My 72 year old dad has a 1985 GSL-SE daily driver that runs perfect with 140k miles. It idles at 800-1k with plenty of power. This winter it's been acting up. After it sits overnight, it will not start unless it is pulled behind a car at 20mph and pop the clutch in first gear. The car has a good battery and runs great otherwise. I need to figure out the startinjg problem.

What i know:
1. Good spark at coils and plugs
2. Good battery

What I'm thinking:
1. It could be the fuel pump
2. Injectors
3. Fuel pressure regulator
4. I have a rotary compression tester and will check the compression. The last time we checked it was over 104

I'm going to test this stuff this weekend but was hoping for more input. I don't want to strat through part at it.

 

slow starter
stock aluminum battery cable(s)

 

I have brand new Optium red top I'll try. My plan is to have the car sit in my barn over night and try the current battery. If it doesn't start I'll try the red top.

The hard part is to by able to troubeshoot the car while the syptoms exists.

 

Pull the fuel line and see if you get fuel up to the rail when the key is turned on. Should put out quite a bit in a short time.
If you get fuel, you might have leaky/stuck injectors and they are leaking down overnight causing a flooded condition when you go to start it the next day. When you start it does it smoke a lot like it is burning all the gas/flooded? Are you letting it fully warm up?

 

I'm telling you man, it's a slow starter. My brother's GSL-SE did the same thing. We tried a different batter and a different parts store starter. Eventually we got a good reman starter that cranked at a decent speed and it started well every time.

How fast does it crank? From the other rotaries you've been around, does the car sound like it cranks faster or as fast as all the others?

 

We replaced the current starter about 6 months ago with an old one I had sitting in the barn. If the red top battery doesn't do it I'll try another starter.

I'll also be checking the fuel flow and injectors. Wahootee might be on to something with the leaky injectors. I have a spare set on a GSL-SE 13b I've got statched for my 1977 REPU.

 

My brother's car had the Mazdatrix fuel pressure bleed kit when he got it. So maybe his starting problems were partially related to leaky injectors too. Either way, the faster starter fixed it.

It says it's for 86-92, but his car had one back in '94.
Fuel Injection Pressure Bleed- Off Kit