yoshiman33

Okay, so here's the skinny.

Last week I was driving on the highway on a hot day. I have a jspec turbo engine in a GXL body, so ventilation isn't that good. In the past, the battery charge light and the coolant light have come on simultaneously while shifting, but that was not the case on this day. Suddenly the car stopped accelerating. None of my meters showed anything wrong and no lights came on. I pulled over, and when I stopped, the car shut itself off. Then it wouldn't start, only crank. The radiator was pretty hot, and 15 minutes later, it started. I figured it wasn't ventilated properly because I need a hood with a scoop, and I continued on my way.

Now THIS week, it's ran fine. One day recently I forgot I left my running lights on for a few hours (dumb move), but the car still started fine when I got back to it. Today, now at my home, it doesn't turn over. It does the same thing as when I was on the highway.... *Whir Whir Whir...* but no juice. I checked the battery thinking maybe that was low on charge.. I even tried to jump it, but nope, no go. Just cranks and doesn't turn over. One thing I noticed was after cranking an interesting smell would come up. The odor reminded me of wet paint.

I hope all of this information helps someone to give me some advice. I've searched the forum for a previous post with my same problem, but I wasn't able to find one that exactly fit the bill. Just a lot of people with rebuild problems and other things that didn't seem related to my issue. I don't have any means of attempting a push-start either, just so you all know... my driveway going out is uphill and the car is at the bottom. Lucky me. Got any ideas of things I should try before towing it to a shop?

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Try deflooding it..

NZ_87_TURBO

maybe you cooked a coil or the ignitor? Check your primary coils as per the FSM

yoshiman33

I checked the coils. They are all that copper brown/orange color except for a white/silvery spot on one of them. Would that signify a cook?

I've also tried holding the accelerator down while cranking, removing the EGI fuse while cranking, and popping it into 1st gear with the clutch down while cranking and still the same thing, just *whir whir whir* like it's trying to turn over but it's missing something.

I'm going to test for a spark at the plugs later today, as long as I can find where the plugs are. Although a mechanic I took it to last month said the plugs are fine. I also want to try deflooding but I'm not sure how to do that, I'm new to the RX7, so I'll need to search this forum some more unless someone wants to give me a deflood overview for dummies

rx7racerca

iTrader: (1)

If its doing this, try pulling a sparkplug - if its wet and smells like fuel, it's flooded. You've already pretty much described the deflooding procedure - pull the egi fuse, and crank with the throttle down - your battery should be fully charged. And don't crank for over a minute straight (I usually do 20 sec bursts, with at least that much time in between), after a minute of cranking, give it at least 5min for the starter to cool).

Lots on flooding in the 2nd gen archive: eg
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ighlight=flood

If your car is flooding hot, then something else odd is happening however, and needs to be fixed. I have no wisdom there, I just know it shouldn't happen. Flooding with these cars usually happens after the car has been run briefly and its cool outside, then the next time it's started, it floods, because it was running rich (cold start cycle) last time it ran and the residual fuel is still in the chambers.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

Is the front pulley spinning when you do this? If it is, you may have lost compression, compression test it, also heck your coolant for bubbling while youre cranking.

yoshiman33

yep - as you thought, i pulled my plugs and they're very gummed up, glistening, and reeking of gasoline odor. they were all tough to get out because of all the gunk buildup, but my 4th plug is being a real b*tch to move so im on break from it right now. hopefully this cleanup will get te car to turn over again. is there anything i should do after i clean up the plugs properly?

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Turn over: To rotate the engine using the starter.

So you are saying that you get a whirring noise but the engine does not rotate?

If that's the case, then the starter gear is stripped or there is a stripped/damaged spot on the flywheel ring gear.

If in fact the engine is turning over but will not start, then it's probably just seriously flooded and you need to follow the unflooding procedures. Pull the plugs and put a few ounces of oil into each chamber. Rotate the engine by hand with the plugs out. Repeat several times. Put in new plugs and start the car. It will smoke a lot.

yoshiman33

just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. i found that my problem was officially an engine flood mixed with a low battery charge. i'll be installing a fuel cutoff switch, as mentioned in the link someone here posted, to further prevent the problem from happening. if any of these symptoms happen to you, this is what i did:

-crank, turnover, no start
-pulled EGI fuse. crank, turnover, no start.
-replaced fuse. crank, turnover, no start.
-held down accelerator. crank, turnover, no start.
-pulled spark plugs and cleaned using a rag. also cleaned the plug holes. dipped lower 2 plugs in ATF and put all 4 back in. crank, turnover, no start.
-hooked up another car to jump my rx7. had someone hold down the 2nd car's accelerator while also holding down the accelerator in the rx7. crank, turnover, START!, and lots and lots of smoke.
-changed the oil ASAP after running the car for 10 minutes.

ALL GOOD! Thanks again