Ok, I took off all of the belts on my car spun each pulley by hand... the air pump pulley seemed exceptionally hard to spin, not sure if its supposed to be or not. anyway, I removed the air pump and blocked it off. took off the extension manifold and changed the corroded ground wire. I didnt have time to change the battery cables, so I took a jumper cable and attached the battery directly to the starter and tried to crank the car... battery is brand new and engine still turns over too slow to catch... does anyone have any input on what the problem may or may not be?

 

Can someone please help me w/ dis problem?

 

siezed/or in the process of rotor bearings...it happened in on of my first gens, first it took a while to crank over and start...then it would try to crank but wouldnt and i would loose all battery power after a bit

 

I doubt it could be seized because I can turn the e-shaft pulley w/ a rachet...

 

I doubt it could be seized b/c I can turn the e-shaft pully w/ a rachet... I think the problem is electrical, but dont know where to start...

 

i would do a compression test first then go from there

 

Never under estimate the chance of being flooded...

 

hell yea mines flooded 3 times had to pull start it with another car but it started right up then!

 

ok,will try a compression test... how much does a standard gauge usually cost??

 

Cool thread. Gonna do a compression test and the starter won't even turn over the engine.

It it were flooded it would spin over much easier than a engine not flooded.

I suggest installing perfect battery terminals and installing that battery in the car. Make sure the ground wire for the battery is connected to the bellhousing attach bolt or the long starter attach bolt. Make sure the positive battery cable is secured to the starter solenoid.
A perfect connection.

Also make sure the negative battery cable is also attached to its chassis ground just below the left strut tower.

 

Or you could have a bad coolant seal and it's leaking water into the rotor housing and you're suffering a hydro locked engine. Remove the bottom plugs and try spinning the engine again. See if water comes out the lower plug holes. Got water? Rebuild the engine. Cheap parts at Mazdatrix.

 

You say you can turn the engine over by hand. How hard is it to turn???? That is the question that has to be answered. If you have an 18" breaker bar and you are straining to turn it then there is a problem.

Somebody with more time than I have should find out how many ft lbs it should taek to turn an engine when it is in spec. Then you could compare

 

One more thing, Your smog pump should spin freely

 

You say the starter is spinning slowly... Maybe the starter itself is bad.

 

The engine isnt that hard to turn over.... however I am not sure how hard its supposed to be (I am using a long piece of aluminum piping as a breaker bar...) Turns over just as easy as my brothers rx7. I know it is a wiring problem, so I will continue replacing wires until I find the culprit...