Supa Troopa

Alright guys, I have been hounding these boards day in and day out looking for answers and I have been educated very well. But i need to ask some questions as I am having problems with my car. First off, the car has no run in 10 years (window sticker says 95. The car does crank and spin, and there is air being pushed out of each rotor (no compressions check gauge for numbers). I rebuilt the carb, did the rats nest removal, striped the carb down to bare minimum. I bought a new dizzy cap and rotor today and both of my coils work (from my friends running FB).

At first the engine seemed to turn over real slow, but the more and more we try to start it, it starts quicker. The car has no gas tank in it as someone stole it. The fuel pump doesn't turn on but I am going to check the relay thing tonite. I am getting spark in both leading plugs, but I think the L2 is getting weaker spark, I think, have to double check that. Anyways, I wanted to see if I could get the car to putt-putt before buying a gas tank for it. I crank the car after I put starting fluid in the carb. Also tried it with straight up gasoline down the carb, but the car just turns over and over and over. I checked the ignitors, and if I am not mistaken, the OHM measurement mention on the FSM says they should measure 650 + - 10. Well my meter only goes to 600 but it shot past number( I think, I am not to certain on how to read that meter. I have a digital OHM meter and I get NO reading whatsoever from either of the ignition coils). The digital meter is good and as always worked, but I guess I am not reading it right or using it right or what, but I get no readings on the digital meter on either ignitor. So my question is.....

The wires that ignitors connect too, (look like points), do those go bad, one of mine looks kinda worn.

How can I double check the ohm on the ignitors?!?! or am I setting the tool right? what (k ex: 1k, k, 100k, 1000k) should I be on?

anything else I am missing that might not start the car.

There is 12v on each side of each coil. The previous owner said the car ran before they parked it. If someone could help me I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

The fuel pump only comes on in the start position. Once it's running, the tach signal powers the pump through the relay. If you add a fuel hose to the intake side of the pump and another one on the return line, and stick both in a gas can you may use that to start and run the engine for short periods of time. Be very careful doing this, safety first.

If it is not firing when using starting fluid or pouring gas in the carb, do 2 things. Clean the plugs and pour a little motor oil down the carb the crank the engine over to spread the oil around. The oil will help build compression.

You may wish to try the gas can and disconnect the feed line to the carb and check for fuel flow to test the pump.

Supa Troopa

another question i forgot to add was if both spark plugs ignite to start the car, both of my leading plugs spark but none of the trailing plugs spark.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Trailing ignitor may be toast, or the coil. If trailing is gone, no tach signal.

blwfly

iTrader: (4)

you only need leading to run the car if both trailings dont run can be 3 things
igniter(probaly)
coil
corroded wires...


is it the small 6x4 yellow multimeter..
set it to 2k resistance
you should only get one reading from the igniter it shouldnt give you anything other way around...
from testing all my igniters i have readings from 1400-1800
the 1800 seems to work good...

the coils shoud give a reading just try diff resistance settings ohh and make sure you got the plugs on the mulitmeter on the dc side..

Supa Troopa

What about the pick up coils inside the distributer? I tried to check them like the FSM said to and never had a solid reading from them. One of them looks pretty worn down but I do not remember which one it is. Can that also be a cause?

Supa Troopa

well i borrowed my friends dizzy tonite and stuck it in and I got a back fire out of the carb, but we noticed my ignition switch was funny... If you turn it to "start" all the lights light up, when you turn it normaly, all the lights are still on, if you turn it to far it'll stop, but if you get it between to far and normal, only like 3 lights are on, I think oil, wiper fluid, and something else and thats when the car threw a puff out of the carb. I put my dizzy back on but did not get it to throw stuff back up but my engine is getting slower and slower turning over. According to the fsm, that usualy means bad starter, bad ignition switch, etc etc. Does it sound like both to you all?

I don't have the key to the vehicle so right now, I have the actualy switch pulled out of the column and use a screw driver to turn it.

Will an FC starter work if I borrowed one from one of my friends?

Also my last question, My + battery terminal wire, the run that runs to the starter was warm, not hot or on fire or anything, but warm. Is the from us cranking it over and over and over?

Will putting the oil housings possibly make the engine turn over faster or is it more than likely a dieing starter?

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Put the other dizzy back in, or switch the trailing ignitor. Battery cables getting warm, not hot is normal during start, with long cranking periods. I would fully charge the battery before changing the starter.

In the on position, all of the idiot lights should light up for post, during cranking they all should go out.

Oiling the housings help build compression on tired, flooded or freshly rebuilt engines. It will make little, if any, difference on starter perfomance or cranking speed.

If you are backfiring out of the carb, either the dizzy was off a tooth or two, or the timing needs set, providing all of the ignition components are wired correctly.

I think an NA FC starter will work.

floz

The battery wire got hot because of the high current the starter draws. I'm not 100% sure if rotaries are the same, but I know electricity is. A starter motor is being tasked with outputting incredible amounts of torque. If you have any doubt to the strain of this task, try turning over a removed engine by yanking on the flywheel. Because of this, it's perfectly normal for a starter to draw 100 amps or more, and cook your cables.

Good rule of thumb; crank for a max of 30 seconds continuous, and let the starter and wires cool for at least 2 minutes after.

Also, how big in diameter are your + and ground cables? If they have been replaced with smaller, inferior cables, this can cause them to overheat. 0 gauge or bigger is what I recommend for your main lines. 0 gauge and up wire can be pricey, but I wouldn't expect to go over $100 total if you can build and install your own cables.

Supa Troopa

well I aligned everything properly tonite on the dizzy....

I put oil in the carb and turned the engine over by hand to lub the housings.....

I pulled the leading plugs out of both ends to then to push the oil out that I had in there....

I also turned the engine over with all the plugs out and a bunch of **** was shooting out of both rotors, like a dust cloud type of thing. Put the plugs back in...

Put some gas down the carb and then it backfired through the carb, like a flame. and then i couldn't get it to do it again.

I pulled the leading plugs out of each rotor again, and the front rotor seems to still be pushing out the cloud of stuff, yet the rear rotor doesnt.

also, with the front rotor, it was shooting a flame out the leading plug hole, while in the back rotor it wasnt.

I put my hand by the rear rotor and I can still feel it pushing air out.... but its not as much as the power house front rotor......

Is it possible I could have blown the seal tonite on the rear rotor? I mean before I could see the puff of smoke coming out the rear rotor, but now it only comes out the front, instead of both. I am getting spark on all plugs (friends dizzy)

please help.

DeRFmAn

hey dood i checked at vatozone and rebuild kits for my brakes are like 16.00 so i'll need my parts back soon, but i'll let ya know. Good luck with car man. I can't wait for you to get it runnin.

WOOT

Fred

Supa Troopa

I bought a compression tester today but have not made it out to go work on the car.

Any ideas on whats coming out the engine though??

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Do Not take a plug out and crank the engine over, with the ignition firing. You can easily start a fuel fire in the engine bay. I know, I learned the hard way one day on a 2nd gen, had to replace almost all of the engine bay wire harnesses.

What is shooting out of the plug holes is the fuel mixture, this is normal. when you do the compression tedt, disable the ignition and fuel pump.

Supa Troopa

well... I did it and heres what I came up with....

the engine can't warm up due to it not start so I did it cold.

1st Rotor : 31?
2nd Rotor: 0?

I don't think the engine is good O_O

DeRFmAn

those compession #'s???

Supa Troopa

yea, so does that mean the engine is a paper weight?

Naegleria_Fowleri

Time for a rebuild. That's what happens when you buy a rotary that sits for years. I had to learn my lesson thinking that buying one with low mileage was more important than buying one that had been driven at least once or twice a month. Rotaries like to be driven, the more you drive it (assuming you are properly caring for it) the longer they last. If you leave it sit there are bound to be tons of problems that arise.

DeRFmAn

well, atleast you didn't pay anything for it. My bad dood. Like I said the guys said it was running when it was parked.

capt murph

If it ran when parked, then the compression was adequate at that time.

The seals may be stuck, acting like a stuck piston ring. Compression will be lost this way.

Try flooding the engine with a chemical that cuts the grime. Then after a few days of grime cuttiing, spin the engine with the plugs out using a good battery for 60 second intervals. They MIGHT come loose AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS. If you can get it to run a bit, even on one rotor, the higher RPM might help it unstick fully.

Supa Troopa

The engine cranked though. Its most likely dead, no biggy, only spent like 50 bucks total which I got a friend who could take them from me anyways. Oh well, the car was a good learning vehicle.

DeRFmAn

well we just pulled the motor and tranny. Gonna keep those, and sell the body. Its actually a very good body. Better then the one I drive. So its up for grabs gonna post it in the classifieds. I think I already have a buyer tho. Thanks for the help guys.