I recently acquired an 87 non turbo. The car cranks but will not start. I'm new enough to rotaries that I want to make sure there isn't anything to check that I'm forgetting. The list is currently:

Fuel (pretty sure this is fine as there is a fuel smell when cranking but if necessary will pull injectors to test)
Spark (need to check)
Compression (need to check. What are acceptable numbers when cold?)

The motor has 220k miles on it. (Yes that's correct. Confirmed 1 owner car)

 

Check for flooding? Mine was flooded for five years before I got ahold of it and blew it out.

 

Hrm hadn't realized that they wouldn't dry out on their own. I will make sure to check for that as well when I pull the plugs.

 

If it's flooded, it'll stay flooded. There's really no ring blowby to drain the fluid out, and unless it dumps out the exhaust port, there's nowhere else for it to go. If in the meantime of rotating it soaks the plugs, well, it'll just keep flooding.

 

Do a forum search for more info on flooding and deflooding procedures. This has been covered many times before. You cut power to the fuel pump by pulling the right fuse, crank, return the fuse, then try to start the car. If that fails, you repeat until it works. The idea is to get the fuel out of the engine and stop more fuel from coming in. You remembered fuel, spark and compression, but you forgot air. If there's too much fuel then there won't be enough air for anything to burn. This is a common problem with rotary engines that usually happens when you shut the engine off immediately after starting. During the first few seconds of startup the engine intentionally idles at 3,000 RPM and injects extra fuel into the engine. Poor compression and other factors can also cause flooding.

Spark: If you don't know when the spark plugs were last changed, or if you know they were changed a long long time ago, change them regardless.

Compression: About 90 to 120 is good, IIRC. It'll probably still run with a little lower though. Most compression testers have a check valve so they can hold on to the reading and show it to you even after the test is over. Problem is, a rotary has 3 rotor faces. Thus the tester will hold on to the highest of the 3 readings only. Remove the check valve, and watch the needle during the test.

Fuel: I dunno how to check. If all of the above are good I'll bet a Haynes manual or the FSM in the FAQ can tell you how.

 

And flooding is the correct answer. Pulled the fuses under the hood and cranked it a few times. It didn't catch while I was trying that so I didn't have much faith that it had worked. I did however smell fuel. Popped the fuses back in and she cranked up with a bit of hesitation. She doesn't turn over as easily as my 86 did so I've got some investigating to do into that. I suspect low compression with 220k on the motor. Thanks for the help.