This past week, I've started having trouble with my GSL-SE not starting. It's happened twice now, when I try to start the car warm. It starts fine hot (~5-45 minutes later) but floods after an hour or more of sitting. I can unplug the injectors and crank the car for a second to get it started, but I'm not sure why I'm having to do this.

I checked the compression, and got about 90psi on each rotor. I do not have the correct compression testing tool though, so this test was performed with a valve in the tester (i.e. I couldn't watch the gauge 'bump'). Each rotor reached 90psi within a second or two.

I noticed the plugs were not in great shape on either rotor. I replaced the plugs about 8k miles ago. Picture attached.

The battery usually cranks fine, and can keep cranking for a long time even if the engine doesn't start. The starter is relatively new. Could this be leaky injectors? Bad plugs? Something else? I know rotaries are flood-prone but my SE hasn't had this problem in the past.

 

Plugs appear to have a lot of deposits on them,oil?Could be injectors,lot of miles? Are both plugs wet when you pull them out,are you certain you have a strong spark,ignition system in good shape? Have access to fuel pressure gauge? Get the car running and up to temperature and shut it down,pul both leading plugs and put them back into wires and ground them away from plug hole and get someone to crank it over and observe the quality/color of spark. Put plugs back in engine and start and run then let it sit to cool,then pull plugs out to see if wet. Could be as simple as crapped up plugs/weak spark causing it to "flood" Possible fresh set of plugs is all you need.

 

Thanks, I am going to pick up some plugs to be safe. My OMP is broken so I premix. The engine never loses any oil so I don't think it's burning any. The car has 128k miles. I may send the injectors off for cleaning and testing. The plugs did not look wet this time but I'll have to try what you recommend and see what happens. The distributor and plug wires are new within the last 10k miles also. Thanks for the help