New Battery, DeFlooded....Starter is fried...
 

I have been having issues with flooding due to cold weather. My disengaged my choke cable due to it being locked at 4k rpm. It was fine all summer, but now with the cold weather, its been messy.

Its been flooded twice this month and now I believe my starter is dead, I have a new battery that I drained and with it being jumped, the car would turn and then it slowly stopped. I jumped it before and it started right away, but now it won't turn over.

How hard is it to change a starter and where is it located?

How new is the battery?
If the battery is completley discharged then you cannot jump start it. I recommend before you start assuming that you have a starter problem that you either put the battery in your car from the jumper vehicle or have yours recharged and tested.

As far as the starter location, it is on the driverside. Download a copy of the FSM. It is pretty straight forward to service.

Like 8 months. I got it to start last time with a short charge and the battery was completely drained. I'll try charging it longer and see if that does anything. Also it has been making a loud grinding noise when trying to start.

I recommend you take it to the place you bought it. Have them charge it and test it. This way you have verified whether their is a problem with the battery or not.

The grinding noise could be the starter drive is failing on the starter, loose mounting bolts or lack of voltage to engage the starter properly.

Resolve the battery issue first then see what happens.

usually with a completely drained battery the cells will never realign again. I would recommend one of two things with the battery.
1: Bring it to Autozone or Advance Auto and have them charge/test it.
2: Buy a new battery
Once you deal with the battery you will find weather the starter is bad or not. I would clean the 10gauge single wire connection that connects to the starter, this is what tells the starter you are turning the key to start the car.
To keep the car from flooding, make sure you let the car idle some before turning it off after a drive. Never start the car and turn it off before getting to normal operating temps. If the car floods, pull the bottom two spark plugs, pull the fush to the fuel pump, and turn it over 4 to 5 cranks to let it push the fuel out.
If we are dealing with a carb here, next thing I would do. Once you have it started and idling. Let it reach normal operating temps, start puting a little of Marvel Mystery Oil down the primary barrels. By placing your thumb over the bottle and slowly letting it out.
The flooding could lead to low compression and this will help "alittle".

Keep us posted,
-vern

Yes its carborated. I haven't had any issues de-flooding, its more of why it keeps happening. I had no problem with cold starts all last year without the choke, and all of a sudden the past month it has been giving me trouble. I'm going to get the battery checked this afternoon and then I will let you guys know what they say. Thanks for your help

To deflood, dump about an ounce of seafoam down the carb then try again.

Clean off your battery cable ends at the battery and at the starter. My starter was grinding before I did this. I actually replaced the ground cable, but cleaning should work for you as long as the cables aren't too corroded.

Take the battery to have it tested/charged. It will be worth the time you save in the long run...

I got the battery checked and charged. It is still flooding when I try to start it, but only on the front rotor. I took the plugs out and am in the process of cleaning/drying them out so I will be back soon to tell you whether or not it starts.

So I checked the plugs, Deflooded, and got it to turn over, but wouldn't run. I tried starter fluid and nothing happened. I don't know if I have a bigger problem now. Any other suggestions?

Well, back to basics. Have you verified that you have spark to the leading plugs?

Does it sound like it has adequate compression. If not sure perform the ghetto compression test listening for 3 whooshes.

Did you install new plugs?
I always recommend when attempting to restart after bad flooding to install new plugs. Hook up a jumper vehicle to yours for more cranking power.
Crank the engine over with a piece of white paper in front of the plugs holes. When there is no more visable spots forming on the paper then the fuel has been expelled.
Leave the fuel pump disabled. Put the plugs back in. Have your jumper vehicle hooked up.
Either spray the starting fluid into the carb or add a couple of cap fulls of seafoam or put a couple of ounces of fuel down the primary side of the carb.

If it does not start or sounds like it is not even trying then you have other issues going on.

If only 1 rotor is flooding, then you have spark loss to that rotor or an internal blockage in that barrel of the carb. Start with checking for good spark, if that passes, start the engine with the air cleaner off. Hold the rpms around 2k and place the palm of your hand over the offending primary barrel. This may pull out any debris that's causing the front rotor to flood. In my sig line is a link to the FSMS and carb manual.
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So I have a RX7 buddy coming by tonight (Robert a.k.a. RW-7) who is gonna take a look at it and see whats going on. I'm going to get the battery recharged again and some new plugs, and maybe some seafoam just to make sure. I checked down the carb and there is some black carbon buildup in the secondaries. May this help here?

So I did a spark check and I have good spark. Yesterday I pulled the plugs and cleaned them and tried firing it up once. Today I went to pull the old plugs and they were covered in brown sludge which I'm sure its fuel and something else. I deflooded it again (4th time now) and fired it without the plugs till clear. I am getting the battery charged again overnight and will try again tomorrow with new plugs.

I'm telling you to follow what I posted in post #10 if you want to get the car started.

choke
 

FIX THE CHOKE!!!!

Ok Robert saved the day. My mixture was way too rich. We pulled the plugs about 10 times and cleaned out the carb. Its back and running, but Robert suggested a carb rebuild so that'll be next. Thanks Robert for coming to help. He's a great guy

The reason you car was not starting correctly with cold weather is due to the choke not being used.

It should of still started and ran when the temp was warmer outside but you would have to keep your foot on the throttle until it warmed up.

The mixture (screw adjustemnt) would not cause the the engine not to start, especially when you disable the fuel and spray starting fluid down the throat.

Did you fix the choke and that is why you got it started or did you hold the choke closed while you were cranking?