Problem starting my RX7, possibly flooded engine.. HELP PLEASE

[Turner]

Hi,

just after abit of advice. Ive been on the forum a while but never really needed to post anything.

Anyway, ive owned the car a couple of month and never really had any problems with it.. I moved the car last night from cold and used it for less than a minute, i usually avoid doing this but i was in a rush.

Ive come to start the car today and it was struggling, it was attempting to turn over and throwing loads of smoke out etc. I figured that its flooded, it nearly fired up a few times so i got some friends round to give me a push and tried to bump it off in 2nd gear, it still didn\'t start and we also tried to start the car from a tow at about 10mph and it didn\'t start.

Now when im turning then engine over it doesn\'t sound like its even attempting to start?

Do you think getting the plugs out and trying to get the fuel out of the plugs etc will do the trick? Or is it sounding like a more serious problem?

Any advice welcome

Thanks
Jamie

[philiwily]

Yep, it will just be flooded. Take the plugs out, fuel pump relay out and turn it over with the throttle open until the fuel stops coming out the spark plug holes.
Clean the plugs and refit along with the relay.
The sooner the better as there will be raw fuel sitting in the housings which aren\'t good for your water seals.

Phil

[Turner]

Hi mate, thanks for the reply..

Yeah im planning in doing the above, how soon does it need doing? Ive just orded some new spark plugs that will hopefully be here Tuesday so it would be tuesday night or wednesday at the latest?

Thanks
Jamie

[Mikey22]

I would get it done as soon as possible, even if you just take the plugs out to get the fuel out, you dont want fuel sitting in the housings

[Brett]

Put a squirt or two of engine oil in through the plug holes, it will help get a good seal when you do try and start it.

[roborangefd3s]

deflood asap, I left mine flooded for two months and the water seals corroded - had to be rebuilt

[Turner]

Thanks guys, ill be unflooding it tomorrow night because thats the earliest i could do it anyway..

If my new plugs dont turn up ill clean the old ones up and put them back in, surley it cant do any damage after a few days?

The engine seems really healthy, doesnt use any water and starts hot or cold fine.

Hopefully all goes well, ill update tomorrow

Cheers
Jamie

[TRIND-FD]

Do it when your plugs turn up. It will be fine.

[Grizzly]

Plugs :rolleyes: Don’t you have a gas cooker I don\'t really like putting new plugs in a flooded motor, first time the apex comes round it drops fuel into it and plugs never last as long once that’s happened (when your plugs cost £100 a go you learn what they like and dislike )

I suggest charge the battery up overnight, Take the plugs out and crank with the EGI removed until you can\'t see any more white vapour coming out the plug holes, Warm the plugs with a Blowtorch or your gas cooker until there is no orange flame coming off the plug (Electrode end hold with some pliers as they get hot quick and you will damage them more by dropping), Replace plugs and fuse and give it a whirl. When it goes run it for as normal for a day then replace the plugs once its cooled.

TBH last time mine was Flooding frequently it was because my coils where past there best, i did replace them but the thing that pointed the fault out was i fitted a HKS twin spark and it never flooded again.

[nadz]

Plugs :rolleyes: Don’t you have a gas cooker I don\'t really like putting new plugs in a flooded motor, first time the apex comes round it drops fuel into it and plugs never last as long once that’s happened (when your plugs cost £100 a go you learn what they like and dislike )

I suggest charge the battery up overnight, Take the plugs out and crank with the EGI removed until you can\'t see any more white vapour coming out the plug holes, Warm the plugs with a Blowtorch or your gas cooker until there is no orange flame coming off the plug (Electrode end hold with some pliers as they get hot quick and you will damage them more by dropping), Replace plugs and fuse and give it a whirl. When it goes run it for as normal for a day then replace the plugs once its cooled.

TBH last time mine was Flooding frequently it was because my coils where past there best, i did replace them but the thing that pointed the fault out was i fitted a HKS twin spark and it never flooded again.

what help is a hks twin spark? as mines a daily car so anything that can improve will be good for me. as im worried i might flood mine which i dont want

[Grizzly]

Its an Ignition Booster, when you start Winding the power up it helps with ignition Break up under boost with the added advantage of stronger Spark for starting etc. (tend to find the plugs last a bit longer too)

There are other things you can do to improve your Ignition too like rewiring the Powers direct from the battery so you get as higher Juice as poss and also check the condition of your coil\'s leads etc, don’t forget these cars are knocking on in age and some things do suffer with time.

But before you buy do some reading up, if you are running an Aftermarket EMS you could possibly run newer AEM IGN-1A Smart coils which would end up being cheaper then stock coils + Twin power but would require some Jiggery Pokery to fit, so you need think about if you are just adding the Twin power to your current set up or you want to revamp the lot etc.

[Turner]

Followed the de-flooding guide in the FAQ and it fired up 1st time..

Took it out for a drive and all seems well, just hope its ok in the morning but theres no reason why it shouldnt be fine..

Thanks for the advice guys
Jamie

[davehg]

Leaving them flooded only kills plugs not seals, simply put seals in fuel and leave for a few months, nothing will happen to them after all they are designed to take fuel, oil etc, don\'t forget fuel is a bi product if oil and rotaries inject oil in and this doesn\'t cause damage.

[philiwily]

Leaving them flooded only kills plugs not seals, simply put seals in fuel and leave for a few months, nothing will happen to them after all they are designed to take fuel, oil etc, don\'t forget fuel is a bi product if oil and rotaries inject oil in and this doesn\'t cause damage.

I would disagree, have you left seals in fuel for a few months?(serious question)
I left a seal covered in petroleum jelly for a couple of hours and its clear by how much it expanded that its oil/petrol based.
Just my opinion.

Phil

[davehg]

Yes have water seals side seals and apex seals sat in bottles of petrol, been there for some months and no effect so far.