I know this may be simple for some if you, but I know nothing at all about Mazda's and rotary engines- so please help.

My son's friend just bought an 88 RX7. It needed plugs and plug wires. He went ahead and replaced and the vehicle will not start, so he asked me for help.

I found the gas tank was empty, so we put gas in it. It still will not start, so I checked and the plugs are getting spark.

When you try to start it the engine just continues to turn without firing over.

Any advice on what steps to take next will be greatly appreciated!

 

could be flooded...was it just sitting a while before your son's friend got it? you might want to check to see if the unflooding steps help you out. you can do a search for "flood" or "flooded" and im sure lots of results will come out. Good luck.

 

Well first double check plug wires are hooked up correctly. Does sound flooded though. Lots of unflooding info but here is a basics unflooding procedure list

http://rx7.com/techarticles_unfloodFC.html


also flooding prevention tips

http://rx7.com/techarticles_floodprev.html

 

Yes....it sat for quite a while.

Since the gas gauge was on empty I didn't think it would be flooded. Do they flood that easily?

Is it possible to have a cavitated fuel pump maybe? If so, any advice on how to prime it?

 

I will go ahead and try the unflood after reading the checklist posted by Tiers. Any other possibilities would be appreciated.

Thanks for the quick answers! Never saw a forum that people responded so quickly in!

 

I will go ahead and try the unflood after reading the checklist posted by Tiers. Any other possibilities would be appreciated.

Thanks for the quick answers! Never saw a forum that people responded so quickly in!

 

also thinking could be opposite of flooding since tank was empty and needs gas priming.

Remove a plug and check if spark plug is wet and smells like gas, if so then flooded if dry or no fuel smell then you need to check operation of fuel pump/fuel delivery.
(a search here will again find you lots of info on this)

Question tho have you seen had the car running since he picked it up?

 

No...it hasn't run since he got, but he says he saw it run in the past.

The guy he bought it from said it needed plugs and wires and that was it. The plugs and wires have been replaced and I checked to make sure they have spark.

Another question...could the ignitors still produce a spark if they are bad? He says the guy mentioned it may need ignitors. If so, I wouldn't think they'd produce a spark.

 

hmmm...having not seen the car actually run I think you need to do a really good once over of all systems.

The basics are fuel and spark thats why we started you there. If you have both of these then the engine should at least "catch" and try to start. So again I suggest you check that wires are on correctly and plugs have fuel smell. On that note what plugs did you use as RX7's need 2 different plugs in leading and trailing. Just any 2 plugs wont work(or at least not properly). NGK's are the #1 choice.
Check engine fuse under hood and up above drivers feet. Ignitors IMO either work(spark) or dont so...

Perhaps check the FSM diagnostics etc as well at

http://www.iluvmyrx7.com/ (down right now for some reason.

again lots of info here as well keep reading

 

One other scary thought...no or bad compression.
Perhaps you should do a compression test on the engine as well. Perhaps it is a blown apex or side seal as this is the other cause of a no start and you havent seen the engine run yet. Hope this aint it for his sake but is a real possibility. A regular compression testor can be used by removing shrader valve and watching bounces...again hehe do a search here for compression testing for more info

 

I have a quick question about the spark: did you happen to pull all 4 plugs, and watch them as the engine cranked? If you do this, pull all 4 plugs, and set them on a ground (I used the throttle body, up at the top of the engine). Have someone crank, and watch the plugs. Do they all just fire at once, and then not again? Or do they fire in sequence, and repeatedly?