604

Your help is most appreciated here so if you know anything or have any experiences with this situation please feel free to post.

Since owning my 86 GXL for 4 years, I have only driven the car in the summer and parked it for 6 months during the long winters here. For the first 3 years I would periodically start the car and let it warm to full for about 15-25 minutes, and the car never had problems. However, this year I have been away and when the car was parked at the end of November 2001, I remember being low on gas, but I had just changed the oil and the engine seemed to be running very strong @ 106,000 KM on the original engine. Anyway, today was the first time I had to start it up, and the car sounded much different than ever before when I turned the key in the ignition. It seems to be turning over [I can hear put put put through the exhaust] but other than that it does nothing.

Please ask any questions that might help narrow down the problem -- does it sound like no fuel is getting to the injectors? I can't smell any fuel at all and I think that the gas line may be frozen or something. I have also been told *gulp* that I could have ruined my apex seals somehow because they shrink if the car isn't started every once in a while? It's only been 2 months since the car was last started!!! Anyway, any help would be appreciated and sorry I don't have more knowledge about tyhe workings of the car.

No7Yet

DON'T PANIC!!!

You've probably not killed your engine. Your car is 15 years old, and your injectors probably leak a little bit. Chances are good that your car is just flooded. Follow the tried-and-true unflooding procedures and report back to us, soldier!

Brandon

cymfc3s

Probably flooded, you can either pull the plugs and clean them or have a buddy push start you.

rico05

Flooded. Easy fix. Look at the fuse row in front of the driver's side strut tower. Pull the one that reads "30A EGI". W/ the fuse out, crank the car for 10-15 seconds, w/ the gas pedal to the floor. Then wait, and do it once more. Put the fuse back in, and try to start it. If it does not start, try this procedure again, but only one more time, or else you might fry the starter! If this does not work, post, and we will try a few more tricks I know of! Good LUck!!!!!!

604

That's unfortunately the exact reason why I'm confused. The car has only flooded about 3 or 4 times in the past, and I have tried the 40A fuse removal and start method [and everything else that has unflooded the engine in the past] and nothing has worked. I think that the only option I have left is to do what you say and take out the spark plugs and try turning it over again. But I still don't remember the car ever sounding so different when it's cranking though... I sure hope there's no catastrophic failure. I'll let you guys know. Thanks for the replys!!!

niner

the put put is good at least. shows sign of at least some sort of compression. does it smell of gas real bad under the hood like its flooded? has it been running funny at all lately? when i had a blown apex seal it still sounded like it wanted to crank when it spun over but would not. thats probably not your problem though. if its easy for you to do a compression check thats always a good idea just to rule out that.

on a side note, i tried starting a car w/ blown water seal and it did not make any noise (no put put), it just spun over. but the whole front housing was filled w/ coolant

Eric Henry

Just had the same problem with my car. Except this is my first winter dealing with this. Mine wouldn't turn over so the fuel injection just kept pumping gas into the combustion chamber. I never could get it started after that, I checked the oil and the gas seeped into the oil. We changed that and changed the spark plugs because it needed them and voila. When I checked the spark plugs they were WET. So maybe you might want to try this. Good Luck!

Cheers!

Maybe the Gas has gone bad. Sorta like taking out your lawn mower out for the first time with gas from last fall and trying to start it

ralph f cooke

Its possible that leaving the engine for so long has drained away all the oil from the seals, if this is the case then you will have very little compression (the static compression of a rotary engine is low compared to a boinger anyway).
Take out the plugs and dry them, squirt a little ATF(about a tablespoonful) into the leading (lower) plug holes, using the alternator pulley rotate the mail pulley thru 360 degrees and add a little more atf, repeatt the rotation and atf one more time, so that you ahev added atf to each side of the rotors. Spin the engine on the starter for a few seconds to distribute the atf and then reinstall the clean,dry plugs.
make sure the battery is fully charged, ( if it is old borrow a newer, bigger one) and try starting the engine again. It should fire now as the atf will increase the compression substantially.

good luck

JoeZoom

iTrader: (1)

When I bought my 87 Sport, it had set for almost 5 years. It had compression and spark but the fuel pump had gummed up from the old gasoline and was not pumping any gas. I replaced it and Vroom...it started right up. Listen for the pump to run a few seconds when you first turn the key to start. If you do not hear anything then it might just be the problem.
Hope this helps!

Six Rotors

iTrader: (17)

There is no point in listening for the fuel pump to run when you switch on the ignition--it does not run until sufficient air passes through the airflow meter to close the fuel pump switch(and you can't hear the pump while cranking).What you can do is insert a jumper wire in the fuel pump test connector and you can hear and feel fuel running through the fuel rail.This should be part of your normal post winter start up procedure.Another part should be to pull the trailing spark plugs,the EGI fuse and the Fuel Inj.fuse and crank the motor with the accelerator fully depressed for ~20 secs a few times in order to circulate oil.Then reassemble everything and start it.