DJ_Bod

Hey-

I just bought my friends car off of him (88 Turbo), and I went to drive it home. Wouldn't start. @#$% So I was wondering what I should do to get it running. The car was parked for a little more than 6 months without so much as a single start. (Yeah my friend isn't too friendly on cars)

Here is my list of potential problems:

1. Battery
2. Starter
3. Blown Engine <---- I highly doubt this one, but its possible


Any feedback you all could give would be super helpful. I hope to avoid having to tow it to my garage ($) but I will if necessary. Oh ****, gotta get to work before the boss sees me "slacking off". I'll check this again at lunch... Thanks in advance for your help.

Bod

presetlimits

if its been sitting for 6 months i wouldnt try and just go and starting it..try some ATF and take the battery too see if its good, if its turning over its not the starter

dr0x

Yeah... letting the car sit that long is bad on the apex seals. You didnt test drive the car and make sure everything worked before you bought it? I take it you didnt do a compression test either... Oh well. Check the battery, make sure it is holding a charge. If its dead, charge it. If the car does turn over after charging it do a compression test (just for interests sake). If it still doesnt start check for a kill switch. If it still doesnt start check for spark and make sure fuel is getting to the motor. I wouldnt waste my time with ATF unless I had to. Also give it a tank of fresh gas.

apreludem

i second that.............take the battery and have it tested....it could also be flooded.....try to unflooded by removing the inner most fuse that in located under the hood near the battery...its incased in a black little box...remove the fuse then crank the car for 10 secs while holding the accelerator....then put the fuse back in and try to start the car WITHOUT pressing the accelerator.....(may take 5-6 times before it actually starts)

dr0x

You dont even need to remove the EGI fuse (I believe thats the 1 you're talking about?). Just press the accel completely to the floor and crank for ~10s. Dont crank for more than ten. Stop cranking, let off the gas. Wait 5 seconds and then crank again with out touching the throttle. You *may* have to blip the throttle a little bit. Who knows.

Pull the dip stick out of the engine and smell it. If it smells like gas do an oil change before you run the car. Gas getting into the oil is a common problem when you flood a rx7, it thins the oil and can cause problems. Anytime you flood the car you should change the oil.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

As above. If it's been sitting, and running ok prior, chances are low compression. You can do a compression check, but you'll probably need to go through the pain of putting atf in the engine....What a mess. Another problem unique to a rotary.

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Also remember that if the above solutions dont work...Tow starting it may be an option. I have witnessed that bring a zero-compression motor back to life,

Rat

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Rat:
Just for my education, how would towing a car bring back compression?

dr0x

Pieces of carbon may be blocking the apex seals from moving creating a good seal. Having it towed, making the engine spin at say 4000rpm may create enough heat/movement to loosen the carbon that was causing the apex seals to stick. So really, its freeing up the apex seals therefore they start sealing correctly.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Sounds logical, but the carbon deposit, if it did become lodged between seal and housing, would probably only be inhibiting 1 seal, low compression in 2 chambers. Car should still start, but probably run a little raggedy.
Believe me, I'm not trying to argue the point, just get a clear explanation.
Just like when a rotary sits in cold weather, and seals shrink/distort, would like to know why. How cold weather affects the seals. Any ideas?

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Okay...Lets dismiss the seal shrinkage theory completely...Its B.S.

Here is why tow starting works..... My 10th AE had sat for 4 months, with a spark problem. That means that it was cranked alot with no spark. What does that mean? All that unburned fuel had washed away the oil that had helped the rotor create a seal. MAJOR FLOODING.

Unfortunately, when you flood to a certain extreme, there isnt a battery/starter combo in this WORLD that will turn that motor fast enough to get it to start. So you use ATF ( I wish I had not, I think the tow start would have been sufficient.). But the ATF didnt start the vehicle...WHY? That sucker is just too far gone for the RX-7s puny little starter to kick over enough to fire the motor.

So you Tow start. My motor had ZERO, thats right ZERO compression on 5 of 6 rotor faces. Now it starts up everytime.

Why does this work? I have a theory that if you are in first gear, being towed (or pushed in my case) the higher volume of air, combined with other factors (OMP starts pushing oil), all conspire to cause the motor so start. Once started, the compression will come back up.

You dont have to take my word on this, ask anyone thats been around rotaries for a while. More then just one person has seen this work.

Rat

*edit* And for future reference, I am going to advocate push starting FIRST before ATF. I am hearing WAY too many horror stories about whats been happening when ATF is introduced into the motor.

Rat

DJ_Bod

OK, I drove the car at the beginning of the summer, and everything worked fine. MY friend didn't decide to sell it until about 10 days ago. So I was unaware that it hadn't been run for that long of a time.

OK, my first thing to try is to charge / replace the battery. Odds are I'll replace it because it'll prolly have to be done eventually.

I don't think theres a kill switch. He'd prolly know if there was, and he didn't say anything about it. Unless you're talking about something different.

But after that I will try to pull that fuse and start it that way.


FYI. We tried to push start it, well kind of. 3 people pushing it while in gear wont make it go very far/fast.

Question.... ATF? Automatic Transmission Fluid?

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

3 people pushing isnt gonna do it. You need to be in first gear, with the tach sitting at about 4-5K

This is probably gonna raise some peoples hackles, but the way I did it, was I secured a bunch of cloth towells to the rear bumper. Then my friend used my truck to push it around the block a few times. After the second lap, the motor started to fire...

Check for spark too before you do this. Do you hav a timing light?

Rat

*edit* ATF = automatic tranny fluid

QUAID

Alot of guys are knocking the whole ATF thing but I just got a 88 turbo with 190000 miles that sat for 4 years to start using that method. I got a sweet deal and plan to replace the engine anyway. Now I can drive it for a couple of months while I save money for a cool engine.

QUAID

I had nothing to lose, so if all else fails give it a shot.

apreludem

yeah...atf works..no doubt about it...but it can also damage the engine...unless you are gonna rebuild...then you may want to do the atf as a last resort...
ps. i also got my car running using aft...it was sitting for God knows how long...

DJ_Bod

No. I do not have a timing light.

All I have are basic hand tools, access to air tools, access to vehicle lifts, and a lot of ambition. Unfourtunately, not a lot of $ to support this.

*Edit* My absolute last resort will be using ATF. But thats a LAST RESORT. Don't wanna @#$% anything up.

Turtle's TII

Does the motor turn over?

apreludem

it turns...so the only thing you would use atf for is just build up compression...i would check battery...spark....unflooding....push starting it.....first before doing atf

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Keep in mind, I am NOT knocking ATF...I would just use it as a last resort. I have seen it work and I have used it.

Rat

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Okay, take a plug out. Ground the electrode on something, and look for a spark (crank it a few times). There isnt any sense in dragging the car around the block several times if the spark isnt there.

Rat

DJ_Bod

Hey all. First off, thank you for all the help.

I'll be going to work on this right after work today. Seeing as my friend lives kinda far away from me, I couldn't go last night. But I will definitely print out this post so I know what to do

I'll let you know how everything goes.


Bod

P.S. Thanks again

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

good luck man!

Rat

DJ_Bod

WOO HOO!

I got it running last night, and took it back to my house. Not a moment too soon either. It started snowing last night. Thank you all, again for your help. It turned out that the battery was unable to hold a charge, so a fresh one did the trick.


Bod

dr0x

Good to hear it was something as simple as the battery.