I've just inherited an 88 N/A RX-7 from a friend who passed away. The car has been sitting for about 2.5 years. We are now trying to get it running again, but are having some problems. This is my first rotory, so please be gentle

The car will not start, that's the obvious problem. While attempting to start it today, we pulled each of the plugs out and checked for spark on each. We found one plug which was not firing as well as the others (the wire was not a problem, as we checked each plug on at least two different wires).

We just put new fuel in, as we are pretty sure it was run dry when put away, and if I remove the return line from the motor, fuel does come out when cranking the motor.

I have not searched on the forum about the plug wires and how they are suppose to be run, but there are four wires labeled L1, T1, L2, T2. What do these refer to, and how should they be run? Are there only the four plugs on this car (two stacks of two, one front one rear?)

I keep reading about a flooding problem with the rotory motors, how do I know if this is a problem? For that matter, where are the injectors on this car?

Is there anything else I can check for hard starting problems?

Thanks for any advice....

 

Well, I got the new plugs today (NGK) and will try them tomorrow. Any other suggestions?

 

The L and T wires are for leading and trailing plugs, or Lower and Top depending on your point of veiw.

The two leading wires can be mixed up but the trailing need to specific.

Ususally there is a white dot on the front rotor's plug wires and coils.

If it has been sitting for a while you may need to try a little ATF (as in a tablespoon) or 30W oil in each leading plug hole, to help build compression. You might want to leave the ATF in overnight before trying to crank, but don't do that if you are using just plain 30w.

I am assuming that it cranks over okay, it just doesn't lite up.

If there is gas has been sitting in the car for that long, then you will need to flush the whole system, including the tank, as I am sure it has turned/gone bad. Just dumping new gas in would only work if the tank really is dry.

 

The tank was empty. We got nothing from the tank the first time we tried starting it. We then dumped 5 gallons in and now we get gas pumping out the return line.

Should I still flush out the tank and then put more new gas in?

Thanks.

 

is it flooded?

once your sure about the gas and the plug's, pull the egi fuse and turn it over a few times, then put the egi fuse back in, and try starting it, if it starts smoking like a bgastard, it was probly flooded

 

you wouldn't know what and where that fuse would be on an 88?

 

If your car is a stick get a chain and have someone tow you about 30mph with it in 3rd gear and the key turned on. Step on the gas to see if it's running, just don't run over the tow vehicle. That will make it start if it's capable of running. If that won't start it you have some bigger problems like severe compression loss, vacuum leak, timing/spark/fuel issues. etc. You probably already know that if it's an auto you can't push/pull it to start it, so you have to just diagnose each item to see what the problem is.

 

On the "what are the T and L wires" question. The way I always remembered it was, when you are looking at the engine the TOP plugs would be TRAILING (T) and the lower plugs LEADING (L). Please correct me if I am wrong! And yes, what the members are saying about the ATF fix, VERY good advice there! Good luck and welcome to "Rotary Hell"!

 

Fuse box!

 

The problem could be more than just spark plugs and flooding. If the battery, alternator, and starter (along with other engine parts) sit for too long, they will eventually die. I assume you know this.

But if you search around, lots of old RX-7s have starting problems!

 

If it's been sitting for 2.5 years it probably won't start period. Letting a rotary sit for a long period of time without starting it is one of the most detrimental things you can do to an Rx7. And about the plug wires, if your standing on the driver's side looking at the engine L1 would go to the bottom plug on the left and L2 on the bottom plug on the right and same with T1 and T2, 1 is on the left and 2 on the right. The front rotor is always considered #1 and rear rotor #2.

 

Well, here is the latest news.... The car started! We put the new plugs in and disconnected the fuel pump (the car was flooded for sure) and then cranked it over a few times. It fired and ran for about three seconds (I couldn't get to the pump in time). Once the fuel pump was plugged back in, the car started right up. Runs OK, kinda rough at low rpm, but we need to finish checking everything.

As for the EGI fuse, I figured it was in the fuse box I should have been asking what the EGI fuse is for.

For the next question, how do you time this thing? We got a manual on it, and there are TWO timing markers, one for Leading one for trailing??? So, if you adjust for the Leading plugs, then go to the trailing plugs, wouldn't it throw the leading timing off?? Are there two different places to adjust the timing, or are both set using the crank trigger on the front of the block?

Also, since there is no owners manual with the car, how does the top operate? We attempted to operate it while the car was in park and running, but it only made a noise. There are two latches (driver/pass) is there anything else we need to do in order for the top to go down? There is a switch on the dash, which I can only assume operates the top, are we missing something?

PS. It did take us a few minutes to figure out how to turn the radio on. Funny how the power turns on......

Thanks again for all the help.....

 

http://www.fc3s.org/

Has some factory service manuals. This might help you out some. Hope it does.

 

your guess is as good as mine if you've got the factory manual. I'm pretty sure it's just follow the steps in the manual using a timing light.

I just static timed my '80 race car and it hasn't given me any problems (yet).

 

Unfortunately we only have a Haynes manual (yea, I know ) But the timing procedure goes something like this:
1. Warm up the engine.
2. Hook a tach up to the car and check/adjust idle speed.
3. Attach timing light to L1 and verify yellow mark (first mark on pulley) is aligned with the pointer.
4. If not aligned, loosen crank angle sensor and rotate until marks are aligned.
5. Detach from L1 and put on T1, then repeat the procedure.

My question is wouldn't rotating the crank sensor for T1 put the L1 out of timing??

I'm going to make this a new post as well about timing the rotory motors.....

Thanks again everyone for the help! The link to the factory manual will prove to be invalueble.