Rhyno2050

hi to all the fellow rotary enthusiasts, but the reason for this post is that I am stumped on what could be wrong with my fc. It is a 86 n/a manual tranny, I have owned the car for about two years now and it has been my reliable daily car. Just recently it started acting funny and when the car would start it would sound like it would start on one rotor and eventually the other one came to life and the engine runs beautifully after that. One day the engine began to run warmer than normal and immediately turned off the engine, and that problem seemed to be a clogged radiator which a new one went on it today. Installed it, ran the car to make sure of any leaks and seemed to be running fine. I let it sit for a couple of hours and now the engine will not turn on, and it seems to be flooded. I tried the deflooding procedure several times and no luck. If I can get it started I will take it over to my friends house and do a compression check but why would the engine be running fine for so long and with no symptoms or signs just not run or start?
I am asking the rx7 gurus if they have any ideas for help
any help is greatly appreciated thanks

pfsantos

iTrader: (1)

I'd start with a compression test, just to make sure. Then, I would check ignition (use a timing gun on each wire and see if it lights up).

lduley

iTrader: (1)

Take your plugs out and look for coolant on them, it may have been more than a radiator

Rhyno2050

Will do a compression test in the next couple of days, and ill attempt to check the timing after work.

I have thought it could of been a bad coolant seal but the plugs were dry but did smell more like fuel than anything else, and also the car never has had that sweet smell coming from the exhaust but not ruling it out at this point.

Rhyno2050

Update:
Did a compression test today and got about 90 psi on each rotor. Finally got the car to start had to push start it and a bunch of white smoke.
But now that I got it started, it seems to start on one rotor every time then other one kicks in.
Something else that seems really weird is that only half of the brand new radiator is getting hot, has anybody else had this problem?? This is the second radiator with the same problem could all these symptoms be related??

barkz

iTrader: (1)

Which "half" of the radiator isnt getting warm? A radiators job is to cool the coolant. So in theory the bottom should be slightly cooler. Are you losing coolant?

lduley

iTrader: (1)

If you had a bunch of white smoke, thats not isually a good thing unless it was really cold out.

I think you should be pressure testing the coolant system. Also, have a OEM thermostat? Or how old is it? That could be part of your cooling problem also

Rhyno2050

@ Barks:
The radiator was hot from the bottom to the top, but about half of the drivers side was literally completely cold. And I was losing coolant through the reservoir bottle, but I as soon as I changed the radiator it got fixed. But now it seems like this radiator is getting clogged, like the old one, and not enough coolant is getting cooled down. What would be causing them to clog?

@Iduley:
I think the white smoke was mostly due to that it was massively flooded and had to push start it and barely got it running. Ima try to find if anyone can pressure test in my area. The thermostat seems to be working fine, I have run it a couple times with the thermostat out and it runs the same. It is getting old though, but at this point im willing to try everything to fix my 7. It sucks not being able to drive it