legokcen

Hello Everyone,



This is another addition of the "rotary that won't start." The car is a stock '84 12A. I've solved the flooding problem. Now, when I crank it, it coughs, has combustion (I'm seeing smoke out the tailpipe), and it's turns over to a point where it should keep going on it's own. I feel like the starter is keeping the engine going, but it's not catching on it's own.



No vacuum leaks that I can find, the battery is fully charged, I'm getting a good spark, I just don't know what's wrong.



Anymore avenues that I can take? I'm stumped, don't know what else to try, and am getting really frustrated. Please help!



Thanks in advance,



Levent

legokcen@bellsouth.net

9Second7

Fuel?

Check your injectors, maybe your fuel isnt atomizing and it is creating hard starting problems like you are encountering.

Injector can be dirty/clogged.

Thats all i could come up with for now.

nod1stgen

I cant find any history on your car, looks like your first post(correct me if Im wrong) Can we get a little history. Was it running good and just quit or have you changed anything?

legokcen

Here's a little more detail on the starting saga.



I replaced my engine about a month or two ago with a used rotary which had about 30K on it. It has good compression. I have everything stock except a racing beat header and presilencer. The first time I cranked the car after the engine replacement, it started right up. I unfortunately made the mistake of timing it wrong. Stupid me used the rear rotor to time it, so timing was way off. I drove it a day like this. I was getting a high idle I couldn't reduce without the engine running bad and was not getting full power from the car, so this made me realize it was timed incorrectly. Plus, I reread the workshop manual and realized that it said to use the front rotor. I'll chalk that one up to not following directions and now I've learned. Hopefully, I haven't destroyed anything. The battery was also not holding a charge.



So, I parked the car so I could work on getting it timed right and set the idle correctly. When I removed the plugs, they were very black and fouled (though they were only about a week old). When I went to work on it 2-3 days later (with the distributer set correctly), I couldn't get it started. It kept flooding and fouling the plugs. I'd dry them off, pull the engine fuse and crank the engine to clean it out. Then replace the plugs, put a capful of ATF in the primary barrels and try again. Repeatedly, I'd get flooding. Now, I think the flooding is not as bad, but I'm not getting it started. I'm trying not to kill the stater, but it's turning over fine. I've got the battery fully charged, the plugs clean, AFT in the carb, and I'm just getting coughing. It's trying to start. It's at the point where it should keep going on it's own, but when I let go of the key, it dies again. I've even dialed down on the idle screw.



I'm thinking of push starting it to see if that helps. Maybe that will drive the engine faster then the starter.



I don't know what else to try. All the standard methods of starting aren't working. Could I have done any damage to the engine with it timed incorrectly???



Thanks for the help,



Levent

barely street legal rotary12a

Hey whats up i had that same prob when i replaced my 85 12a it was flooding real bad and i put oil in the carb and after about the 4 start it blew up apex seals broke and come to find out the carb needle and seats were bad and the bowls floats were off maybe you need to rebiuld the carb with all new stuff because if the needle and seats are bad it will cause it to flood the carb bowls will fill up with fuel thats what causes the smoke that and the oil your dumping into the carb but once it's fixed the smoke will burn off if you think you want to rebiuld the carb on an 84 it should be a niki if i am correct i have a extra carb in my garge for 12a's pm me and let me know!

nod1stgen

Id go ahead and pull it off. Might take a little while to crank but that will get it running. that will make it easier to work on.

And it does sound fuel related but it might be as simple as a mixture problem.

barely street legal rotary12a

Well just wondering if you got it started or not never heard anything from you let me know if you fix the prob or is it still there

legokcen

I had a mechanic buddy of mine take a look at it who knows rotaries and he swears it's a carb problem. He's rebuilding my carb now so I'll fill everyone in in about a week to let everyone know how it worked. Hopefully, I won't have more questions after that....





Thanks for all the help.



Levent