My '91 NA RX7 convert was delivered by truck yesterday. Beautiful little car that the trucker said was running great when it was driven to the pick up site. Unfortunately when he tried to start it for loading in Philly it wouldn't start (probably flooded) and had to be winched unto the transport. When it was delivered to me in Georgia, the battery was very dead (ignition left on after starting attempts). I put gas in the tank (it was very low), jumped it and it started beautifully, ran for about four seconds (great smooth sound) and then died. Repeat, repeat, repeat. PO tells me he's never had this problem and suspects two things. The trucker was huge and was fiddling under the dash to try to find a way to move the steering wheel. He thinks he may have disconnected the circuit opening relay. Also the car was normally garaged and the record breaking rain on an open transport may have wet something. I've sprayed ether into the intake after starting and it continues to run with no problem. I've checked the pressure at the fuel pump at starting and it is fine. I'll be going over things this afternoon and found a lot of information on this site that looks great. If anyone can chime in and save me some time and effort, I'd really appreciate it. Great to be here and looking forward to my first rotary experience.

 

Try and fully charge the battery, or use a fresh one. I had a similar issue with my Toyota; fuel pressure was fine, would start with spraying a little gas into the intake, but wouldn't get enough gas on its own on during start up. I charged the battery over night and voila, she fired. During starting, the starter motor gets a lot of juice from the battery.

If you are getting good fuel pressure, it could be your injectors not fully opening due to low or insufficient battery voltage. Not sure about the injectors on the FC, but a typical Static Minimum Operating Voltage (SMOV) can be anywhere from 5-8 volts typically. If your injectors are not receiving this min. voltage, they won't open and thus provide you with fuel delivery.

See if you can hear a little "click" sound when your turn to key to power on. This would mean your circuit opening switch relay is working. Sounds like it is working though if you are getting fuel pressure.

Just some suggestions.

-Lee

 

Oh yea, forgot to add.... Nice looking vert by the way. I like the exhaust. A buddy of mine had a black one like that and it was a great car. Hope you enjoy it!

 

Thanks for the hints. The battery is now fully charged and the motor still starts, runs beautifully at about 2000RPM for a couple of seconds and then dies. I don't really hear a "click" sound when I turn the key to power on.

 

check the AFM connection.If it is off the car will start but die shortly after.

 

The beast lives!! After two days of charging and drying out, I fiddled with some of the connections under the dash (two blue plastic boxes) and tried it again. It fired up, went to 3000rpm, dropped down to 2000rpm and then settled into a very smooth 1200 rpm idle until I turned it off after a couple of minutes. Obviously, I'll have to do some more checking but it is wonderful to hear that throaty exhaust sound. Thanks a lot!!