First off, if you are just going to post "search" or "topic's already been covered" or "how many times has this thread been started," then kindly keep it to yourself. No offense, but I care way more about getting my car started than I care about appeasing the almighty forum elites.
That having been said, I'll fully describe my situation. The car cranks but won't start. I know that all three coils are ok. The battery is fine. Beyond that, I'm not sure. It smells like fuel after I crank it, and will pop occasionally (a backfire, presumably)...this leads me to believe that the injectors may be leaky. Also, the car can be started after it's been pulled to about 20-30 mph (don't ask....). Every single accessory, from what I can tell, works, except, when I put the key in and turn it to the "on" position, the oil pressure, volts, and water temp gauges don't move at all (new to FCs, so I don't know if that's normal or not.)
It could be a myriad of things, I know. I am getting ready to replace the ECU, Fuel Pump, Injectors, and Spark Plugs, but I wanted to post this because maybe someone with more guru-esque knowledge of FCs could save me a lot of time.
Thanks for the help in advance. Peace.

 

OK, evidently you pissed off the club elitists. So you get me instead. I don't care much about the forum or the elitists.

Before you start randomly replacing things I suggest you take a logical approach to the problem.
It can only be three things: Compression/Fuel/Spark
Pretty simple right? Could be, could be not.
So let's start:
First, why does you car have three coils?
Second, I will ignore that you think the car has three coils.
Third, pull the plugs and see if they are wet. If they are, do the unflooding procedure:
My car doesn't start
"Remember when starting a fuel injected car you should never pump or press the accellerator pedal, but if it won't start it is probably flooded, Hold the accelerator pedal all the way down while cranking, do not pump the pedal. If it still doesn't start after a few tries, Then remove the EGI fuse and crank a couple more times, then re-install the fuse and try starting again. If then the car still fails to start it then you need to remove and clean the spark plugs, put in a teaspoon of ATF into the lower sparkplug holes, re-install the spark plugs and try again. Make sure you change your oil after you have started and run the car ASAP."
If this works replace the plugs. You may not think you need to, but trust me, replace the plugs.

Compression: If you want a relatively accurate compression test you can use a conventional compression tester. Heres the process.
Disable the fuel system, pull the fusible link, plug the fuel lines whatever. You don't want fuel into the chambers when you are turning the engine over.

Pull all of the plug wires.
Pull the trailing (top) plugs from both rotors.
Screw in the compression tester in the top hole of the front rotor. Hold the release "pin" in on the tester, this will allow the pressure to immediately release on each compression "stroke".
Have someone hold the gas pedal to the floor and turn the car over while you watch the gauge. You should see the needle on the gauge start "bumping" up and down. After watching for a few cycles, you can see the three compression cycles. They should all be fairly consistent and not too low.
Repeat the process with the rear rotor.
Also, the car needs a fully charged battery and good starter. It needs to rotate around 250 rpm to get a decent reading.

Fuel: Pull the fuel line coming out of the fuel filter and put a pressure gauge on it. Compare the readings to the fsm.
http://rx7city.com/Manuals/88%20Manu...ISSIONS_NA.pdf

My best guess is the first item. The car is flooded.

 

Well, I must revisit this. I did the de-flooding trick, and it was on the verge of starting...I had to keep swapping the battery in my other car to charge it...well, when I put a fresh battery back in it, I would turn the key and it would just click. No cranking. At first, I thought it was the battery posts and clamps, so i cleaned the posts and replaced the clamps, but still nothing. Is there just loose wiring in the starting circuit? Do I need a new starter? Or could it be a slew of things and I am just going to have to process-of-elimination it? The only reason I even ask is in case there is something crazy going on that I don't know about.
Thanks!

 

First ..Your Car is most likely Flooded..If it sounds like it Just Wirrs and doesn't really Sound Like it's going to Catch and Start up..Second,YOU said that you Replaced the battery.maybe you Inadverently Mixed up the Battery Cables?...It is So easy to make this mistake(I wrap a piece of Red tape on my Positive wire,To prevent this Later on!)..check the Mainfuse,on the engine bay fuse Block(it is Attached to the Fuse block Via two 10mm bolts under it..you can't just Pull it out.).also Corrosion on that fuse block could hinder Starting the car.

 

I'm pretty sure the wire from the starter goes directly to the battery.

 

flooded...

Nothing a quick tow start wont fix.