Starts yesterday, wont start today.
 

Hi everyone. I'm new to rotaries, but for as long as I can remember, I have always wanted an FD. So I tracked down an importer about 8 months ago, and long story short, I just received the car yesterday — as you could imagine, I was thrilled.

The first thing i did when i started it of course was to check if it actually starts. No problem. I even drove it into the garage. That night, I changed the oil — I pulled out the dipstick and it was coal black, and I imagine that can't be good. I drained the oil, and everything seemed fine except it had the smell of gas. But I thought that was no big deal. Then I continued with the oil change. After putting in about 3L of oil, and the dipstick showing oil level half way between L and F I decided to start the car. No problem starting I did however notice there was a lot of white smoke. I was going to let run until the smoke disappeared but, I shut her off and added a bit more oil into the tank, getting the level up to the F mark. And then I went to bed.

This morning, I got up, and went to work (driving another vehicle) and when I came back for a drive in the 7, it would not start.

It cranks, and sounds like it's about to start for about a second, then dies again. I tried a little over 10 cranks. I don't quite know what the problem was. I got under the car, and checked the spark plugs. I noticed that the top one of the back rotor seemed to be a little wet with fuel.

Some one please help? I've been waiting forever to drive this car!

(This is a JDM FD3S 1993)

Thank you in advance.

Pull off the UIM manifold and see if one of your lines is cracked leaking fuel.

I would do as mentioned above first and make sure there is no fuel pooled up on top of the motor by the injectors. Though, if it in a garage and it is leaking fuel, the smell of fuel will knock you over once you enter the garage and it has set all night. OTHERWISE I am willing to bet you flooded the car. The FD (and most other rotaries) does not take kindly to being started and then being turned off. The car needs to run for several minutes. De-flooding procedure may be found here on the forum if you search.

In the rare cases you do need to start the car and turn it off after only a few moments there are a few tricks. One I use myself is just before turning off the key I will floor it and turn the key off at about 3k rpm if the motor is cold and 5k rpm if it has already been warmed keeping the pedal floored.

The white smoke is pretty normal right after a start up and it will go away after a few mintues.

Please read through all the 3rd gen archives and stickies they are a wealth of information and can answer many of the questions you will have in the upcoming months.

Welcome to the club and RX7 community!!

Thanks for all your help (so quickly too) I was thinking it might have been flooded. I took the plugs off one of the rotors today and found that the top one was wet with gas. The bottom one seemed okay though.. Maybe it was wet too, I couldn't really tell.

it's flooded... search and find de flooding procedures... Ohh not to be negative but how white and how much white smoke... lot's is not good..

maybe get new plugs if they are messed up

Haha Thanks, I kinda figured a lot of white smoke isn't good. It was quite a bit. It was probably because I only started it for like 20 seconds then shut her off again. Apparently Rotaries don't like that? Well, now I know.

Yeah, I'm certainly thinking of getting new spark plugs, but I know the mechanics teacher at my old high school, so I could probably borrow his sand blaster and clean them up best I can. 15 bucks for a plug is expensive...

Again, I can't thank you guys enough for the help.

sounds like you flooded it to me . you cant start a rotary engine for 20 seconds and shut it off. please read the stickies before driving and working on the car it will save you a lot headaches

Jeff

WOW!! $15 for a plug? I get mine from my local auto parts store for a few dollars ea. It is a good idea to replace them regularly on your FD. I replace mine AT LEAST twice per year or every other oil change depending on the mileage I put on it between oil changes.

White smoke upon start up is mostly from condensation in the exhaust. It is VERY common on a rotary but if it smells sweet or does not go away once the engine is warmed I would be concerned. Buying cars from oversees is always very risky. I would definately take it down and have it compression tested (or do it yourself the procedure is on this forum) just to get an idea of what kind of shape the engine is in.

Where are you located? If you`re in the lower mainland and need a hand, let me know.

I need to work on something, since my car is stripped to the block and waiting for parts. :D


Where did you go look for plugs? Lordco has them for cheaper than $15. I would highly suggest getting new ones rather than trying to salvage you current ones. Other things to check is connections to your coils and ignitior as well as fuel pressure. You want to rule out either fuel or spark, it makes it easier to track the problem.

No.. I'm up North near Prince Rupert... I think I'm the only one up here with a 7 =D But too bad I cant drive it because 1. It's flooded and 2. It's snowing like hell. :wallbash:

Another question guys, what causes the engine to get flooded? Could some one explain, I have a brief idea, but I want to know more about this in order to prevent things like this happening again.

wow $15 dollers thats pretty good price! i think lordco quoted me something like $20buxs for each plug

I just checked online at Sparkplugs.com

$8.00 per plug, times 4 means $32.00, $20.00 shipping = 52.00 (approximate) Divide that by 4 again, that's like 13 dollars per plug. US, so yeah, around 15 dollars per plug Canadian. =\ I wonder if I could find some locally. Probably would cost just as much though

Oh yeah, how much gas should spray out when I try to crank it? I have my spark plugs (all 4) out right now, and I've cranked it no less than 5 times each time for about 8-10 seconds. There certainly is a little puddle of fuel on the ground, and my plugs do smell of gasoline, but how much fuel is supposed to "spray" out? Are we talking about a lake or just a small puddle?

well definitely not a lake nor a puddle,atnoeast notnin my experiences.I've taken a rag and placed it in front of the holes so gas doesn't go everywhere,but keep the plug wires away :).
Hopefully you disconnected the fuel pump relay,and I have gone as far as disconnecting the fuel pump fuse.IMO,it doesn't seem right to have a puddle of gas.....unless you absolutely flooded the sh!t out of it,but still.

Good luck

Ahaha no, there was not a lake, I was wondering because I wasn't too sure how much gas I should have been expecting. I've disconnected the EGI fuse like people have said, I wasn't sure which 1 (There was 2 one was a small fuse, and one was a larger one, they were in different fuse boxes, the smaller one in a box with only 1 row, the other was I think in the main one) So just to be on the safe side, I disconnected both.

flooded, i had this same problem recently

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their quickness in their response : You guys are awesome, with out you, I'd probably be crying right now.

Second, I finally got her started! =D Apparently it was flooded. It took me about 3 days in total to get it unflooded (I left it over night to make sure all the gas was well evaporated and expelled, plus I got the plugs cleaned) I just came back from taking her for a spin, and I've gotta say, it's pretty awesome. I could really feel the second turbo kick in. At about 3500 RPM I went straight from 50-80 in like 2 seconds (okay, I'm probably exaggerating but you cant blame me for being excited.)

Thanks everyone again!

Here's a link to a thread that has at least a partial explanation:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hlight=flooded