I just got a free 82 for parts. It has been sitting for a couple years and did not have a starter in it but it appears that the car and engine were reasonably taken care of. I stuck a starter in it, charged the battery, put new gas in it and tried to start it.

The engine almost starts. It will idle, sort of, but die when you touch the gas. My biggest concern is that it appears to be pressurizing the water system. AFter trying to start it for a while, popping the radiator cap off releases a good amount of pressure.

I am new to rotarys so wondered what would cause something like that.

-Mark

 

pressure in a cooling system is good and normal. what you do not want are air bubbles in the coolant. this is a bad sign.

 

What kind of fuel is in the tank? If that gas has been there for more than 6 months drain it and put fresh fuel in there, along with a new fuel filter. What about the spark plugs? Distributor cap and rotor? Pressure in the rad is normal as mazdaverx713b mentionned. When you get the engine running we'll have a better idea if you have a dowel pin leak (combustion in the coolant system). That's if it starts... Let us know what happens.

 

Drain the tank all the way. I usualy connect a hose in the engine bay and let the fuel pump do all the work. The fuel line with out the silver thing is the one from the tank. Most likey the floats in the carb will be stuck and flood the car or starve it. The ones I have done lately have all flooded it. A couple taps on the top of the carb has unstuck them.

Put fresh gas in. let the pump run to get fuel through the system and then try starting it. If it will not start check for spark and then pull start it in second gear.

 

I drained and replaced the fuel but it looks like there is some crap in there. I am getting good spark and plenty of fuel, just won't stay running. I will flush the fuel system and see if that helps.

Is there pressure in the rad even when cold? This thing is not even close to heating up and there is, what I would consider, significant pressure in there.

-Mark

 

In what way does it die? Just wont idle?


You can remove the fuel line and use friend and a squirt bottle to keep it running. you start it and keep your foot on it and have the friend use the squirt bottle to supply fuel through the top of the carb. be gentle or he will flood it.


If you can keep it running that way then check the other fuel screens. They are in the two metal lines that go to the carb.

 

Hey, Crash - you seem concerned about the pressure in the coolant system, and while others here have said that it's normal, it's only normal after the car has heated up and should only be about 8-12 psi due to heating of the coolant in the engine block and radiator.

As you've stated in your original note, the pressure is after cranking and idling, only, which seems to indicate that you have a water jacket seal that has gone out on this motor. The water jacket seals are the rubber O-rings that surround the rotor housings when they are mated to the center and side housings. When one of these O-rings ruptures, it allows 1) coolant to enter the combustion chamber, and 2) pressure from the compression stroke to enter the coolant system. This results in a mysterious loss of coolant (out the tailpipe in the form of steam), combined with a mysterious 'pressurization' of the coolant system, seen as excessive pressure which will bypass out to your overflow tank, filling it and overflowing.

If the engine is nowhere near warmed up and you're getting pressure in the coolant system, it may be caused by one of these O-rings giving out. To determine this crank it over (let it idle, if able), and then pull the plugs for both chambers. You may find that one set or both sets are water fouled, proving the cause of the coolant leak into the chambers.

This would also account for it's ability to idle, but stall when you attempt to give it any throttle - if the water is killing spark on one of the rotors, you're only running on one rotor and giving it throttle is met with too much resistance, as water is not nearly as compressible as air. This would cause the car to stall and/or die.

If all plugs are as they should be, you may be able to look at carb tuning or fuel flow to determine why you can only get it to idle. In that case, I'd start at the fuel tank and work forward. There is a fuel filter under the car right behind the driver's side cabin area that may be clogged with debris that's preventing enough fuel from flowing to the carb bowls to allow for anything other than an idle.

In your case, I hope for the latter (fuel-related) than the former (blown engine seals). HTH,

 

Blown head gasket is what I would expect of a piston motor. My guess is that this thing froze up while sitting as the radiator fluid appears to be very weak. We have had a couple mild winters so I hope that is not the case.

I can get it to idle for about ten seconds at a time every once in a while. Most of the time it is very rough and is obviously not firing correctly for whatever reason, whether it is a fuel issue, compression, or water fouling.

whatever the case, the car was free and I got the parts I needed off of it for my other one. If the motor is bad I still have a nice car to pick apart.