Hi, recently my car has not been starting.. it briefly fires then dies. I was looking for the problem, and when i opened up my air box, at the bottom under the air filter there was quite abit of coolant. Why is there coolant at there???I recently changed the coolant in the car... is this purely my fault or is there something really wrong? does this mean my air flow meter is stuffed??

thanks guys i really need the help!

 

can anyone shed some light on this? :S please

 

Could you have spilled some coolant in there? I can't think of any way coolant could entire the intake, even if something broke.

Except maybe if your coolant seals were completely destroyed, then you rolled your car upside down for an extended period of time, or something crazy like that.

Your problem sounds like either your AFM is not plugged in, or you have a vacuum leak. Will the car stay running if you keep your foot on the gas?

 

coolant can also be sticky when it begins to evaporate. I would also recommend pulling off the AFM and intake pipe to see ho far the coolant has tracked it's way up / in to your engine.

also once you have your AFM off push on the little door to see if it moves easily but with some spring resistance. if it feels "sticky" spray the inside down with carb cleaner and allow it to dry.

if you get all the way up to the dynamic chamber and you have coolant up there (not sure how this would happen BUT) the cold start assist or another coolant line or seal may be destroyed and that could be leaking into your airbox and also *gulp* down into your UIM-LIM-Rotors...

hope this helps you track down your problem,
Ryoasuke

 

Don't know if this will help you any, but the PCV system let's some **** out of the crankcase, and usually filters it back to the intake to burn it up. Worst case scenario a coolant seal might have gone and the PCV valve is letting all that **** back into your intake??

Hopefully I'm wrong... for your sake.

Good luck.

 

Thanks guys, i took everything apart, and the coolant is only at the bottom of the air flow meter.
One of the coolant seals does have a leak though.. as white smoke comes out the exhaust on startup (when it used to start). Now it will not start at all.. it goes to catch on, but doesnt quite get there. Some of the coolant has dried in the AFM and its gone all scaley and powdery. The door barely moves so ill try cleaning it throughly.
As this problem only happened when i changed my coolant, i may have spilled coolant into the intake near the radiator... any thoughts on this? Is the AFM the reason why it will not start?

many thanks guys

 

AFM door not moving... hmm try sprinting while breathing through a drinking straw... can you do it? if the AFM door does not move it is choking off ALOT of the air flow to the engine. clean it up and try again.

Keep us updated,
TR

 

ok thanks for your help! ill clean out the AFM it out in the next couple of days and put it all back together and ill tell you how it goes! ill keep everyone updated

 

ok i put it all back together today and just incase there was any dried coolant 'dust' or particles, i stretched a stocking over the black plastic pipe just before the throttle body, and then i conencted it up.. hopefully this will stop anything heading past this point.. im pretty sure it can breathe ok? BUT.. it still doesnt start. it just cranks now and doesnt even begin to catch on. This leads me to believe im out of gas.. as the gauge is just about right on the bottom. im going to put petrol in it tomoro, and ill see if it starts.. pray for me.. :S

 

looks like your motor is flooded... or one of your catalyctic converters is blocked.

first of all you should check if the catalyctic converters are blocked.
if one or more of them is blocked then it wont start...
so clean them out by either riping the **** thats blocking them or gettting new cats

bam if it stil dont start then the only thing it could be is the flooding in the engine.
take out the spark plugs if the fuel comes out then you know wat the problem is.
the injectors are probably a lil messed up...

but before changing those put the spark plugs back in and see if it starts... if it doesnt, try to push start it .... you have to pull the car with another vehicle cause it might not start for a little while just keep it in second gear.

if it still dont work try new plugs or some **** it should start...
and when you go to turn the car off make sure to rev it to 6000 rpm and shut it off, before it has a chance to go below 5 or something like that.. that will absically keep it from flooding .... i had the same problem.

 

ok.. i finally put petrol in it. but it wont start.. all it does it crank. it doesnt even go to catch on like it did before

ive checked out the spark plugs and they seem ok, but they dont seem to screw all the way in.. is this normal?

ill have to check the catalytic converter.... where abouts? just before the exhaust under the car?

is there anything else that will stop it from starting? maybe it wont start if the AFM is broken?

sorry for all the questions.. i love my rx7 but im just about to give up on it

 

any ideas guys?

 

any ideas on the spark plugs? whether its normal for them not to go all the way in?

 

i donno, maybe the spark plugs are the reason... mine are tight...but i didnt screw them in a mechanic did it, he said just make sure you got the right plugs

on the spark plug it should say T for trailing
and L for leading....
they have to be placed in a special order or someshit...basically check that out.. check all three catalyctic converters..

 

Thread update from two years ago: Water in air box was no doubt from spraying water in the intake by accident - stupid mistake. Engine was extremely difficult to start due to a blown coolant seal. Replacement engine found, car is great.