new toy

[tubjub]

hey everybody

a friend of mine recently acquired an rx7 ... 1986, 13B motor. He paid next to nothing considering the condition of the car... It has approx 140k miles on it and the problem we're having is that it refuses to start.

The fuel gauge says it has nearly a full tank... (don't know how truthful that is)... and when it cranks you can smell the fuel. Now, we're new to rotarys, but we tried the trick of removing the trailing plugs and putting a small amount of atf fluid in the cylinder(s) to help restore compression. This was to no avail.... still cranks and cranks and cranks.

now, myself... i am familiar with traditional spark plugs in a piston-powered engine... but the plugs that come out of this little rotary are confusing... how does the spark conduct ? is it from the center electrode to the surrounding ? or does it conduct to the rotor ? but, the plugs that came out of this motor are rough looking (to me) and we'd like to re-use them if possible.

to test the spark (and yes, you may laugh, but it works) we removed one of the wires from a coil, inserted a screwdriver with an insulated handle down into the plug, and held the wire that plugs into the coil close to the screwdriver... very close... and i know that if those coils were functioning properly there would have been quite a spark... we repeated this procedure with all 4 coil hookups to no avail. now, eiether i was doing something wrong, or ... we've got a rare case of two totally dead coilpacks.... which would be a first for me.

the car hasn't been regularly driven since about september 2004.... so we're kinda at a loss here... we're willing to do what needs to be done in order to get this car up and running... rotarys are awesome, when they don't give you fits.

any help would be greatly apprecieated

thanks in advance

jake

[GringoEJS]

Hmmm...I would pull the EGI fuse located just behind the battery and remove all four plugs. Crank the car a few times for over for 8 seconds or so to clear the chambers, then place the spark plugs in each plug wire and place all near a shock tower bolt. Crank over to see if all four are firing. If so, I would say the car is flooded. These cars flood easily and is usually the most common non-start problem.
If not, then at least you eliminated flooding and then its time to get out the test light and voltmeter. Reply back on the flooding test.

[tubjub]

hey ... sorry we haven't had much time to work on it up here. weather has been extra cold and shitty... and one of the guys has been sick as hell for the last couple days... will update as soon as we're able to work on it again. thnx

[tubjub]

well... we messed with it all day... took every plug out, cranked the motor over.. held plugs near ground ... no spark on any plug. replaced plugs, nothing.... Any ideas anyone ? i'm thinking its the coil(s) and or ECU ?!

plz help