83 rx7 12a won't start

[theduke01]

My 12a won't start and I cant for the life of me figure out why.
I have compression. I've tried the atf and oil treatment. Theres no vacuum leaks and the floats in the carb aren't leaking by.

I bought the car off of some guy who put a wrecker engine in it after the first one died. He started to take out the rats nest but never finished it so I had to complete that.
One wierd thing is that I had to flip the lock down plate on the distributor cause it would rotate enough to find the leading mark on the crank. I checked it with a timing light. I think the engine may originally had the points distributor instead of the igniter system. can that cause a problem????

Anybody got any ideas.....it wiould be appreciated

Thanks

The Duke

[FDNewbie]

When in doubt, push start it LOL. Never fails.

[Capt.Moe]

Thats what I would do. As my buddy and I couldn't figure out why his 86 wouldn't start. Turns out the starter headed south.

Push start it, if that works, Check your starter.

If not, Check for spark and fuel.

Does it have an electric fuel pump or Mechanical?

Other then that best of luck too ya.

[FDNewbie]

It could also be CRAZY flooded.

If your starter's going bad, it'll either do nothing or it'll sound like a lot of grinding. If it works fine, it's not your starter. If it smokes a LOT when you start it up, sputters, then clears a few min later, it was flooded.

[Capt.Moe]

he said he hasn't been able to get it started yet though..

[drftk1d]

Originally Posted by Capt.Moe

he said he hasn't been able to get it started yet though..

right, but if he trys what fdnewb said, it may start

[Capt.Moe]

Hopefully it does. if not, then that's 3k out of his pocket... he..he..he

That's okay it's 4k out of mine...

[drftk1d]

Originally Posted by Capt.Moe

Hopefully it does. if not, then that's 3k out of his pocket... he..he..he

That's okay it's 4k out of mine...

thats not necesarily true

[FDTT]

Well like stated before, check fuel and spark.

If there is fuel entering the motor and spark to ignite it then it shoudl run. So one of those two are missing from the equasion.

[Capt.Moe]

You can have Fuel and spark and still not run.

[FDTT]

Originally Posted by Capt.Moe

You can have Fuel and spark and still not run.

You are rite. But those are basics.

I could break down the problem into hundreds of possibles. But you need to confirm the basics.

[Capt.Moe]

Yeah I know, but sounds like he knows a little bit aobut cars and I was hoping that he'd already checked that. Anyways. yes.

[bigwyrm]

man, I have the same problem.

Bought a 69 baja bug with the 12a already installed. The guy who sold it to me was really cool, did a good job with it, it think..

He said it needed a carb. adjustment which is why it won't idle properly. I managed to drive it home though it kept stalling on me everytime i stopped. Well, went for a joy ride, and while i was trying to compression start it, it just stopped running. I think it was flooded, major. So i had it towed to my house, the tow guy was nice enough to try to drag me around the block with it in second gear to try to compression start it again, but it still would'nt kick over. I'm hoping its just the flood mixed in with the carb problem.

What the hell do you do if its really flooded? wait? I already dragged it a long way, in which case, it would putter while it was being dragged, but still would not kick on.

[mwolvin]

I think I would verify you are getting a good spark. I am pretty sure 12A's came w/ distributors. While you are at it, check the condition of the plugs (fuel fouled, oil fouled, etc.)