So I'm sitting at nearly 134,500 miles right now on my original engine. Earlier this summer my car started stalling out at idle and idling a little rough. Some days it would do it, some days it wouldn't. A couple times I had the hot start issue. Now the rest of the time, she drives like a champ. I have no loss of power or bogging of the engine. Just every now and then she wants to shut off and not start back up for 2 minutes. I went ahead and changed the spark plugs, coils, wires and changed the oil. I guess because it wasn't happening every day, I thought the problem was fixed... of course it wasn't.

Now what I thought of next was maybe the fuel injectors, but wouldn't I have issues all throughout the revs? Can't be the cat unless the problem is just starting. Its possible because I'm pretty sure from 90k-101k I was only running on 3 spark plugs (didn't notice one came unplugged for a little bit. Perhaps a tree branch got caught and yanked it off the plug). I don't think its the cat because of the occasional hot start issue...

This leads me to believe I'm having the early stages of a compression issue. Reading a lot of threads, it seems the first response is new engine, but I feel like theres something I can do. Having nearly 135k on her, its probably safe to say there is some carbon buildup because I've never done a decarb. I've been reading about it restoring compression. I've never done a compression test, but rough idle/stalling at idle/hard hot starts almost spells out compression. I've been reading that a decarb can restore compression if the problem isn't too far along.

 

I would first get a compression check before spending more time and money. The thing with decarbing is that it really isn't a good idea to do it for the first time when you are well into the 100k mile range. Actually I believe there is a warning label on seafoam bottles that say not to use it at 150k. Now I haven't had as much experience running seafoam in the rotary, so hopefully others will come here and debunk what I am saying and give you the green light, but I know in piston engines it could lead to more problems when you have a high mileage engine that has never had the procedure done before.

 

Yeah I read that there's a chance of losing compression, rather than gaining. But more people were chiming in that it wouldn't hurt. Its kind of troubling because I don't have the money upfront if something breaks lose, but I also don't want to wait too much longer. It's a relatively healthy engine, especially after the fresh coils/plugs/wires 2k miles ago.

 

Have you had your fuel pressure checked to see if you might have a weak fuel pump?

BC.

 

^that.
Also, check your fuel filter and maf sensor. Do you have the upgraded starter?

seafoaming your engine will only make it worse.

 

Replace the bold part with "dying". I wouldn't seafoam the engine at 130k. Even rebuilding it would probably end up being more expensive than buying a completely remanufactured unit as i'm 99% your housings are well past the spec range (1200\1400$ of stuff alone).

Get a compression test done, then check the fuel pump. Check your PCM flash just in case, too. Getting a new engine while still being on an older reflash is not a smart move.

Imho one shouldn't ever be in the position to not be able to afford a part replacement on his car.

 

I digress from others here. I would seafoam the crap out of it(like do it 3 times)..what do you have to loose if it doesn't work you will need a new engine anyways.

 

Do a decarb first and see if helps, since they'll perform decarb before the compression test anyway.
Nothing to lose if you need new engine. Wel, you'll lost like $10 for getting a can of seaform.

 

I can always finance a new engine. That isn't a big deal, but I'd rather not. I just can't afford it out of pocket...

 

I guess I'll look at the fuel pump/filter and the maf. I'm still getting mixed signals about the decarb though...

 

i wouldn't seafoam, if you do and restore your compression, then its all good until the warranty goes bye bye and after it happens again ur screwed... get the compression test done and if it fails you will have a new engine.. before you do anything else get the compression done.

 

Lol what warranty?

 

haha **** my bad, its 8year 160 000km here, for some reason i took your mileage as km... now thats a fail lol... well then I have no answer for you whatsoever lol... but id be skeptic on the seafoam, make it your last resort i guess

 

Also, I've been noticing worse than normal gas mileage...

 

What do you consider 'worse than normal' gas mileage?

 

just do it! :-)