Exactly. Think a bad coil / coils / wires / plugs could be the culprit here.. maybe PCM? Or coolant seal? (I only mention that because of the rich smell from exhaust, though it would make sense if the unburnt fuel is being sent right through the system). Something tells me its a timing problem, due to the inability to rev. Does that sound logical or am I out to lunch?

Yes, a vacuum leak wouldn't produce that. Something is making it fire ALL wrong.

Coils could be involved, but even 1 working coil should still be firing 3 times per revolution. Almost like the wires are crossed, and the coils are firing at the wrong times, thinking they are on the other rotor.

Just a guess. When you get the actual timing on each plug, it would help solve that I think.

Well the timing light I have is just a basic one, no readout, just a light that blinks to verify the coils are producing a surge. Might be able to get my hands on a better one, though.

I'm hoping I can track down this issue and fix it myself. I'd hate for there to be major engine damage :/ Hoping its a PCM or ignition issue personally!

UPDATE!

Alright guys, so although I am not with my car right now, I had it deck-towed up to a mechanic that my brother is good friends with. Although he has limited experience with rotaries, he has replaced a few engines before on a couple 8's, so I sent him a list of stuff to go over hoping he could find a problem.

Now although this isn't confirmed, all the evidence makes it pretty clear that the engine is done. Before he left work on Friday he had taken the trailing plug (I believe) out of the front rotor, had it cranked over and just put his finger over the hole, and felt zero compression.

The car was very badly flooded because whilst I was gone my dad decided to keep trying to start it, so apparently when the tow truck came and they were loading it on the deck, fuel was pouring out of the exhaust. None the less, it was flooded pretty bad, but that wouldn't cause for there to be zero compression suddenly. Because the car was left bare outside all winter, I am assuming something saturated the apex seals or something and now I just have zero compression. He does not have a rotary compression tester, but I told him to just take the relief valve out of a regular compression tester and watch for consistant bounces. Won't tell me exactly what compression is, but it will give me a good idea of whats going on inside that block.


Let me know your thoughts and opinions, cause I gotta decide what the next step is!

soak it in ATF?

What benefit would this give? The thing is, before I put it away before winter it was running fine. I can't speak for the compression, but it was running good

If it is flooded bad you will basically have almost zero compression......it is unlikely that you blew the engine with it sitting around over winter ( even in Saskatoon ;) )

Is the car in limp mode?...ie throttle doesn't work? Or is it just missfiring so badly it won't rev?

I guess I will have to watch the video ;)

Yeah take a look at the video. Doesn't seem to be in limp mode, I've fell to that before and this is different. It attempts to rev, but just can't. Galloping/bucking/whatever-the-hell-you-wanna-call-it pretty bad.

I know flooding will yield an apparent loss of compression, but I was unaware that compression could appear completely gone. I had put new plugs in and thats when it would start, but would barely idle, and could not rev. It seemed to be trying to rev, but damn it sounded bad (yeah watching video is a good idea... sounds bad though I warn lol)

if the seals are sticking ATF may unstick them after a good overnight soaking.

Seals definitely aren't sticking, the car is (was) running. Kind of. If you see the video earlier in the thread on POST #57

where do you think compression comes from?

Please elaborate, as you're making it obvious I'm missing something :P I know that the seals have to 'push out' which I guess makes sense that they could be stuck.


I never thought of that, lol

ATF is a "hack" used to temporarily restore compression. Some times the recovery is significant because the ATF attacks the carbon build up around the seals freeing them.

I'm pretty sure it'd also help clear a rough flood too.

I've been meaning to do an overnight soak of ATF for a while now but have never gotten around to it. It was also recommended that you let it sit too long (like 12+ hours) that it's a good idea to manually turn the ES with a wrench in case any big particulates have fallen off.

Just watched your video.....The plugs are fouled and it is flooded ....There is no way with that much smoke coming out of it that it will run until you clear it out and change the plugs

If you have compression problems it likely wouldn't have started at all......

Personally I would check all the wiring to the coils and the injectors to make sure you havent had unwanted visiters chewing on things and then pull the plugs and replace them after you churn out as much crap as you can

That was my initial reaction to these problems once I had started it. I put brand new plugs in immediately, and the car finally started. I am not working on the car myself as it is 900KM away, but I have a good mechanic who I've been letting know what steps to take.

Will definitely get him to do what you suggest. I knew it was flooded to crap, hence why I replaced the plugs. Looks like I get to order another set :yelrotflm

You need to run it longer than in the video for sure....it will smoke like that for 5 minutes if it is really crapped up.

Do you have a CAT still?....if you do you might want to pull it...it will be noisey...but the thing will likely catch on fire from all the fuel :)

Haha CAT has been gone for about a year now. Gutted, but internals are gone ;)

As for running it longer, I initially never because (as I have in the rest of the thread), the battery had reversed charge on us, and my dad had hooked up a battery booster backwards on the battery, so after finding the main fuse had blown, we thought there may be PCM damage, though that's still undetermined. We did run it about a dozen time for a minute or two at a time, but I agree that consistent running will be best.

Thanks a lot man, any additional suggestions is appreciated, and as always I'll be sure to pass the favor along

Just had another opinion on the situation solely from the video, and it's figured that a coolant seal or something may be gone just due to the amount of smoke from the exhaust, though it does smell very badly of fuel

UPDATE:

Car is still in shop in SK. Mechanic had car idling for 15 minutes straight, and still no luck getting any codes read, etc. No codes were coming up on his computer, and when he did a compression test it was reading out at 10psi on front rotor. (note he used a home compression test method, but still gave results bad enough to determine there is a problem)

After 15 minutes of idling roughly it still was giving off a very strong raw fuel smell, and would not rev up at all. After this he pulled the plugs, saw the rear rotors plugs looked clean and dry, whereas the front were soaking wet.

So.... it appears that my engine is gone. As of this point, I am not sure where I will go. It seems that in the market out here, these cars only go for 10k tops for my year/mileage, etc (and thats a high). I still owe some on it to the bank, and with the cost of a new engine and installation I am not sure what I should really do.

Either replace engine, be tons more in the hole with it, or go for a different car, such as the FR-S or a 135i (Test drove both and was pleasantly happy with both). The 350/370 do nothing for me as they are a 2-seater with zero room for storage or long haul drives, and I'm not into EVO's or STi's.

Time to make up my mind, I guess! Any suggestions or comments are appreciated!

Would like to add onto above that I will he having the car towed back to my farm in SK where I will be able to hopefully confirm the mechanics suspicions. Not that I don't trust him, but I will be looking over everything again to be sure. May also get a proper compression test done as well.