trock703

It's been about 1.5months since I've started my car.....I went out yesterday to start it up and it had the hardest time starting....it turns over super fast (battery and starter all good) and will cough a couple times but just wont fire up....my novice opinion is that it's just not getting gas....but like a tard I was persistent and believe I flooded it (the garage stinks like gas now and some gas or oil has run out on the floor under the engine...it's hard to tell but the garage smells like gas....also when i check my oil it's reading a little higher than when I changed my oil a few months back and has a slight gas smell).

So now I've been researching the forums for probable causes to why it wouldn't start / what happened yesterday and what to do now....it is cold here in Indiana and it's been sitting in the garage for the last month-month and a half....so why won't it start now i ask?

a: a probable cause seems to be leaky injectors?

b: too many short runs and not enough long runs (the car hasn't been on a long drive in months) causing too much gas to get into the oil? (oil has a gas smell to it)

c: synthetic oil? .... in this post okiedoke blamed his flooding on synthetic oil but provided no explanation (https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...+start&page=2) ....note right now i have Idemitsu Racing Rotary Engine Oil 10W-30 (Full Synthetic - changed last november) in with a dose of pettit's premix as is always found in my gas.

d: other?

And part two of my research is what the heck do i do now, i did the quick pull the egi fuse and fuel pump relay...cranked it a few times...replaced them and yielded the same results (turns over fine...coughs a couple times but won't fire.....being smarter this time and not repeatedly trying and no leaking fluids ran out under the engine)...so part two is what is my best steps to take now....

a: remove & clean/replace spark plugs (wires?) and repeat what i've already done to ensure all fuel is removed from the chambers. (change oil too?)

b: compression test.....i know this is probably the best starting point but i honestly can't image the compression in my baby is gone :'(....only 55k miles on it, babied like my g-ma's Cadillac and has never showed any signs of compression loss...if this is the best route how should i go about it with it sitting in my garage?

c: replace / clean injectors?

d: wait for warmer weather?....lol (i like this one)

e. other?

Sorry for all the text, just trying to bring all the different posts that seemed relevant into one.

trock703

I just spent some time today on getting to my spark plugs and pulled one out for further analysis......here are some pics of what it looks like.....I've got new plugs and wires to put in...but any comments to help diagnose the root cause is appreciated.

http://img186.imageshack.us/i/img9210.jpg/
http://img18.imageshack.us/i/img9206k.jpg/
http://img341.imageshack.us/i/img9209.jpg/
http://img442.imageshack.us/i/img9214l.jpg/

1QWIK7

iTrader: (33)

Start pulling fuses and relays AGAIN.

If its cranking and you smell fuel and looking at those plugs, its probably flooded.

The fact that its cranking well enough and you're getting fuel, then theres an ignition problem.

Or maybe your engine is done which there is little evidence of that. I mean you said your car was sitting only 6 weeks.

Weather shouldnt be a problem. I have started my car near sub zero weather before and didnt have a problem. I had a battery jumper on it cause i knew the battery needed extra juice from the weather and it ALWAYS started up for me one shot.

I suggest looking into the ignition part. Check fuses and relays first.

LikeThunda

iTrader: (1)

fuel pump..? compression test.? frends car was sitting for 2 years... his Fuel pump died...would crank perfect but wouldnt start..replaced fuel pump...Started right up.. =)

thewird

iTrader: (8)

Crank it a bit with the EGI fuse out and spark plugs out. put your new plugs in and try starting it. Try playing with the throttle a bit as its catching and as soon as its starting to come on give it some gas slowly and hold it. On badly flooded engines, sometimes it takes a few tries. Worst case, dump a teaspoon off ATF through the spark plug holes to build compression and once it starts, that would take care of the rest.

thewird

KKMpunkrock2011

iTrader: (5)

look at them plugs! get new ones in and since you've got new wires, put those on, then report back.

I get to do this soon also, hasn't been started since November, would've started it a few weeks ago, but my battery was dead, haven't had motivation to do much since then because we got more snow.

wheelsx

My car sat for only a week in these temps and it's doing this. Last winter same thing, sat for about a week or week and a half in the winter (bad ice storm), once it got warmer, ran like a champ!

trock703

Wow nice....yeah my car had trouble last winter starting from sitting for a long time, from the ice storm and all, but I usually got it started. This year was a no go after sitting for about 6-8 weeks and no long drives since back in November sometime.

I got all the plugs out finally, and it was definitely flooded. Just waiting on the bur9eq's to get here, had to order them from sparkplugs.com, no stores around here had them.

It's definitely not a fuel pump problem....judging by how flooded it was. After getting the plugs out and looking at them it looks like I may just need new plugs. They've never been changed since I've had the car, and who knows how old these plugs and plug wires are that I pulled. So I hope all it needs is new plugs, but we'll see once they get here.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

trock703

Just got the plugs in, it fired right up, and running like a champ.

LikeThunda

iTrader: (1)

^^^ Glad to hear that =)

wheelsx

I suspected the fuel pump relay when I realized I wasn't getting voltage to the fuel pump, so I took it out to look at it and saw it was brand new. I figured it's more likely for the fuel resistor relay to be failing. I had to remove the fuel resistor relay and clean the contacts with WD-40. I also tapped that relay with the handle of a screwdriver. After that, I was getting voltage to the fuel pump and it started up like it hasn't sat a day in its life. At first it was flooding, but later it wasn't getting fuel, I didn't want to waste my time checking out the fuel system, until I realized it ran fine as long as I was spraying starting spray in it.