Ok heres the deal. I have an 87 gxl na and the son of a (insert word here) wont stay running.At first I thought it was flooded, which it was. i did the de-flood procedure and I even did the trans fluid trick. Ihave all new plugs new msd wires new fuel filter and air filter and a new o2 sensor. If i sit there and floor it and crank like theres no tomorrow the thing will run but if i take my foot of the gas it dies. No mater what I do I cant get it to stay running. Whats the problem here?

 

it sounds like you could have leaky injectors. and or a really bad vac leak

 

It ran fine before I changed the parts.

 

Oh yeah and it sounds like it has a miss now too. Has fuel compression and spark though.

 

Double check all of your connections.

 

Thanks for the quick responses but I think I am just going to get rid of it. i think I just blewthe motor. Oh well ya live and ya learn.

 

before you just dismiss the motor as blown, check the vacuum lines. That's what happened to me, if they haven't been replaced since the car was made (almost 20 years now!!) then you most likely have got a leak.

 

No I'm pretty sure its blown. Loud pop and now it wont start at all. Its just dead. Any one want to but a cheap project?

 

did you put the plugs in the right spot example: trailing to trailing and leading to leading, are the wires right??

 

uuuh compression check. from what ive seen these dont really "pop" unless you beat the **** out of them...

 

Um plugs don't matter only the wires in this, my car had the front rotar where the trailing was in the leading and the leading was in the trailing spots. the dumbass that did the last tune up screwed up. all it dose is get bad gas milage. wires yea i've flipped them just to see what it would do and it started poping and dieing on me.

 

Its nearly impossible to mess up the plug wires, unless you don't read before you plug.

 

if you post this and ask for help, and people give you help and give you things to check im pretty sure you should atleast try it out instead of just giving up

 

I'm pretty sure the wires are in the right spot. I tried looking in the haynes (worthless piece it is) and it doesn't say what goes where. Any one want to tell me?

 

L1 front rotors
L2 Rear rotors..
i'm sure you can tell which are trailing and leading from the side of the block.

 

and in case yours dont have the L1 L2 still on there (i own one that has it missing) the L's are the ones near the headlight and the one closer to the engine is L1 farther away L2 ....hrmm not sure about the trailing order...I can go look in a sec...

T1 is the one farther from the firewall and T2 is closer ....hope you get it going again.

 

Ok so maybe I am just a moron and don't know which rotor is which. I'm a piston guy but I love the rotary when it runs well. I'm on a big learning curve is all.

 

ohhh front pair of plugs ....farther from the firewall are 1 and the closer pair to firewall is 2

 

thats what I thought. Ok those are hooked up right. Any thing else? It just won't idle for crap and sounds like its got a miss. I know the timing isn't off because, as far as I know, there is no timing unless you port a rotary. So we have comp. spark and fuel but a non-running 7. Any other thoughts?

 

hrmm did you say you had the haynes? try page 155? of course its hard to do when it wont stay on ...im having trouble getting one running my self

 

There is ignition timing on a rotary. It is set with the crank angle sensor. You can do a quick test to see if the motor is blown or not.
First, pull both of the EGI fueses in the engine bay. Next, remove the leading plug (or trailing, it doesn't matter for determining if the engine is blown). Put in a piston compression tester. Have a friend crank the engine while you hold down the pressure release button on the tester. Look at the needle. You should see 3 even bounces, preferably in the 90+ range. Repeat on the rear rotor. If you see 1 high and 2 low then you have a blown apex seal.

Also, what parts did you replace?

 

o2 sensor, air and fuel filter, plugs, msd wires, umm changed all the under hood fuses. I think thats it. When i had the plugs out doing the de-flood procedure I listened an heard three verry distinct and strong sounding compressions. I will try and get a compression tester tomorrow to make sure.

 

By the way, just wanted to say thanks again for all the input. I know its kinda a noob thing but I;ve tried everything I can think of.

 

Since you said the car ran only when you had the pedle down it sounds like eather a fual or air problem. You may want to make sure that your fuel pump is good, there is not air leaks on the intake and that the fuel filter is in the right direction.
Also check that your idle is not too low. maybe turn it up a little. If it works after that then you probuble have a vac leak.
Also the haynes book has trouble shooting the the front. check that out. It has helped mr before.

 

make sure your air hose is tight, your bac hose is connected and your throttle body elbow is bolted securely. Check the plug on your afm.

When was it running last and what have you done to it since then?