Hey guys, I need some assistance.

Parked my 83 about a month ago after taking it for inspection and getting new tags. Brought it home and parked it in the driveway. Next time I went to drive it (~2 weeks maybe), it wouldn't start. Cranks over and sounds like it wants to, but won't. I tried spraying a little carb cleaner down the carb a week ago and that didn't help.

Pulled a plug tonight to check for spark and smelled a STRONG fuel smell. The trailing plugs are dark black and wet, smelling strongly like fuel. The leading are brown. Decided to skip checking for spark since it seemed obviously flooded. I seem to recall shuffling the cars in the driveway and maybe not letting the car warm up fully a while back, so seemed plausible.

Went and got some new plugs, then did a deflood procedure (http://www.rx7.com/tech/unflood-sa-carb.html). Since all 4 plugs were already out, I cranked it a bit with the throttle pinned to clear the fuel. Then put the new plugs in and poured about an ounce of MMO down the carb (smaller side). Tried to start, no difference at all.

Figured that with all the starting attempts, it might have weakened the battery (~1 year old). Tried to jump it with another car and got an immediate grinding sound, so stopped.

Now I'm just stumped. Really trying here. I've searched the forums and read as much as possible but I'm frustrated and ready to give up. It's about 20 degrees outside and the driveway is sloped enough that I can't push it into the garage. Really just want to get it figured out. All advice is appreciated.

 

Got it.

Decided to try one last time before going to bed. Just started right up. No explanation for that. Drove it around until it reached operating temp, then pulled it in the garage.

Hopefully it'll start up that easily next time I try.

 

Some things to think about;

1) A common cause of 'no start' after the car's been sitting awhile - especially after winter is over - is a cracked distributor cap. Check yours and I always keep a back up just in case.

2) New plugs won't fix a flooding issue. Sure it's good to have new plugs in there that are gapped properly, but flooding is due to a carbeurator issue (in your year).

3) Deflooding an engine with the plugs out shouldn't require 'pegging the throttle' - because without plugs in it, there's almost no vacuum present to suck fuel through the venturi's in the carb. All you're doing is squirting more fuel in as the open plug holes are allowing air to pass through.

4) MMO and such may increase compression to help with hard-starting on cold days, but the best stuff out there is Ether in a can, i.e. 'Starting Fluid'. It will start even some stubborn flooded engines and is cheap insurance if you need that car to start for any reason. Maybe get a bottle and try that next time.

In all, glad you got it back up and running. That kind of random thing would drive me crazy.

 

Thank you, I'll keep all of this in mind for next time.

Despite reading a lot about the risk of flooding, in my 3+ years of ownership of this car, it has never happened to me. By and large it has started on the first try, every time. I am still learning about rotaries and carbs as I go. The distributor cap, rotor, wires, and plugs are all pretty new, but I'll toss and extra cap and a bottle of starting fluid in the car as insurance.