Spring Startup Issues
 

I stored my rx7 for the winter... about 4 months. The car ran fine when I stored it. The car had 1/2 tank of gas when stored, with a recent oil change. I typically start the car every 3 weeks, but chose not to do it this winter.

The battery reads 12.4V before startup.
When attempting to start, the belts turn, electrical power seems to be sufficient (no fading of power), and a vacuum-like sound is only heard. This is the sound you typically hear right before the car starts to fire. The event has been unchanged since I topped the car up with fresh gas.

My speculation: The plugs arent firing, and I need to check them. However, they dont have that much mileage on them. The other thing is that the fuel filter may be the issue. Related, I dont know why the car would be flooded when this occured during the first attempt unless the car has bad plugs and is now flooded. Dont know, and dont want to just start checking everything due to the lack of tools I have.

Please let me know where I should start and all of the possible scenarios.

Anybody - Thanks for any help.

Come on guys... this may be trivial to you guys, but I have searched and cannot find any threads that seem relevant.

It shouldnt be the starter, there is no clicking.
The power seems fine...
There is new fuel... so it cant be stale.

Have you pulled the plugs out to look at them? Also have you pulled the plug wires off and checked them for spark while someone was cranking the car?

Water condensed in tank?
 

Is it possible that water condensed in the gas tank over the winter, and has clogged the fuel filter, or has passed thru it and has prevented gasoline from getting to the injectors?

^^^ Thats what I was thinking , it must something with the condensed water..

So I would need to replace the fuel filter... thats doable... although messy!!! Is there anyway I can make sure this is it before I get in there? I dont think so eh? Can I simply drain the lines an easy way?

All new plugs put in... no difference. The old ones were extremenly dirty. How can I diagnose the fuel issue? Is there a way I can tell whether fuel is coming past the filter?

Undo the fuel feed line, not the return line, near the master cylinder and run it into a container. Jumper out the fuel pump at the diagnostic box and have a friend turn the key to run, but don't start the car. If the fuel is flowing well, it's probably an electrical problem.

Hold everything. Fuel problems are possible, however, I'd first put that battery on a charger. Clean off your battery posts and wires. Use a steel brush, rinse with a mixture of water and baking soda. Get a couple of those anti corrosion rings. Hook everything back up. If you can get access to a charger with a starting option, that would be good to use too. I found my stored 7 in about the same mode when I started it up last week. It seemed to take a little more amperage to wake up. It's fine now and has been running perfectly since.

The battery seems fine at 12.4V... I also tried to boost the car just to be sure.... it just keeps cranking and no 'fire'!!!

How can I do this? Other than that, it sounds like a good idea...

If it's cranking OK, it's not the battery. Open up the cover of the diagnostics box on the passenger side fender. It's a little black plastic rectangular box with "diagnosis" on the cover. Look on the underside of the cover and you will see a diagram of the terminals. You want to connect the FP and GND terminals on the same row with a small gauge single conductor wire. Just push each end into the clips while the keys are out of the ignition. When you turn the ignition switch back on, it will allow power to the fuel pump and you can see if its doing its thing. After I responded, I thought it doesn't matter if you disconnect the feed or return fuel line. As a matter of fact, if you disconnect the return line to check the flow you can also confirm that fuel is getting through the rails OK.

OK... and to check that the plugs are getting power I disconnect the wire and check for spark as someone cranks?

Yep. Just hold the end of the disconnected plug wire a little ways from the block. Use some insulated pliers or a glove.

Ha! Gloves. 50kV up your arm and down your right leg and you'll find out that gloves make a shitty dielectric for that high of a voltage. Ow.

Have you figured out what the problem is (was)?

Well spark plugs checked out last night...A-OK... fuel going to be checked tonight...
The easiest way to check the plugs is to take the highest rearward blue wire, disconnect it and let it hang by the block and just get someone to watch for the spark... no gloves or pliers required.

Hooked a clear hose up to the main fuel line while jumping the FP & GD at the diagnostic box today, and looks like flow is OK. I dont have a pressure gauge to check that. One thing, when I was routed the hose to another gas tank to drain the system later and the fuel got down to 1/4 tank in the car, alot of air seemed to be in the system as bubbles showed in the transparent hose - also, the flow seemed much lower. I dunno... so right now its either flooded or low compression I think.

Any thoughts?

hmm I had a similar problem when I tried to start mine. It ended up being 3 things. The wires were toast, the plugs were toast and the fuel pump needed to be replaced. I switched to a walbro because of the higher flow. My fuel pump would work outside of fuel, but as soon as it went back in the fuel tank, it wouldn't flow. I hope this helps somehow.
Could it be possible that your fuel pump just can't build up the fuel pressure??

Maybe... I assume the fuel 'distributor' or 'regulator' looks for a certain pressure before it relays the fuel to each injector... and it might be it. Im going to change my filter (it needs to be done anyways) and if that doesn't work I will check fuel pressure. Outside of that, it may be flooded, and I may check that in the meantime.

I assume the best way to check if its flooded is pull at least 2 plugs, pull their fuse, and then crank the engine and wait for the fuel to pump out of the plug holes? I have read about the WD40 method, but Im not so sure thats the best thing to do for your engine during and after it fires.

Change the fuel filter (needed to do it anyways). No change.

Anybody - how do you stop the plugs from firing when you have them out to unflood the engine? The EGI fuse?

Also, what does a flooded engine sound like? It will turn over, but thats it right?

don't know anything about these weird things (yet) but what about grounding/ecu/relay problems?

if you got air/spark/fuel the problem is electronic, do these have any sensors that work like a cam/crank sensor?

Anyways - to close the thread... the car was flooded. So the string of events started with fouled old plugs - when I tried to start the car, it flooded. Replaced the plugs... but the car was still flooded.

Lessons learned here...

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...34#post4346134

Glad you figured it out!

I learned the hard way too once...un-flooding an FD is a real PITA