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almost done with this ordeal, and now i got another probelm. i can get the car to crank but not to fire over. i got compression, and spark and as far as i can tell (without a fuel pressure gauge) fuel. i just did the throttlebody mod and ported the intakes. the car cranks strongly but doesn;t even sound like it is even combusting at all. i have tried to deflood it to the point of a low battery by the basic method and the exhast pipes smell gassy. i tired cranking it over again normally with a stronger battery and it wouldn't fire still. i got it to kick over once (when i pumped the throttle) and it let out a small puff of whitish smoke (very small) and it immidatly died (less than half a second) and hasn't caught since.

so any ideas on what to try next to get this thing to start?

 

Have you pulled a plug to verify flooded or not? If you're sure you've got spark I'll bet it's just really flooded.

I've had them bad enough where I've had to remove a plug from each chamber, crank until the fuel vapor dissipates and then cleaning & reinstalling the plugs.

It was running good before you took it apart, right?

Oh, you might want to add a little engine oil to each chamber before reinstalling the plugs. Then rotate it by hand or w/the fuse out for a little bit. Sometimes all that fuel will wash off the oil to a point where the majority of compression is lost.

 

yes it was running fairly well when i tore it down, though i did have a warm flodd problem, but the injectors were removed fairly quickly... even with the warm flodd i could get it to start the first time everytime.

haven;t pulled my plugs yet, got to go buy a new socket as my last one decided to grow legs. any idea though if it was really flodded why it caught just once and then died?

 

As a last resort maybe you can have someone pull you while in 2nd gear..it'll clear out any flood's..you'll probably see a lot a white smoke while being pulled. then take it out to the highway to juice up your battery and clear out your engine.

 

you have an 89...floor the throttle and crank till it starts. unless you have flooded it really bad (fast whirring sound during cranking, like a bad starter) it should fire up like this; that is, unless you flooded it badly enough to foul the plugs too.

In case your wondering, 89-91 models have a built in fuel cut feature when throttle is open fully at cranking...this will unflood the car for you.

 

i am aware of the fuel cutout when florred while cranking. its weird cause it sounds and cranks like it does during a compression test (no fuel delivery), yet by every indication i can get fuel is being delvired, and yet even by killing a battery trying to deflooded it, it still won;t catch over. hmm

 

Get someone to push it around, or pull it around. That'll answer your question really quick if it's flooded. Though before you do that, check the MOTOR fuse under the dash and then check all the fuses under the main fuse box under the hood on the drivers side strut tower. Sometimes those thing's can be a bitch! Good luck!

 

As stated above, if you've tried holding the pedal to the floor and it doesn't catch, pull plugs then you'll know. If loaded with gas turn over with plugs out and pedal floored. You can put a match to the end of the plugs before you install them. Keep the match away from any fumes. If it spins freely after that, you may need to put a small amount of oil in the housings to build compression.

 

pulled the plugs... were not fouled.. had light carbon build up (were 5000 miles old) are sparking. spunt he motor with them out a few times ... not much of a gas smell...motor fuse checks good. reinstalled everything, still not starting.

 

Maybe it's not getting gas at all. Here's my quick check for fuel:

Find the hose that goes from the fuel filter to the engine. Unplug it from the engine and put the end of the hose in a jar or deep coffee cup or something like that.
Have someone crank the motor for a second or two. Did a strong burst of gas come out of the hose? If yes, you know that fuel is getting that far. If not, time to check the voltage to your fuel pump and also think about replacing the fuel filter...

 

You said you just did the TB Mod? Did you use a spare, or your stock TB? If you used a spare from someone else, or screwed up your Throttle plate stop location, I wonder if its possible that you are getting fuel but no AIR?

Probably not, but just a thought.

 

used my one and only throttle body ( there are no s5 cars lying around in the yards) however i did not touch the throttle stop locations... the fast idle cam was dremeled off since the screw was going strip. i have tried pumping the gas while cranking thinking it may be air related but no luck.

will try the fuel catch can in the mornign then, just to verify it is getting that far. i have verified the fuel pump runs.

 

Don't just check that it runs. Check the volts.

 

if your car is heavily flooded, you'll definitely have to pull the plugs. blow them out, make sure no fluid is on them. crank the engine with the plugs out and pour a little bit of engine oil into the motor (the gas has probably eaten away at any oil residue also, causing low compression, making it even harder to start). put the plugs back in, and try to start it again.

if your car just isnt getting any fuel, check your engine fuses in the engine bay, and in the drivers side floor fusebox...

if that checks out, test the voltage at the fuel pump connector. it should be at 9v with the key in the On position.

if that checks out, your fuel pump isnt working.

oh yeah...make sure you have gas in the tank.

 

ok.. umm.. one more post then I will leave this be.

You will probably hate me for saying this, but if you removed the cold start, you capped the vac line that you removed right?

Also, vac lines removed when taking the upper intake off are all put back on and correctly? Also, the air temp plug and TPS plug?

Ok.. so thats all fine, screw the complicated unflooding.. Have someone pull the car. Its the fasted way in the world to start a flooded rotary.. At least in my opinion.. Or, if there is a long hill handy, that works as well.

 

capped the vaccum lines and plugged the holes., double checked the electical connections. do have gas in the tank. will pull plugs again and add some oil to help with compression, when i pulled them earlier today they were not gas fouled or wet at all. will check voltage to fuel pump tommarrow when i can rrent a DVOM, since mine is dead. thanks for the help so far

 

Another thing you can try.

Pull the airbox off the AFM. Hold the door inside the AFM open and have someone try to start the car...