GSL-SE troubleshooting - Refresher course
 

A friend of mine owns a car dealership/body shop/garage. The owner/mechanic is out of town, but a friend of the body man's had a 1985 GSL-SE towed in. It's in sad shape. :(

It had been sitting for a long while. There were cobwebs inside and it smelled like mildew. The tires were muddy from sinking into the dirt and well dryrotted. It had 184K miles on the clock.

The owner had requested a paint job but no body work. :wtf:

On top of that, the engine didn't run. SInce the mechanic was out of town and not too fond of / familiar with rotaries, I decided to take a crack at it.

Cranking was slow as the battery was quite weak. Terminals looked like crap but didn't appear bad enough to be the trouble. I hooked up a 200 Amp Charger/Starter. Cranking was still slow. I cranked with the throttle open, and still no good.

There were spark plugs on the seat. (3 NipponDenso's and a single Champion. :confused: ) I used them to test. I held one against the strut tower and had someone else crank. I tried leads from leading and trailing of the front rotor. Spark was good.

I pulled the upper spark plugs out of the engine. (The socket that I had did not fit into the ridge that hid the hex grip. Funny. I never had that problem with my 12A. In my 12A, the hex grip of the plugs stuck out of the engine. The spark plugs came out by hand with considerable effort. I put them back in by hand with the same effort.) The plugs were black and oily. Smelled like gas too. Okay, fuel is there. I cleaned them off. I never checked the bottom plugs since I couldn't get them out.

Cranking without the plugs revealed there was some compression. It sounded WEAK, but it was there. (Weak compared to my 12A. I dunno how to gauge as this is my first experience with a 13B.) Time for an ATF/MMO treatment. :)

Since this wasn't my car, I wasn't about to spend money on it. (I don't have any money anyhow. :( ) And since this shop didn't stock MMO, I grapped a bottle of Dextron/Mercon and a pump. On injecting it into the upper plug holes, I succeeded in making an awful mess, but at least I got some in there. (Damn Steering box and A/C compressor got in the way and I couldn't see what the hell I was doing. :stick: ) I cranked the engine by pulling on the A/C belt. (Clockwise if looking striaght at the pulley from in front. Hope that was right.)

Battery is charging and I will go back tomorrow afternoon to fire her up.

Refresh me on if this is correct:

Leading = Lower = L
Trailing = Top = T

Leading coil is closer to the firewall; Trailing, closer to the radiator.

Rotor 1 is closer to the radiator; Rotor 2, closer to the firewall.

Questions:

On my 12A, I never had problems using regular sockets to get at the spark plugs. Should the 13B be any different? The sparkplugs in it were Autolite's https://www.rx7club.com/vforums/images/smilies/puke.gif (I always use NGK's.) How should I get the plugs out now? :confused:

I spilled a lot of ATF in trying to get it in the spark plug holes. Does every drop count or should I be good?

Any other ideas?

Thanks :)

Re: GSL-SE troubleshooting - Refresher course
 

Coils: Lead coil is the one with the a single yellow/green (YL) wire to the plus side of the coil. The trailing coil has two wires to the plus side a Yellow green red (YG) and a blackish gray wire. (GY). From experience the wires will reach either location, so I look for the two wires on the trailing coil.

Rotors: Lead is Lower (L1 Closest to the Radiator)

Trail is Top (T2 Closest to the Radiator)

Socket: I've always used my craftsman spark plug socket, never had a problem on my '84. I have heard the lip on the rotor housing can cause interference problems with a socket, but I've never experienced the problem.

Let us know how you do!

:confused: L1 and T2 go to the front rotor?

Thanks for the wires tip. My GSL has the front most coil as leading and the rear most coil trailing where everyone else says the opposite.

As for the socket. I always used either a Craftsman socket or some other obscure 13/16'ths socket with no issues. But the hex for the socket to grip is in a different position on this engine. It's recessed inside this little ridge. On my 12A, the hex grip is out, above the ridge.

Could it be that the Autolite plugs are shorter than the NGK's?

Nope. That's wrong. L1 and T1 go to the front rotor housing.

That's what I thought... Confused me, but it appears that that's what POS was saying.

I (POS) Made a typo! Sorry! Should have been Trail is Top (T1 Closest to the Radiator). I apologize profusely for my error!:(

The trailing plug holes are tiny. You probably didnt get very much ATF in there at all. Thats the reason for using the leading ones.

They seemed pretty open to me. I looked in them using a CD as a mirror and a light.

I'll try again sometime though.

You can't tell the difference from the outside. Trailing holes are about 1/8", where leading holes are about 3/8" to 1/2" (very rough estimations) :)

Turkey basters do not hold up well to harsh chemicals.
 

Used a turkey baster and three inches of good rubber hose and got a good ounce or two on each rotor face. Those leading plug holes are much better. Much less mess. :)

I had a hell of a time with those Autolites. Since they were in the little ridge, no sockets would fit. I had to wrap a rubber glove around the jaws of some pliers and turn them by the ceramic. Turns out they are new. I didn't damage them. (Need em for the owner to return for credit on NGK's. BR8EQ-14 works in the SE too, right?)

I didn't wanna have to remove or install the Autolites again, so I used the old sparkplugs I found on the seat. There were three Nippon Denso and one Champion. (Part numbers WD25EDR 14 and RN14YC Are these correct?) Turns out the Autolites are much shorter than any other plug and are the only plug to sit inside the ridge. The ND's adn the Champion all say enough above the ridge to get a good socket on.Since those plugs were old, I used some carb cleaner, a rag, and an accetelyne torch to clean em.

Re did all the wiring for the ignition. Should be correct.

Still sounds like it's cranking slow. Battery might be toast, but could be those connectors.

I can't hear the fuel pump, but I never heard it in my GSL. Maybe I dont know what to listen for?

Air filter was nasty, I just took it out. SHouldnt need it if I'm running it in a shop. No public roads. Tags/inspection expired three years ago. (10/99) :eek:

I'm still thinking compression, but might be fuel. Can I just remove any of the larger hoses on the big box that says "RE-EGI" (Reaction chamber or upper intake manifold?) and shoot some starting fluid in?

Re: Turkey basters do not hold up well to harsh chemicals.
 

Just shoot it through the airbox since you have the filter out.

i have a question too?
 

i been reading this and theres something that confuse me, the trailing coil is the one near the head light? because my gslse has the leadind plug on the coil near the head light. :confused:

Re: i have a question too?
 

The leading is supposed to be near the headlight. Some people just like to fuck with things and put them back together incorrectly.

thanks. what happened is this is my 2nd rx7. my first one was a gsl . when i brout the gslse i have now, the leading plug was on the trailing and the trailing on the leading. i put it like my gsl. when i read this , i was thinking i put it the wrong way. but , thanks for clearyng me this up. thanks.

Welp, It's still not firing.

Leading is the coil closest to the radiator; trailing, closes to the firewall. :p

So. Wiring's correct and it's been soaking in about 6 Oz of ATF since yesterday.

I had the battery out of the car to charge as it's being primered and sanded. When I went to put it back, the battery terminals never gripped really tight, no matter how tight I cranked the bolts. Apparently someone already had this problem as there was a sheet metal screw in one of the terminals, vertically. :eek:

So with the battery clamps on kinda loosely, I got no crank and very dim light. Wiggling and tapping em on didn't help. I connected the 200 Amp charger/Starter and got much brighter lights, and pegged out the volt meter. :eek: Cranked and turned the battery terminals into the 4th of July. Then no dash lights. Turned on the dome light, no light.

Turned the key back to ACC, dome light came on.
Turned the key to RUN, dome light went out, no dash lights.

Main fusible link is good. Wiggled them all.

So now I got electrical problems.

The battery cable terminals are the rebuildable type, but the negative terminal is cracked. I'll just use a jumper cable between the negative battery terminal and the alternator bracket or strut tower. I'll rebuild the positive when I have the time.

Like I said, it's not my car. I'm just doing a favor. Maybe if I talk to the owner, I can get some funds for this. He must not know much about rotaries if he put in Autolites. :rolleyes: