Corbic

Ok, my car is not starting. It MAY be flooded, but I seriously doubt it at this point. I'll have video/sound latter (car is at work )

Discription.
Turn the key, all electrics work (vents, lights, gauges, windows et al, full power).
Try to start. Loud electric (ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZ) (countinous sound)
Belts and fan move when starting atempt.

Engine does not
Chug sound (chunk chunk chunk)
Smoke
Smell
Turn
Make the half-*** start sound (Errrrd Errrd Errrd)

(not my car)
The Red (throttle?) moves when starts are attempted
The Blue (belts and fan) turn when starts are attempted
The Green, clicking sound comes from that area (starter?)

I checked the plug wires, they are fresh and new, so are the plugs. I did not remove the plugs to see the bases (no tools on me). I also got the first to L1 and L2 plug wires mixed up (forgot which goes where). Haynes was no help, I'm guessing L1 goes to the bottome plug closest to the Front of the car and the L2 wire goes to the bottome plug toward the rear of the car.

Prior problems:

Occasional poor idle. Every now and then when the car was started it would idle really low, ~200rpm. I'm figuring this is the BAC and was planning to replace this soon. (Are all the BAC's the same/compatible?).

Oil Presure gauge was not working (or was it? ) The gauge never moved, it was always at 0, once it flickered up a hair, but soon fell back.

Oil Consumption seemd a bit low, maybe a 1/4 QT per thousand miles, only had the car for about 1,000 miles.

Car had a nice big poofs of smoke when started on cold days, did not smell sweet, had almost no odor. This was on very cold days, other autos on the road also had similiar clouds. On normally days, I would get a quick "poof" of oily smoke and that was it.

Please help guys, I might head back tonight to record some sound/video.

:smiley_12

locketine

well first off, don't drive your car if the oil pressure gauge says 0. usually the gauge/sender has gone bad but sometimes you could actually lack oil pressure which will kill your engine.

Is your voltage at 12? (note that the starter is the biggest drain on any car's electrical system) Does it sound like it's not spinning as fast as it normally does?

Pull the leading plugs and see if they are covered in fuel after attempting to start, if they are your flooded. To unflood, pull the egr fuses in the main fuse box and crank it with the plugs out, then put the plugs back in and try starting it normally. You should also check to see if you have spark while the plugs are out. L1 is front bottom, L2 is rear bottom.

Your car should be consuming about one quart of oil every 400 miles or so, so you prolly have a malfunctioning OMP. Premix untill you get it fixed.

There's a section at the beggining of the haynes manual for troubleshooting various problems including starting issues and possible solutions.

PVD212

the cloud of smoke is comin in rx7s on cold start, its just your motor burning oil. wankel engine use oil injection so by engine desine you are suppose to burn oil. what i belive that problem is is that you do not have enough battery power to crack your engine fast enought to start. try this

get another car (car a)and connect jumper cabels from car A to car B(rx7) remmamber red + black _, and while car A is runing try and crack your car a couple of times without the "EGI" fuse to both unflod and build up compression in car B. then afther cracking it a couple of times without the EGI fuse insert the EGI fuse and it should turn over enough withe the assestance of car A to start! if not change your spark plugs and wire there afther get your oil gage checkt and do a compression check and hope for the best.

also make shur that when its cracking even though the belts are spining make shur your engine is cuz, i've seen belts free spine when the engine is seezed(lockt). if this is the case you are in a hep of trouble. and stay on top of your cars maintnance give it oil changes but don't use syantec oil or none of that oils that use camecelse to clean your engine. also make shur to use NGK spark plugs and wiers.

Corbic

Voltage is at 12, the car has PLENTY of electrical power. (I've had plenty of dead batterys in various cars to get a feeling of what one is like).

BTW, the car is a 1988 GXL N/A S4.

I don't think the engine is turning and its just a horrific "ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRZZZ" sound, not several "errrd errrd errrrd" like most cars that won't start. Its a high pitched electrical grind/whine.

I was under the impresion the car is supposed to burn a qt every 1,000 miles.

Go48

iTrader: (7)

You said the belts and fan move when trying to start the car. If so, the engine is turning over. If the engine is not turning over, as you now say, the sound you hear is probably the starter motor and gear spinning but the starter gear is not engaging the fly wheel, meaning the solenoid may be bad or the cable connection to the starter is loose or faulty.

The amount of oil the engine consumes is somewhat dependent on your driving style, but consuming a quart of oil per 1K miles would be excessive. Approximately one quart per 3K or so would be what you should see. So the oil comsumption you are experiencing is OK.

Corbic

Video of the car not running. Also the spark-plug ratchet adapter i have is not "long" enough to get to the base to screw them out.

Link to small video.

http://selbie.org/pics/rx7/MOV00002.MPG

Corbic

MMMM... nothing like working on a car in the pouring rain!

I think the car has two problems.
A. Flooded, it intially flooded, failling to start.
B. Starter motor is stripped, this was caused by atempts to restart the car.


So, I have a lead on a starter for $40 used, next question, does installation of the new starter require some drastic measures? I left the haynes in the Rx-7 (pouring rain, just wanted to get done and out), however IIRC some cars require the engine be lifted up, or sub-frame pieces be removed to replace the starter propperly.