No start/Flooded (I searched)
 

Hey all,

I have a no start problem that I do believe is linked to being flooded. Before I get "flooded" :) with do a search blah blah, I already have. For the last week I have been trolling and looking for different ways to unflood.

I own a 94 RX7 with 57k miles on the car. Power FC tuned running 12 PSI. Stock turbos, different exhaust, no cat, turbo timer and profec B boost controller. Car has been running PERFECT for about 2 years, up until now.

Well to the problem. I knocked off my MAP sensor vacuum line when I was doing an oil change, and it ran like crap. Pulling only about 10Hg, and was pouring white-grey smoke out. Felt like it was down a rotor to tell you the truth. I was turning the car on and off quiet frequently, probably the way it was initially flooded.

So the next day it wouldnt start, and I went to unflood it. Pulled the plugs, cleaned them, pulled fuel relay, cranked car 5x15sec and fuel came spitting out the plug holes. Tryed to start it. No dice. So I tryed again the next day. Same process, nothing. Just cranks.

Then yesterday I pulled plugs again, cranked 5x15sec, left plugs out over night to maybe dry the fuel up a bit. Shot some WD40 in the intake. Left it overnight. Came home from class and cranked it again with the fuel relay out, plugs out and shot some more WD40 in intake. Put plugs back in with the relay, went to crank it and nothing. (I did wait for lines to prime) Now I dont have a compression gauge. And Im not going to buy new plugs yet, because I believe they will just foul again. It does sound like the power pluses are strong.

Anything I missed in the unflooding process or anything I could do? Im not going to shoot ATF in, because I hear bad things. I really would appreciate help.

Thanks

I had similar issues and mine was one of my primary injectors were sticking open...I Changed both of them and Tadaaaaaaaaaaaa! all is good. I went thought the same steps you did and then did the injector change.

I had the same problem, I just tried cranking it and gave it some gas and it fired right up.

you are going WOT when cranking to spit the fuel out right?

also, what exhaust do you have? if you have a straight pipe exhaust system (no cats or a muffler which is not straight thru) using atf is fine, it justs smokes like a bitch for a while.

I used ATF instead of WD40. Try that instead and keep the gas floored while cranking. I just unflooded my engine a few weeks ago.

Thanks guys,

I dont have a cat, just a single muffler.

I did crank it WOT with plugs out and also WOT when I tryed to start it (with plugs in).

On another unflooding attempt, I cranked WOT with just plugs out and didnt touch the gas pedal when attempting to start her.

How much WD40 or ATF needs to get in the housings? Like how much WD40 should I spray in the plenum? I saw on one post, 4 seconds?

She still wont start. Same problem as before. I dont really think it can be a leaky injector.

Im buying a spark and compresion tester probably Friday or Saturday.

I appreciate the responses!

Thanks for the thread, but I already read that one and the many others on this forum about unflooding/car wont start. I used that procedure as told by FDNewbie.

Whats with people always telling others to search. I know it gets annoying, answering the same question day after day. But dont you guys/gals want to help the less knowledgeable?

I am part of a car audio forum, that WANTS people to ask questions no matter how repetitive the question. The admin looks down upon the search button.

But whatever. So ill try to shoot more WD-40 and see if it starts then read compression. Ill post my results and try to keep this updated, so if someone is in the same pickle as me they can find it and hopefully fix what I did wrong and save some time.

Lastly does putting a bit of oil in the spark plug holes really help build compression after de-flooding an engine? Maybe thats what I need to do.

Well, thanks all!

get new plugs and try "push starting it"
my buddie FD fire right away when they push start it...

The wd 40 is too thin to do the job of rebuilding compression lost by the gas flood. Use atf or motor oil. ON the fd, it's damn simple, if you have an oil pump/can. Find the 2 vacuum nipples on the passengers side of the UIM. Inject 4 or 5 squirts of atf/oil into each hole, plug them back up, and go fire up the car. The atf runs down each intake runner directly into the block. unless you gas foul your plugs, you usually dont even need to dick with them, at all, which is a plus.

BTW on all 89-95 cars, flooring the throttle at cranking closes the injectors to help clear a flood. This is always the first thing you try when a car won't start and acts flooded. Floor pedal, crank, release pedal while cranking, floor it, etc. IF this doesnt work, go to the atf, and if that doesnt work, your plugs ARE fouled and MUST be replaced with another set, cleaning will not work.

u getting spark man???

similar thing happened to a friend of mine r1dreamer when on the dyno getting tuned by Steve Kan.

Injector stuck and flooded the motor. The fuel being in the motor apparently made the motor feel and act as if it lost compression. He pulled off the UIM (single turbo made this easier) and fixed the injector and dumped quite a bit of ATF in turning it over for a few minutes every 1/2 hour or so and the car finally came to after a couple of hours.

Try it.

Oh, I think he went through 2 quarts of ATF during this afternoon.

Im back! :)

Well I checked spark and compression today, and here are my results.

When I checked spark with my sears spark tester, I found that im getting spark for about 2 seconds when first cranked then nothing. I have to recrank to get spark for 2 seconds again. So dont know if thats causing my problem. Maybe I read it wrong? I did test the spark tester on my Talon and it works fine.

Compression is 50 50 50 on both rotors, and it holds steady at 70ish. Guessing its there because I cant start and warm it up. Whats normal compression for a cold FD? I cant look at PFD's because my computer is really lame.

Im going to get new plugs and then unflood it right before I put the new ones in, then put a bit of ATF in it.

Just reposted to update and ask if that spark seems strange.

Thanks for the help so far guys!

To check compression with a conventional tester you must first remove the shreader valve so that the tester doesn't hold the reading of each face of the rotor. When you check compression, check it in the trailing plugs...that`s the top plug if you didn`t know. you should receive 3 steady bounces of 90 psi. each, 1 high bounce, followed by 2 low bounces indicate a burnt apex seal...However, you may try to over come this problem by squirting ATF in the trailing whole (use a oil can). Then take a cigarette lighter and light the electrode of each spark plug...burn of all the residue of fuel and oil. Replace all 4 plugs while they are hot, connect spark plug leads and crank without stepping on the gas...It should fire right up.

Let us know,
Andre

Thanks andre, but it didnt seem to work. I prob just did something wrong.

Tomorrow after class im going to unflood it again, shoot some more ATF in the leading holes, then take the lighter and burn the plugs again.

So basically the steps I should take are...

1: Take plugs out, and EGI fuse.

2: Crank the car with gas pedal to floored (or EGI fuse out) for 5x for 15 seconds a piece.

3: Squirt ATF in the leading spark plug holes and burn off all fuel, carbon, ect off spark plugs with a cig lighter

4: Replace spark plugs while hot, EGI fuse and wait 10 secs with key in the on position for lines to reprime, and crank.

I did notice when I put the key in the on position my tach reads 4k and stays there. I am jumping the car with my sears battery charger with no battery in car.

O.k. Lets go to the basics

1. check compression

2. check for spark, if no spark present its probably dead coil, ignitor or computer
check for codes.

3. check for fuel...pull of the fuel line by the oil filter stack and crank to verify fuel present. no fuel, check pump, relay, clogged filter.

4. check primer circuit relay. Possible relay is sticking and the pump is continuously running.
result in flooding

5. shoot me a pm and leave your number and I`ll call you and walk you through the steps.

Once again good luck,
Andre

Hey guys, Ill bump this back up to tell you guys were I am at.

Well I got her to around 75psi compression on both rotors on all faces. I bought a new spark plug tester, and found that I am not getting ANY spark. What should I gap the tester to so I get a proper reading?

Also when I crank the motor I notice the tach is reading around 3k during cranking and it drops a bit down to 2.5k, shouldnt read around 250? I checked the wires to the ignitor, and checked power going to the coils. I do have power to the coil, and looked for a loose connection or wires. I cant find anything.

Does that 3k while cranking seem odd or is that normal?