Starter or battery
 

would a dying/weak starter give the same symptoms as a dying/weak battery?
i have my car all back together and i'm an trying to start it. it gives one good crank and then goes soft as if the battery just isnt strong enough to start the car. so my trouble shooting begins again. my worst fear is that i may have messed the motor up from the times that i kick started it.

here is the back story.
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...1018320/page2/

in the videos, you can see we got the car to start by kick starting while towing it with a forklift. the explanation can be found on the last post of the thread.

what are the chances that i may have seriously damged the motor by doing that? i just want to make sure i am chasing the right thing when my issue COULD actually be low compression from damged seals.


also

for the water level sensor. one end goes to the front of the filler neck and where does the other end go? people say next to the ps pump but i dont see anywhere it could go. there is a little tab that sicks out from under the oil flter and i connected it to that thinking it was it...... its not... so i dont know where to put the other end...

Pull starting the car if done properly will not damage anything, it is hard to screw up. Basically you just pull it and pop the clutch.

The starter could be going bad or you may have a bad connection/wire causing low cranking voltage.

Low coolant wire is by the power steering pump, it is a small black single wire connector.

i think you misread what i put. let me explain again.

we DID pull start the car. it started but it wasnt really on. it is explained in detail in the link i provided. my question was, could i have messed something up having the the motor running the way it was as shown in the videos that can be found in the link i posted...

and the for the low coolant wire, both ends of the wire are like spade connectors. they arent plugs like all the other plugs on the harness. this is why i am confused. do you have a picture as to where exactly it connects?

the wiring is all the same from before i swapped the motor, so i know that it is all strong and good connections. i will swap the starter and see what happens.

So Where exactly behind the ps pump does this plug go?

so i swapped the starter with a good one and the battery with a good one and still got the same result. im reluctant to do a compression test seeing how this is 100% a good motor.

im running out of ideas. what else would cause the car to start as though is had a weak battery?

I'd check all the engine wiring, especially the earths.

that was the next thing on my list. i got my hands on a stock engine and charging harness. i made the harness i had a single turbo harness seeing how im non-seq and deleted all the emissions and everything else. i left all the grounds and everything but maybe im missing something.

i'll double check and it nothing improves then i will swap the harnesses...

good news.... it was the battery...

i put a brand new battery on it with one of those jumper things attached and it "started" right up.

bad news... no idea whats going on now.
i can get it to start everytime with my foot on gas pedal but it starts and sounds like complete crap. it sounds like a subaru but not in a good way. it wont stay on unless i have my foot on the gas. there is a large amount of white smoke that comes from the engine bay after it shuts down. the smoke doesnt really smell like anything.

i dont know what exactly i am supposed to be trouble shooting now. the starting issue is out of the way but not i need to figure out the "why it wont stay running" issue and what the deal is with all this smoke.

the map sensor is good as i have tested it on another fd and the spark plugs are BRAND new... the tips are still shiny and everything. they 0 miles on them but a lot of failed starts. plug wires are good and the coil packs were removed from a running car. i did the full non seq mod following the diagram on here and the write up on rotary resurrection web site. the motor is a good motor. my injectors are good, none are stuck or leaking.

now here are my questions:
1. what is the white plug coming off the bottom of the oil pan?
2. is my engine just flooded?
3. the upper nipple on the filler can be vented open correct?
4. all the nipples on the uim are capped other than the one for the map sensor. is this fine?