I have been working on this 85 Gsl for a little over 2 years now. The car started off as a parts car for my 1st rx-7 ever. I bought this one when i was 16 (now 23). I have been working on this car with every detail covered every weekend for the past 2 years and still haven't driven the car. It is the 85 gsl in my sig. Anyways the thing has new everything! seriously...IT still won't fire up though. The only thing I haven't replaced are the MsD coils that i robbed from my other 7. Could these have gone bad? I have all the spark plug wires in the right place and it won't start up. I switch them around and it starts but runs poorly. Could it be the coils? lemme know before i buy another part i don't need...thanks

 

Sounds like an ignition system problem:

1. Check distributor cap and rotor, if they're new and they're setup properly, you're good there.
2. Check that the coils and ignitors are wired up properly
3. Check each spark plug for spark.

Without more detail on how it "runs badly" when you switch them, I can't guess at what's wrong specifically... but try other coils if you can get 'em cheap. Get some stock ones and give a try, they're like 10$ at a junkyard, and that'll tell you what's wrong hopefully.

Anyone else wanna suggest?

Jon

 

Agreed that it sounds like ignition. (because you get it to start by changing the wires around) Remember that the coil to the front of the car is the trailing ignition and the one toward the rear is leading. As above, check each wire for (good) spark.
???? Is the engine good for sure????

 

did ya atf it?
id go for ignition too.. check all the wires and everything stated above...
does it even try to turn over?
check the starter and solenoid?
when i first got mine the solenoid was dead and it caused me to do alot of unnessecary (sp) checking on everything underneath the hood of the car

 

also check the signal wires, (sorry, dont know the real names for them), that run from the dizzy to the coil brackets. I accidently pulled one off once and put the wrong one back on. ran like total crap and couldnt figure out why.


<------HELLS YEA! 666 POSTS!

 

dont atf it. if youhave to atf it then that's just messed up. have you tried pull starting it? that's how i get mine going if it's been sitting a while. and then it has no problems cranking after that. sometimes there's just too much oil and fuel sloshing around to be picked up and compression cant be made.

 

whats wrong with atf'ing mmo'ing the engine?

 

ATF will foul spark plugs and kill the cat converters(takes a few times though). MMO is better, it shouldn't kill the plugs(it is meant to be a fuel additive) and it is better for the cats than ATF(but it will still probably kill them eventually).

Nothing is wrong with doing it though, it is good for the engine. Just use old plugs for when you first start it up.

 

How much you want for it?

Ray

 

If you switch them around and it starts but "runs poorly" check the timing on it also.

 

Did you remove the distributor? You may have to Static Time the dist., which is desribed somewhere in this forum.

B

 

Well the motor better be good....i bought it from mazdatrix. I have had good luck in the past from them.. The car will start just runs poorly and dies when i let it idle itself. The carb, intake dizzy plugs wires are all new. The car hasn't reallly been sitting that long i have been working on it the whole time. The motor was pulled and is now my winter porting project. Everything is new. I was searching the forum for other similar problems and i am going to pull the dizzy out and hand crank the motor untill i get the timing mark in line and then reinstall the dizzy..I can't remember if I did that when I put it all back together. I bought two new coils so i'll let you know how it turns out after sunday...I only get to play with it once a week. We are working manditory overtime I am autocrossing in the 87 (smog demon) this sunday, but when i get home i'll give it a whirl. thanks again.

 

is the gas in it good?
gas can go bad...

 

TIMING.


I'll say it again. TIMING

I bet you 100 bucks it's off.

 

Oh, to time it while it's off... put the white mark on the pin. (on the main pulley) then put the part of the distributor rotor with the arrow so that it would be pointing at L1 on the dizzy cap.

You will probably have to pull out the dizzy and align the teeth. You may have to do this a couple of times.

Make sure you are actually firing on all plugs as well!!


Good luck!!

 

If it starts up and runs poorly after you switch the trailing and leading coils around maybye the leading coil or ignitor or something is toast? First thing i would do is just cheack and make sure each coil is working.