So, I'm borrowing my buddy's 85 rx7 gls while my WRX gets an engine rebuild. It has worked fine for 2 weeks and now all of the sudden it will not start. It won't crank at all. It started doing it yesterday morning for a few minutes but after about 5 it turned over and started. I made it to work but now it is doing the same thing. I was reading that these rotarys can get stuck. You unstick them using ATF? Is there an easy way to get a ratchet on the crank and manually move it? Any help is appreciated cause it's been sitting at my work for a couple days now :|

 

Rotary engines stick for one of two reasons. The carbon has built up and is preventing the seals from moving in thier slots, or a seal has broken off and jambed between the rotor and housing. The second one is very bad, engine is toast. There is a rare 3rd possibility, the engine oil starved and the bearings have siezed.

If you can rotate the engine by hand, there may be hope for it. Pour some Seafoam down the carb, turn it over by hand, then let is set while the chemical softens the carbon. Before you try to restart it, remove and clean the plugs.

If you want to learn more about them, see my sig line for the link to the online FSMs.

 

I was able to top off the oil and push start it and it started and ran fine. I returned the car to my buddy and recommended throwing some sea foam in there. Thanks for the reply though