Alright, I just had a guy come out and check out my car. He doesn't know much about rotaries, but he said that the cause of my car not starting is not my starter as I had thought, but rather it sounds as though my engine is not getting compression. He said that if it were a 4-cylinder, it would as though the timing belt were broken - all the belts are turning freely, and it is acting as though there are no spark plugs. Does anyone have any suggestions, or know of anyone who works on rotary engines in the Roanoke, Virginia area?

 

Pull the plugs, turn the engine and listen for 3 even wooshes on each rotor, if that sounds good. Check for spark.. make sure spark plugs are clean and not covered in gas.. if they are covered in gas.. you will most likely need to unflood it. Check for spark by laking the plugs on the engine manifold, turn the key and have somone see if it sparks.

If there is indeed spark, check for fuel.. turn the key with plugs out and see if it throws fuel form the spark plug holes.

If it does.. search for unflooding.. generally just put a bit of motor oil in the spark plug hole, throw in new plugs and try to start it.

Good luck.

 

The only way it would be your starter is if it won't turn over... Does it turn over when you turn the key? BTW, there is no timing belt. You can still set it with the mark on the e-shaft pully. How far are you away from me?(new to the area). And check everything mentioned already. Or maybe use an actual compression tester instead of just puffs, it won't start if there is to little compression, but you can still hear puffs...later

 

Thanks trainwreck - I don't know how to do most of what you suggested, but I've got a friend or two coming over tomorrow to give those a go. I'll let you know what I find.

Now that I've cooled off a little, perhaps I can describe the problem a bit better. I drove home from work on Thursday with no problem starting my car. Thursday night, however, I turned the key and just heard a lot of... screeching, I guess. It was as though the starter was trying to get the engine going, but was just lacking that initial boost that you feel when you start up. Anyway, I had it looked at to make sure it wasn't the starter. The starter works just fine - it is spinning without any problem. The guy who looked at it said that it sounds like there just isn't any compression. I realize that there is no timing belt - the guy just said that it sounds like a 4-cylinder car with a damaged timing belt. He also said that the sound would be similar to a 4-cylinder without spark plugs - trying to start but not having the compression.

Also, IM [H]ard, you're about 3+ hours from me - Blacksburg is in southwest Virginia. Thanks for the help, and I will let you all know what I find out.

 

"Thursday night, however, I turned the key and just heard a lot of... screeching, I guess."

Could be that the starter gear is not engaging the flywheel and, therefore, just running free so to speak. If the gear does not mesh with the flywheel the starter motor will run at very high RPM and would make a kind of screeching sound. Try starting it and have someone verify that the eccentric shaft pulley (the bottom pulley) and the belts are turning while the starter motor is running.

 

Update

When turning the ignition, the starter runs and all the belts and flywheels turn. All 4 spark plugs are producing good sparks. The odd thing is that even though the motor will not turn over while the starter is running, puffs of exhaust can be felt coming out of the tailpipes. The current theory is that there is either a timing issue or flooding. I am going to check for these tomorrow, and will update you all. Thanks for the help and support - I appreciate it.

 

the motor will turn over, good. and there should be pulses coming out of the exhaust turning it over, they have to go somewhere right. ok, you say there is spark, good. did you see any fuel coming out of the spark plug holes. try putting a little gas in the throttle body. what are the results of that. and did you do a compression check yet...later

 

Sorry guys, I haven't had time to check any of this stuff yet - it will probably be Wednesday (11/2) before I get a chance to get at it. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

 

Alright, I finally got a socket to fit the plugs - yanked them out and sure enough, they're covered in gasoline. We cranked it with the plugs out for a while, hooked everything back up, and tried to start it. No go. We disconnected the fuel injector and cranked it again with the plugs out, and this time we got pretty good compression. We hooked the fuel injector and plugs back up and tried firing it up again, and got it to turn over, but it wouldn't stay - it flooded again. So, right now, I've got the plugs out to let some of the gasoline escape from the engine overnight. Tomorrow I'll give it another go, and try the motor oil trick if that doesn't work.

 

i only flooded my car once. i tried everything, but in the end what got is started was a push down the block from my brothers car. put it in first, and let the clutch go slowly. it took about 15 plus feet for it to start too, man that was flooded....

 

Success!

After pulling the spark plugs out, disconnecting the the fuel injector, and cranking the motor a million times, I got the gasoline out of the engine. I had to put some motor oil back in through the spark plug holes to reseal the engine as suggested, and tried it then. My battery had drained down from all the cranking, but after replacing that, I have a running RX-7 once again. I put more oil in the engine, too, as most of it had been burned off. Thanks everyone!

I plan on having it checked out tomorrow just to make sure something major isn't causing the engine to flood. I do have to drive it 700+ miles this week, so I'd like to make sure it's not going to crap out on me. Any ideas as to why it would flood?

 

leaking injectors, low compression are the two main causes.