UnitedRiders

So yeah... about my car i wanted to fix up really nice... well now its just got to be fixed. Here's the story. I'm driving down the highway doing 120 or so (km) when without warning, one of my coolant hoses develops a leak. More like a gigantic hole that drains all my fluid in about 30 seconds. and it only takes about a minute or two for my car to overheat as i try to pull off to the side. so i wait for her to cool off a bit and then i cut the hose where the hole is and thankfully its long enough that i can re-attach it and fill er up with coolant (which i just happened to have a jug-ful) and start er up and drive away. now my engine didn't go completely cold in this process. i just let it cool down to its normal running temp. and then i started it up again. but when i got to where i was going i left it for a good 4 hours and by the time i went back to it it was cold and it wouldn't start. so that was no good. i thought it was the battery so we tried boosting it. nothing. then we pushed it with a jeep and tried to bomb start it. nothing. after about 3 or 4 more hours of trying to get the thing to run we give up and i crash at a hotel (my house is about 20 min. outside of the city). the next day i went back (with a different bunch of guys who i didn't tell how hard i tried to start it the night before) and they have all the same ideas... "well lets just jump start it they say" so in hopes that it'll work just because i step aside and let them fool around for a while after an hour they give up and then decide to pull it and try to start it that way... so we get out a towing rope, hook it up, and start to move, we get up to 40(m) put it in 3rd and pop the clutch and lo and behold she starts but as soon as you take your foot off the gas to let it idle it dies... so we pull it again and she starts and this time we pull the choke and let her warm up. but as soon as she's warm and choke cuts out it dies. do it again and this time we don't let it idle we just drive it back to my place. now its been sitting for a week. the battey wasn't holding a charge so i went and bought a new one but it didn't make any difference. so i call my friend again last night and he comes over and we pull it agian with his 4runner and it starts... this time when the choke kicks off after its warm it stays running and everything sounds fine. the engine is still quiet etc. so i take it out and it still accelerates really well, and drives beautifully but when i turn it off, it won't start by itself.
Also, (as if you wanna read anymore) but when it was overheated and i had the hood open fixing the hose and topping up the coolant it was raining. and not just a light shower i mean 2 seconds outside and people would think you fell in a pool. so i don't know if there got some water in the electrical or if the hot engine + cold water might've wrecked some engine parts... i don't know... i also thought i might've melted some apex seals. these are just ideas... but i'm such a noob i've had the car for a month and i've never even seen the inside of a rotary engine except in pictures so i haven't touched it for fear of messing something up.
On a positive note, the auto wreckers right across the road from where i live have 4 1st gen rx's which is extremely rare for canada. most places i've called don't have any and the ones that do just have misc. parts... like "oh yeah we have a head light assembly for the right side"... and that's it. so one of the Rex's is and 84-GSL exact same as mine, minus paint colour . but yeah its mostly intact and hasn't been stripped of anything yet... i'd like to know if its a good investment. he's giving me a price and specs (wheather it runs, why its in the yard etc.) today. so i'll post those when i get em. Thanks for spending so much of your time trying to figure out what the hell i'm talking about and thanks for your help

JIMMY54

iTrader: (2)

First off the engine not starting may bot be related to your coolant/overheat issue.... My car has had may unrealed problems all happen at the same time.

Pull the cap and rotor and look closely at all the contacts..... make sure everything is good... look for corrision or even bent contacts.

Pull the plugs, if wet then your car is simply flooded which makes it almost impossible to start. Best thing to do in that case is add a switch to your fuel pump plug so you can turn off the pump while cranking the motor to self clense it self. Then flick the switch and if flooding was your problem it will start up. ( best mod for a fist gen, flooding is really common you'll save yourself so much work in the long run! ) Plus it acts as a kill switch for your car.

Check for spark! ignitors are known to go aswell. Ignitor check is in the Haynes manual.
Check your fusable links (done with a continuaty tester)

Inspect fuel system, a fuel pressure guage is great... for diagnosis.

if your car ran afterwards your motor should be fine, I've had a close call like that, actually worse cause I has lost all my oil!!

what part of Canada are you from.... which scrap yard are you talking about, I need lots of stuff!!

Feel free to pm me, if you have any questions

JIMMY54

iTrader: (2)

P.S. our cars come with junk power cables to the starter made of aluminum.... which start to disintagrate.... change those whenever you get a chance.... they caused me alot of hell.