Help please, engine died and won\'t start!

[johnf]

I had steam from the turbo area, mine was an engine water seal.

Is there lots of white smoke when you get it going

A water seal it the same amount of work as a tip job only not so expensive on bits if the tips are still OK.

John

[Jim_rx7]

Yeah, a nit smokey from the exhaust. Defo steam/smoke coming from the the turbo area.

Oh well... rebuild time it is then! Expect a million "How do I...." posts... lol.

[Oedipus Rex]

I owuld get it properly diagnosed before ripping ht eengine out mate.

[Joeh]

yeah could be a 5 minute job.. tow to WGT or somewhere?

[Jim_rx7]

Well hopefully another member is gonna be able to pop down at the weekend.

I wouldn\'t even want to think how much it would cost to get it towed to WGT?!

[Jim_rx7]

If I started it and drove off, giving it a good hammering, do you think it would be ok?? Just can\'t get stuck anywhere in the sticks with a broken down car.... lol.

[Jim_rx7]

tomorrow I\'ll do the poor mans compression test and also look out for any smoke etc.

[Jim_rx7]

Will it run if you keep the revs at ~1500 rpm?

If so then whack the PFC in, fiddle with the idle settings until it\'ll tickover.

Bad low-rpm idle is a classic sign of a chipped tip.  Mine was crap so I upped the idle to 1100 and it was fine for driving home from Bruntingthorp and then over to Newbury!

At least you could get the problem properly diagnosed and know one way or the other.

It will run if I keep it revving. I\'ve got the PFC, but no commander! DOH!

[Jim_rx7]

Update :

While at work today, my freind had a look at the car (knows nowt about rotarys).

He done the poor mans compression test.

Took one top plug out, turned it over with the fuse out. Then put in and done the same with the other plug.

He said the chuff, chuff sound was regular from the engine. (that\'s a good sign right?)

He also said when he removed the plugs (only removed the top), they were soaked in fuel. These are new plugs I put in the other day, so obviously the thing is flooded still!! The car also refused to start today.

Friday evening or Sat, I\'m gonna remove the plugs crank it etc, and leave the plugs out overnight in the hope that any fuel will dry up.

I\'m just clueless here.

[leon]

well im just thinking out of the box here. To get a engine to run you need compression, fuel(air and petrol) and spark. your saying you have compression, and you know you have fuel by the amount covered over the plugs, are your spark plugs actualy fireing, or fireing as efficantly as they should be? might be something to check.

[sadgoth]

you may also find that the compression is low initially as the petrol has cleaned all the oil out of the housings (petrol is a v good cleaner!). Remember the engine uses oil in the combustion process and as such, oil helps keep the compression up. Poor mans compression test is a little vague TBH, although it does show that it is unlikely you have thrown a tip.

[interloper393]

you could add some oil into the plugs to help seal them a bit more..

[Jim_rx7]

Put some oil into the plug holes? How much?

Gonna crank it without plugs for a good few mins like you said mate. Then leave them out overnight and try the next again day.

Will probably remove them tomorrow.

[Jim_rx7]

well im just thinking out of the box here. To get a engine to run you need compression, fuel(air and petrol) and spark. your saying you have compression, and you know you have fuel by the amount covered over the plugs, are your spark plugs actualy fireing, or fireing as efficantly as they should be? might be something to check.

How would I go about checking if the plugs are firing properly.

[RemarkLima]

How would I go about checking if the plugs are firing properly.

With the plug out, stick it into the HT lead, then hold the body of the plug against part of the engine as an earth.

Turn the car over and watch the spark

Oh, don\'t hold the plug body, hold the boot of the HT lead!