I just recently purchased a 87 turbo II and it has 51k original miles. Tonight though the car would turn over but would not start. I got some friends do help me with a rolling push start and after dropping the clutch it fired up fine. My question is what is everyones first guess on the problem. After limping it back home and letting it iddle for a couple of min. I turned it off then cranked it again and this time is started. I believe it is probably spark plug/wire related since I know for sure it has the stock wires on. Besides that the car is a blas, thanks for any help.

 

What did it sound like when you cranked it?
If it sounded almost like a whining sound, it was probably flooded.

 

My Haynes manual states that the plug wires need to be replaced every 30,000 miles (depending on conditions) ... if U have the original wires on there they are probably way past shot ... also, if the car has sat for a while (before U got it) U might want to go through the various electrical connections (under the hood) to check for corrosion +/or bad connections....

 

Check all the items of above posts, and if they are all ok it may have just flooded

Unfortunately the TII does have a bad habit of flooding. Every car is a bit different, but I am on my 3rd TII and they ALL do it every now and then. My current car is starting to do it a bit worse now that I have modded it, but it's not that bad. It gets worse with age.

Try to keep the car well maintained and with that low of miles you should not have a common problem with it. Once you start the car, let it run until it's warm. DON'T shut it off at least for a couple of minutes. The fuel system does NOT like short runs.

There are many theories on how to make it stop doing this and tere are quite a few threads that have been opened on that subject over the last couple of years the forum has been open. Try to do a search and you will find a lot of info.....

By the way, this is my 3rd 87 TII. (7 RX7's so far ) I LOVE them

 

I have found that if I make sure I idle for about 45 sec. before shutting it off (after I get to a destination) it tends to reduce the number of flooding problems that I have with my 87 TII.... Also; keeping the plugs changed every 5 or 6 K helps....

 

Put a kill switch on the fuel pump. Next time that happens, shut the pump off, floor it, turn the key, and it should start in a few seconds.

 

You should be letting your car idle for ~1 minute anyway, to let the turbos cool down. If you don't, you run the risk of coking (causing excessive carbon buildup) on them, which can ruin the bearings and necessitate an early rebuild. That's what turbo timers are for...

Brandon