I've gone through a million posts but haven't found one that matches my issue quite exactly, so here goes.

Have had a 93 for about 2 months now, and despite a vacuum leak causing surging idle she's driven fine, and I've been driving her lots. Drove her to town Tuesday and after I parked her she almost left me stranded but after about 30 min she started up again and I drove home her home with no issues, running like normal. Went to start her Wednesday and she wouldn't have it. I have removed the plugs, deflooded and added new plugs this morning, as was recommended. Now every few start attempts my tach will shudder and I can hear a soft rumbling and pop from the exhaust, so I know she wants to start but can't quite make it.

I know I have spark, so my question is where to go next? I'm new to troubleshooting vehicles and very new to rotaries. Fuel wise I definitely had vapor coming out of the spark plug holes and I can hear her trying to start so I'm not sure thats it. Vacuum wise, she drove fine once I got her going Tuesday all the way up until I parked so I'm not sure it's that either. Am at a loss of what the next logical step is.
Any suggestions as to what would cause her to try to start but not get fully going?

Thanks in advance.

She is bone stock by the way, aside from a catback exhaust I've installed.

 

RHD or LHD?

If LHD is the check engine light coming on?

If RHD find a way to run the ecu codes.

Perhaps check fuel pressure. Your fuel pump could be dying.

The sock on the fuel intake in the fuel tank might caked up.

The IAC Valve could be sticking or malfunctioning.

Your TPS could be starting to get out of phase.

Check all your grounds.

The car is 29 years old, al sorts of things could be aging out,.

 

If possible next time it does it take a video so we can see the tach and hear it cranking over.

Once you do get it started, I assume it runs and drives well, decent idle?

Make sure your battery is good. If you have a weak battery that will crank the car slower and it's more prone to flood.

You can also think about upgrading to the Banzai Racing high-torque starter -

High Torque 2KW Starter (93+ RX-7)

It's a hybrid of an RX-8 starter and an FD starter, it will add 50-100 RPM cranking speed which makes a big difference. The faster the engine cranks the easier it is to start.

Dale

 

Have you jumped the fuel pump using the diagnostics port to confirm that its working?

 

Check the compression

 

I would start with fueling. Definitely make sure the pump is working and fuel pressure is what its supposed to be. The o ring at the top of the fuel hanger is a pretty good candidate to cause issues like what you're describing especially on a stock car

 

Haha. After spending thousands on my car, it was discovered that o ring had been bent the whole time.

Installing a new few pump was one of the first items of work I had done on the car.

 

Oh yea.... its a real stupid problem to have. I've been cutting that hanger and using a peice of submersible fuel hose on every car I can. Lets eliminate that possibility from now until forever.