TheRedRotor

i have been having an issue with my rx8 not nstarting after parking it for winter....3rd year in a row now https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/banghead.gif so far ive tested the fuel pump voltage and pulled the plugs and fuel pump fuse and cranked, then reinstalled and still wouldnt start. battery has 12v, fuel pump has 11v and coils only have about 3k km on them plugs have about 7k km. used an inline spark tester and showed spark at all 4 plugs my only other attempt was going to be to replace the plugs and try again. If i still cant get it going that basically just leaves compression and im prepared for that but i don't have alot of space for a rebuild. Does anyone have a renesis13b for sale in Ontario with a recent compression test?? if If i have no comp i wanna be able to swap the motors and rebuild my stock one a bit later. I just want my 8 to run for next year.


this is what its doing

thanks everybody!

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Have you checked you actually have fuel pressure? Is there fuel on the plugs (as in, flooding)?
If you've had no other symptoms of low compression when it did run, I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. A rebuild is a lot of work to find out the engine wasn't the problem

TheRedRotor

i have not checked the fuel pressure, where is the schrader valve to connect the gauge on the 8? The pluds were quite saturated when i pulled them and i flicked fuel out of them when i took them out so i brake cleaned themand let them dry for a night. Ive had the car die on me at a light a couple times before so i changed the cat believing it was clogged and changed both 02 sensors before that (i got codes for them) I never got the opportunity to comp test it so im not sure if i had low compression before but i feel like its likely i did.

vy_MR2

iTrader: (2)

Have you tried the deflood procedure? Pull fuel pump fuse and try to start car with accelerator depressed. after a couple attempts like that for 5 seconds. Then try it again and slowly lift accelerator. Hopefully the RPM pick up as of car is trying to start. Then put fuse back in and try starting the car.

TheRedRotor

I’ve tried that without the accelerator part...I’ll give it a go tomorrow while pushing the accelerator and see if it helps, I’m most likely buying new spark plugs this weekend because this motor has flooded multiple times on these plugs I think they’re over saturated

vy_MR2

iTrader: (2)

The reason to use accelerator is that it stops fuel injection while depressed. Gives a chance for any fuel in engine to be removed. And yes new plugs with yours being saturated.

TheRedRotor

I want to do a fuel pressure test where is the schrader valve located for the fuel pressure gauge?

Bruceman

You say your plugs are saturated with fuel so fuel pressure is not the problem but all that fuel is causing low compression and hard starting.
You need to deflood the engine, put some oil in the plug holes to increase compression, and then try starting with the throttle pedal position alternating between all the way down and all the way up.

All the way down will cut the fuel (deflood) all the way up turns fuel on.

TheRedRotor

Thank you, I'm gunna try that hopefully this week after I get new plugs and see if I can get it to start

TheRedRotor

hey guys, sorry for the delay but I didn't get all my plugs right away and was really busy, however today I installed the new plugs and again no start. Still acting the same as the video I included at the top of the thread.

climacus

Just before my starter died two years ago, I had a lot of hard start issues.

TheRedRotor

I replaced the starter last year and it dosent sound very weak to me so I don't think it's a starter, I didn't check voltage though

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Voltage isn't the problem, it's possible your battery has lost a cell and isn't producing the current necessary to turn the starter at full speed. But it doesn't sound particularly slow.

I would get compression tested, even if it's with a non-rotary tester, before jumping into a rebuild. That could turnout to be an expensive way to find compression wasn't the problem.

You say this is the 3rd year in a row it does this? How did you fix it previously? Could it be old gas? Unplugged sensor? Wrong spark plug wire order?

Do you have the ability to pull start it?

TheRedRotor

I'm working on it for after Christmas I might buy the RCT-V5 or tow it to mazda. Correct this is the 3rd year, 1st year was the starter and also changed the battery and second year was the plugs, this year I'm at a loss at the moment. I did buy brand new plugs again and tried to start with the same result I've ripped out the entire ignition system and put it all back in. Unless I've been focusing so much everywhere else I didn't realize I messed up the wire order (I'd feel so dumb if that's the case), I'm gunna go double check the wires today

TheRedRotor

okay guys, so thankfully i got an rctv 5.2 for christmas and was able to do my compression test today and its grim i did 3 tests per rotor and all of which are under a passing grade according to the chart located within this thread

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...umbers-261567/

now considering it was a compression issue and i know there is many threads on the best rebuild parts (which i have been reading) im leaning towards using oem mazda apex and side seals with atkins solid corner seals and gaskets...however im not ordering anything until i split this motor open and see how it looks internally. also, does anyone have any experience with goopy preformance and can share thoughts/ opinions on rotor housing resurfacing? any input is appreciated, thanks everyone!









rotor 1, test 1 normalized



rotor 2, test 1 normalized

Snrub

That seems awfully low for both rotors. For a proper compression test an engine needs to be hot. Obviously that's a bit of a catch 22 because your engine won't start, so you can't get it hot. As mentioned earlier, if the engine is flooded the compression numbers could be negatively impacted. Is your engine original to the car (ie. 122k)?

I have you tried the following? Pull both leading plugs, pull the fuse for fuel and spark and then turn over the engine for say 30-60 seconds. Next, clean the leading plugs and inject oil into the leading spark plug holes, put everything back together and try to start it.

Does your battery read 12.0V or 12.something V? 12.0 is low. I'd be tempted to try using a different battery or use a battery charger which has a dead battery jump feature (eg. I have a cheapo one from CT which works well).

You could also try push/pull starting it to get it going and up to temperature (be very careful with both). It's abnormal for both rotors to fail at the same time.

Also, spark plugs in these engines can be oddly sensitive. I've had a older rotary start and run normally with like 1/8" missing from the electrode of a leading plug, while a bit of extra fuel fowls the plug. I've had others appear nearly perfect and be fowled. Be careful when cleaning off the plugs and perhaps try to avoid solvents, etc.

As suggested above, old gas, say >6 months old without stabilizer may not work.

TheRedRotor