so I got this rx8 s1 a few weeks ago not running. I took the plugs out and they’re saturated in oil. Oil oozing out of the holes, etc. so I’m thinking the oil seals on the rotor are leaking. As I’m taking it apart I see the rear oil squirter from the OMP is broke (see pic).. I didn’t see much oil leaking, if any.

WOULD THIS CAUSE A NO START issue? How? Thanks

 

It should still start if it was healthy, but a broken injector like that also creates a compression leak, so that one rotor probably wasn't doing its best work. If it has other problems, they might compound to cause the no start.
Not to mention it wasn't supplying oil and doing the engine no favours.

No starts are usually flooding, bad ignition, complete loss of compression or the eccentric shaft position sensor not reading well.
Is the engine you found in there engine oil? Because someone might have tried to put ATF in there on the theory that the seals were stuck and needed to be freed up.

Do you know anything about the history of the car?

 

No history. It has 86,000 odometer and everything was OEM from what I could tell. I already checked for spark, replaced the crank sensor. It has a new starter and thicker battery wiring running to it. The thing definitely spun 900rpm for crank and I could hear it when down when I quit trying to crank. I think I’m just going to put the good K20a in I have and be done with rotary.

 

It's more than an engine swap if you go this route but it's possible.

 

If someone thinks their starter is spinning at 900 RPM, I don't think they would be able to do a swap.

I mean, come on, a healthy S2 starter with a good battery will only do 320 RPM at cranking.

Anyway, I would crank a few times with the spark plugs out to get rid of the oil, and then see if the issue repeats. If it does, then yes, there is a serious issue going on.

 

Starter speed is 300 rpm at best, just FYI. What you're hearing wind down is probably the air pump.
K20a is a good engine, but you might want to start researching in what's involved in making it work in this car.

If the engine's already out of the car, its going to be tough to troubleshoot, but there's a bunch to know about the rotary. You may want to read up on rx8help.com, there's a handy Potential Owners section.

You'd be surprised how many folks here have bought a non-running RX8 where the previous owner was convinced was dead, only to deflood it or make another small fix and enjoy years of ownership. There are definitely folks who have bought RX8s that were actually dead, as well, but long story short, don't take the previous owners word for it

 

I've done this twice now. Bought two RX-8's both not running and had towed to my house and both just had bad ignition systems and were flooded. One tested in the mid 7's the other high 6's. Sold one (still working fine!) and I have been daily driving the other for over a year.

 

And that's how I got my 8 for 900 dollars.