puffin04

Well i recently bought a 1984 RX-7 GSL-SE 13b for a 100 bucks! He said he had it parked for 6 or so years and it did ran when it was parked. So i changed oil, sparkplugs, battery and terminals and anitfreeeze. The car will turn over but will not fire. It has aftermarket accel sparkplug wires and autolite plug in it (not my choice waiting on NGK's). It is getting spark and fuel as well. I changed the gas out and put in 91 octane with some treatment. Any help would be great. Thanks

Steffen Sparks

dbragg

iTrader: (7)

the fuel lines are probably gummed up. never assume a seller isnt lying.

you need three things to run; fuel, spark, and compression. test for all three. once you figure out what you dont have it makes things a lot easier.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Read this please.

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/end-all-no-start-threads-warning-book-inside-162062/

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

use 87 or lower octane.

take out the spark plugs in one rotor and spin it by hand. You should hear 3 wooshes. Put the plugs back in and repeat with the rear rotor. If you do not hear 3 wooshes you have a stuck/broken apex seal.

Manntis

^ +1. 91 octane is a waste of money. Remember, octane is resistance to pre-detonation, and is useful in high-compression (turbo, or more modern piston) to prevent knock. It does squat in our normally aspirated rotaries except cost more.

puffin04

I also notice in the chilton book which sucks that it has two different firing orders. One for the 12A and 13B. the 12A looks like my distributor set up but the engine is a 13B. Any clearification on that and also how do you check what coil wire goes to what coil. Thanks

Steffen Sparks

puffin04

How do you know the difference between the T and L coil.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

There is no difference in the firing order for the engines. The leading coil is the closest one to the shock tower and the leading ignitor is the closest one to the radiator.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Forgot to ask. How do you know that it is getting fuel?

puffin04

I can hear the fuel pump turning on and off and i took off one of the line and had a friend crank it and it shot out. Thanks

Steffen Sparks

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

If the fuel pump is coming on when you turn the key to the on position than someone has either installed a toggle switch to bypass the operation of the AFM and trailing ignitor function or the AFM door is stuck slightly open or a faulty AFM. The fuel pump on the Se is only supposed to activate when you start to crank the engine.

Have you pulled a plug to see if it is wet with fuel?

puffin04

I have have moved the flap in the AFM and i can hear the pump coming on. I guess that is what i mean. I have not done that yet. Will a commen compression test gauge work? Do i need to squirt in some ATF in there. But the car just cranks does not want to even try to start. Thanks

Steffen Sparks

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Pull the plugs and see if they are wet!!!!!!!!!!!!

kerupt1

apex might be stuck or broke ?? if 1 apex is broke or stuck , the rotor itself would be making an off scraping sound , plus if 1 is broke chances r that the rest r to or will be if u keep cranking on it. best idea is to pull it out , break it down n rebuild it , especially if its sat for 6 years or more. and like others have said , u cant believe a seller when it comes to him making money. good luck..

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Best idea at this time is to perform the appropriate diagnosis.
You don't start pulling engines until the fat lady sings! :-)

puffin04

I thought about pulling until i saw the rebuilt kits price and i laugh very hard. Anyways i got it started and trired that ATF and it worked. The only thing it smoked alot and is still smoking. I finally got it to turn over with out the gas peddle and it will idle no problem. Did not really get on the gas at all because of the smoke. I tryed to pull the plug on each seperate rotor and i heard the whisssshhh shounds but i do not know if there where two or three. The car has great interior just really dirty. The outside is not bad but has fading and cracking paint but no rust. I wanted to drive it around a little for a couple of months to see if i like it and then go with a better up to date engine if it is no custom work such as motor mounts. How do i check if the seals are bad and if they are is there anyway to use a treatment. Thanks

Steffen Sparks

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Glad you got it to start.

Se's can be very difficult to start when they have sat.
The fact that it started tells me that there is a very good chance that there is nothing wrong with your engine.
It will smoke for awhile because of the ATF and if it still has any bad fuel in it.

In the archive section is the procedure for performing the compression test with a
conventional tester. After you get it running good then do the test.

puffin04

Thanks a bunch RX-7Doctor you have been a big help. I hope everything works. thanks

Steffen Sparks