranking), and then pull the plugs. If you have a coolant seal failure, there should be coolant on them.

A coolant seal failure is game over for the engine.

Is that cover by our 100K miles 8 year warranty?
Mine is '06 with 51K miles

Yes

The warranty doesn't specify coverage dependant on the reason for failure, except if the failure is caused by something that warranty doesn't cover (like driving it through deep water, running it out of oil, etc...). Coolant seal failure is a validly covered failure.

This happened to me a while back.
On my car i had to replace the Coil packs and it worked just fine after.

Perhaps I'm being Capt. Obvious here, but what was the code for the CEL?

Sound Like a vacuum hose popped off may want to check them
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