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Old Apr 10, 2013 | 09:36 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by jfantis

I hope something here helps. No matter what the cause if you are going to be working on the car yourself I would invest in an inexpensive fuel pressure gauge, compression tester, and an inline spark tester. All can be had for around $100 total and can save you quite a bit of money vs guessing.
By doing what this guy said, since you are workin on the car by yourself, I'm pretty sure you will catch the mistake.

It might be time consuming jumping from system to system but it completely narrows it down.
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Old Apr 10, 2013 | 10:32 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by jfantis
It is all still guessing until you test a few things. Next time it wont start you should pull a spark plug after the first attempt at cranking and see if it wet with fuel. Also I would go to an auto store and get an inline spark tester, very inexpensive less than $25, and confirm spark. If neither of those are the culprit I would move on to checking fuel pressure and compression test. There are a few things that could be.

I hope something here helps. No matter what the cause if you are going to be working on the car yourself I would invest in an inexpensive fuel pressure gauge, compression tester, and an inline spark tester. All can be had for around $100 total and can save you quite a bit of money vs guessing.
I'll buy those gadgets ASAP! I'll also check if the spark plug is wet with fuel. I probably won't get to it until the weekend, but I'll keep posted once it gets done! Thanks for the help! That actually makes the situation much more easier to solve.

Originally Posted by Tong213
It might be time consuming jumping from system to system but it completely narrows it down.
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. If one thing is okay, then jump to the next one and maybe that may be the cause of the issue. At least it's only 3 things to be checking and one of them has to give. Once I find out, I'll keep posted!
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Old Apr 11, 2013 | 06:22 PM
  #28  
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Could you believe that Canadian Tire doesn't sell spark plugs for the S5? I doubt for any RX-7 in general either. Well this sucks. If I do find the source of my problem it means I'd have to order parts online or be lucky that a junkyard has them.
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Old May 4, 2013 | 05:42 PM
  #29  
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OKAY! SO...

I drove around the block two times. Yes, that's a "hard drive" for me. I'm afraid the car might poop out on me while driving, because usually when I come back and drive up the drive way it dies all of a sudden. Any reason that may be?

Well, the car did reach normal operating temperature. Like I said, when I got back and drove it up my drive way, it died on me. I tried cranking it again, it wouldn't start.

I tried the easy unflooding procedure 4x's and it didn't work. I went to the complex method, pulling the plugs (which weren't wet at all), etc..., and dropping 1 oz. of ATF in L1/L2. It worked!

So, it was flooding. Excuse my ignorance! I just thought that if the engine were flooded, it wouldn't start at all unless I were to manually unflood it. But as stated in an earlier post of mine, it would start on a new day, regardless. Which made me think it wasn't a flooding issue.

After it was unflooded, I let it reach operating temp. again before I shut it off. Then after that, I decided to crank it again just to be sure it would start up... It didn't.


Now... I'm leaning towards diagnosing the fuel pump. Would I be going in the right direction?

Maybe I flooded it again? Do I need to clean the fuel injectors before proceeding? The engine doesn't need a rebuild, it was rebuilt just before it was stored for the winter.

Last edited by rotarycal; May 4, 2013 at 05:57 PM.
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Old May 4, 2013 | 07:13 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by rotarycal
The engine doesn't need a rebuild, it was rebuilt just before it was stored for the winter.
this hot start thing is starting to smell more and more like low compression to me. who did the rebuild and are you able to find out exactly what went into that rebuild? i would suggest a compression test.
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Old May 4, 2013 | 09:18 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by diabolical1
this hot start thing is starting to smell more and more like low compression to me. who did the rebuild and are you able to find out exactly what went into that rebuild? i would suggest a compression test.
No history on the rebuild. I'm just going to give doubt and say that the PO that did the rebuild, most likely put his heart into it.

I shall do a compression test this week. I don't know exactly how, so I'll read up on it first!
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Old May 4, 2013 | 10:11 PM
  #32  
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Pull the trailing plugs out take out the btn fuse so there's no ignition just starter put the tester in and get ur psi anything above 80 should be fine also check the bac valve it has a white plug on the backside of the top intake
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Old May 6, 2013 | 10:17 AM
  #33  
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I did the poor man's compression test. I felt 3 huge air pulses from the front rotor, which is a good sign so far.

As for the rear rotor, I can't really give an accurate statement. I'm not too sure how well the pulses should feel. On my finger, the pulses felt as if you're giving your palm 3 strong huffs (as if you were trying to smell your own breath). It wasn't nearly as strong as the front rotor, which I understand is normal, yeah? But both rotors had 3 pulses in succession.

None of the pulses were weak, they all felt even.

Is this a good enough analysis, or should I go and do a real compression test just to be more accurate?
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Old May 9, 2013 | 07:10 AM
  #34  
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Both rotors should have the same compression,so sounds like you have low compression on 1 rotor.
Do a real compression test.
If the car wont start pour half a capful of engine oil into each rotor thru the plug holes.
The oil will temporarily build compression until it starts and burns it all out.(probably what the ATF did)
If you keep stopping and starting and putting around the block the engine will eventually carbon up and lose compression.
If compression test confirms low compression search for terms like decarboning and try that.Then take the car for a decent run give it a thrash for a couple of weeks.
If compression is still down after that you will be up for a rebuild.
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