won't start! lost compression? please help!
 

I have an 88' with a stock NA 13b and I left it outside for about 24 hours and it was like 5 or 10 degrees out and I couldn't get it to start, which it does sometimes in the cold. I tried until my battery died, go figure. Tried jumpstarting, and finally had to push it into my garage. Went to start it today, and it just spins freely, hardly any load on the starter even though my battery was mostly dead and I didn't jumpstart it that time. I'm thinking I lost compression, but did I burn out my apex seal(s) or what? If anybody can help, I would be grateful.

seems your engine is simply flooded. gas washes away the oil coating that build compression

if you tried to start it until the battery died, I wouldn't even imagine how much fuel your dumped down there.

you'll probably have to perform the heavy flooding unflooding procedure

remove EGI fuse
remove spark plugs
crank the engine to let the excess fuel go out
fuel a reasonable amount of ATF in each combustion chamber by the spark plus holes
clean spark plug and put them back
put EGI fuse back

crank it LIGHTLY, if the car is unflooded , it'll start right away

if it doesn't start right away, you'll may have to re-do the procedure until complete unflood

and ohhhh, I forgot... SEARCH man!

A few small corrections:remove the leading (lower) spark plugs. You'll just make a mess trying to get anything through the much smaller trailing plug holes.

Crank the engine with the gas pedal held down. This is much more effective at clearing the excess fuel out, rather than just pumping it around the engine.

Replace "a reasonable amount of ATF" with a small squirt of engine oil. You don't need much oil to do the job, and there's no need to use ATF specifically. Most rotary owners keep oil in the garage but not everyne has ATF.

the reason most people say to use ATF is because it is less likely to foul out the plugs, engine oil is a better solution to build compression but harder on the plugs. it is true that most people do not have ATF handy but it won't hurt your engine unless you let it sit in there for an extended period of time.

Says who? Oil is supposed to be in engines; ATF is not. But like I said, you only need a small squirt of either oil or ATF, so fouling the plugs is a non-issue.

Atf Vs. Oil
 

I`ve Used Both In Mine When It Flooded And I Find That Both Work Well When Used Librealy!and To Help Keep The Flooding Problem Down Use A Heavier Oil It Wont Hurt Anything Especialy In An Older Motor It`ll Help Keep Compression Up You Know If Things Get Weak Inside.

Please don't type in caps. It really annoying!

You also don't need to use anything liberally. A small squirt in each leading plug hole is all you need to reseal the chambers. You are only replacing the very thin layer of oil that's supposed to be there.

You may have more than a flooding problem. I have had a similar problem with my 87 and 88 and it was a bad starter. The + battery cable connects to the starter and the connections in the bendex can go bad.

This is not the symptom of a starter problem, it's definitely no compression, probably from flooding.

ATF is MUCH harder to burn b/c of flashpoint temps than engine oil, that explains why the oil works faster and smokes less. Believe me, I have unflooded over 100 7's personally in the last 4 years.

Thanks, I'm going to have to take care of that, but did I read that right? Leading plugs are on the bottom? Duh! stupid me and stupid other people I've talked to!

does anyone know of those switches you can install on your car so it doesnt flood it, its suppose to work like this: you switch it off when wanting to start your car and then pump the gas then start the ignition, i guess it shuts off the gas pump when its switched on. does anyone have one of these and do they work good?

i believe your talking about the fuel cut switch, i saw a good write up on how to build one on here a day or two ago.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...uel+cut+switch

he brakes it down a little.