(FYI - This is a 1991 Japanese model Turbo FC)

The car has been like a curse for me. I got it cheap, sold it and somehow it made its way back to me. It left running great and now it wont start. I will give a bit of background on how I got to where I am.

I got the car (for the second time) in July- Aug Timeframe. The car had a front mount, ran like crap, would die randomly at idle but ran well otherwise. (no sputtering, plenty of power etc)

I removed the frontmount as it was a hack job in there and I needed to clean some stuff up. Anyway, after installing all the stock crap, the car would not start on its own. I check fuel, air, injectors, etc etc. Everything was there, just no start. I used a bit of engine start fluid and the car would fire right up. It would even stay running as long as I stayed on the throttle a bit. As soon as I left off the throttle, the car would die and not start on its own again. (without the engine start fluid)

The car would start with the front mount but it is long gone. I thought it could be the Air idle control valve or Idle air control valve or whatever it is, but I do not really know how to check it. I also do not have a known good available as FC's are extremely rare here.

I have yet to try to push start the car, but I do not think that will really get me anywhere. If anyone has any ideas, it would help out alot. I need to get this car running so I can get rid of it. Otherwise, I am going to junk it and I hate to do that to a potentially good running car.

Thanks.

 

It's a fuel issue. Check the fuel pressure.

 

Any more insight into this? Where should I check? I pulled the feed line and turned the motor over a couple of times. Fuel gushes out of the line no problem. I swapped in a known good FD fuel pump and got the same.

 

If it starts with starting fluid, fuel isn't getting into the motor. If the fuel pump is working, check the pressure at the rail, something may be clogged or the FPR might be bad. You said you checked the injectors but if they were getting fuel the car would start since you have enough compression to start.

 

maybe the fuel lines have been reversed.. i think sum jdms engines fuel lines r diff from u.s. models.. u could also chek the vacum line..if ones popped off the car will die

 

Good point, I didn't think of that

 

Had a very quick look at this with N3philum a few nights ago, but we had no real luck. Pulled the plugs and grounded them out against the chassis. They sparked fine (leading plugs were nice and blue, trailing ones a little more yellow but still a decent spark). So it's getting spark and it's obviously getting air.

When we spray engine starter in there it will fire up and keep idling as long as the starter spray is in there. Once the spray we put in runs out, the car dies and won't fire up again. So fuel is obviously the missing element.

Fuel's getting as far as the fuel lines and we're pretty sure the pump is working. Now whether the FPR or fuel filter is clogged, or it's getting blocked somewhere before the fuel rail is possible. A friend is gonna be changing out the FPR/fuel rail and filter to see if that will help. My only other thought is it could be the injectors are bad, but surely all injectors wouldn't go bad at once?

Any other thoughts I can pass on to this guy who'll be taking a look at it for me?

 

^ Pressurize the intake tract to look for leaks. Do a search on pressure tester or boost leak tester.

 

But would a boost leak prevent the car from actually starting? I'd have thought that a boost leak would come into play once it was running and would stop it idling right.

Please bear in mind I really do know nothing about rotaries so any of my points/questions may be dumb ones!

 

it could be a boost leak or vac leak,

I had a problem similar to this...found out I had like 3 cracked and missing vac lines under the manifold,

might wanna find the diagram and double check them all

 

Test your fuel pressure after making sure the fuel lines are hooked up correctly.

A boost leak is usually also a vacuum leak. Under boost metered air will leave the intake system where it's not supposed to, and under vacuum unmetered air will enter the intake system where it isn't supposed to. These issues can cause you to run rich or lean respectively and can cause all manner of stupid problems. Get a boost leak tester that you can hook up to your intake, they're not real expensive. I found several leaks with mine and it ran so much better afterward. http://www.boostpro.net/prodtester.html these will fit the TID after the AFM.

 

For fear of repeating myself and sounding dumb, wouldn't this only be an issue once it's started? And how come it would be working with the engine start spray but once that runs out the car just dies?

 

Well ya got Spark because it will light up when you spray the ether in.
But the injectors may not be getting a signal to fire off.So it doens't stay running as it is not getting fuel to run.
try checking the CAS and the EGI fuse,you need to see if you are getting voltage to the injectors.
do you have any spare ECU's hanging around?Try another one if you can.

 

That's why I recommended checking for fuel pressure and checking the line routing.

 

EDI has been checked before and it's good. Could possibly be the CAS, although that sounds like it's a pretty rare thing to go out.

 

vacuum leak

if there is not enough air passing the AFM the car WILL NOT RUN, it may crank and start for a second, that's it.

 

But it will be enough for the highly combustible engine starter to fire it up?

Thing is, it's not even starting for a second. The starter motor is turning the engine but it's giving no sense at all that it might fire up.

 

even with starter fluid? all it is is to try and break down the missing component.

compression>fuel>spark

compression must about ~70+PSI cranking for the engine to pull enough vacuum to try to start

fuel: fuel can be an issue by many different aspects since it is computer controlled. the simplest way to edit this to or out of the equation is by adding your own fuel to see how the engine reacts

spark: there is several ways to test for spark, the easiest is to put a spark plug in a spark plug wire and lay it on a solid engine ground and watch it while cranking the engine, only bother testing the leading coils, the trailings are useless and don't fire anyways during crank. ignition timing is also something you have to consider, if the crank angle sensor isn't installed correctly then it won't fire at the correct time to turn over.

 

Have already tested for spark, as I stated earlier. Both leading and trailing are good. Pretty sure compression is enough but will work to check that too.

 

Wow, people need to learn how to read. It runs on starting fluid so spark, compression, air/vaccum are all GOOD. No vacuum leaks, no boost leaks. The car is not getting fuel. I would send the injectors out and have them cleaned/flow tested.

 

Thanks for saying that. Was thinking I must be asking a stupid question as nobody was reacting to it.

Will get the injectors checked out or swapped with known working ones.

 

how does the car run once it's running, in detail, all conditions? if it runs fine (relatively) once its running then I highly doubt it is an injector problem. What is the lowest rpm you can have it run at?

He said it runs if he gives it some gas. this sounds like an electrical issue to me

 

^^^READ AGAIN. It ONLY runs as long as there is starting fluid ie. there is no fuel getting to the combustion chambers

 

Does it run once it starts as long as you stay on the throttle or not?

I see another post now saying it dies once the fluid is used.

 

It will stay started until the engine starter spray that was in there all runs out. Then it dies and won't start again.