start up after sitting for 4 years...
 

My brother and I bought a '87 non turbo. I've been a mechanic for over 20 years but have never had any experience working on rotarys. The car was bought to transplant the engine into his bug and the body will most likely receive a V-8. My question is... the car has sat un-started for about 4 years according to the person I bought it from, but he claims it ran when parked. He just never tagged it. It turns over by hand smoothly. The car has 39,000 original miles and appears to be un-molested. I am going to change the oil, drain the fuel tank, lines and clean the injectors and replace the filter before attempting to start it. Aside from putting some oil in the spark plug holes and rolling the engine over by hand, any thoughts on any other service that should be performed prior to starting it that would be specific to a rotary. Thanks in advance! Scott

squirt some oil into the inside the combustion chambers and make sure the flywheel turns easily to make sure the motor is not carbon locked the problem is when the rotary engines sit the coolant rusts in the rotor housings and can cause problems

if it turns by hand several revolutions with no resistance as u say u should be good. i'd still put alittle oil in the plug holes for initial lubrication before starting and work it around good. once it's all hooked up, spin it with the starter to get an indication of oil pressure before letting it start. u possibly could have a very good engine there with plenty of life left in it. good luck and keep us posted on the results.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Aaron, great write up and good call on the rodents nest in the airbox. Judging by the condition, the engine appears to have been well maintained until it was parked... the oil is clean still, with a Mazda filter. I do not know any history of the car though. I was given a tub of stuff, mostly interior hardware that the guy had disasssembled, but there were 3 distributors (ignition pickups?) in it too. Are they high failure rate items?

there actually not there called a CAS crank angle sensor if im correct they rarely fail to be honest a motor with such low milage the inside of that motor must be in GREAT condition i would tear it apart and rebuild it knowing before anything is blown...
TwEaK