bartlette84

so my car wont start.... i know the engine is leaking coolant, and i think it might be going into the engine. so i know i need a rebuild, but would the car just NOT start at all because of that? maybe the engine seals decided to completely give out or maybe the apex seals are cracked and now the compression is f**ked. im not too sure that is the problem tho. engine will be rebuilt soon regardless, but i was wondering if it could be that the starter has died. when i try to start the car, all the accesory lights turn on, battery is fine, but it just wont turn over. it cranks but doesnt turn over. just makes that sound engines make right before they start up. erererererer. is there any sort of test i can do to see if the starter motor is worn out or dead.

fc3sboy1

ummmmmmmm compression test?

amp

pull out your plugs and find out..

bartlette84

pull out the plugs and do what? sorry i dont understand. you can do a compression test without the car being able to start?

herblenny

First, its not your starter.. if it makes that noise, "ererer...."



When the car did start, what did it do? Did it smoke really bad?? did it end after certain amounts of time? Did you smell the exhaust? What did it smell like? Did your water temp sky rocket? Do you have PFC?? Did you try everything to start? Did you check your sparks?? did it have water residue? Smell of your sparks??



The thing is that, its hard to diagnose a problem when we can't really see, hear, or smell.

Also, for compression test, all you need is able to crank the car (let the starter turn the engine).



This is what I would do first..



Start from the basic.. take the sparks out, look at the plugs. What do you see and smell? IF your coolant seal was bad, and leaks as you mentioned, you'll see water residue. Also, if your not firing, it could be bad plugs and also should smell gas. Get some new plugs and try it again.. Get 2 sets of plugs just in case you foulout the first set. Then check the wires... Make sure everything is connected and such... If so, check all the fuses.. Still don't crank.. take the plugs out and crank the car.. If your apex seals are gone, you will hear distinct sound from your engine.. usually a skip in compression..



But even with blown engine, you could get it started.. it just takes time to do so..



Good luck!! Let us know what happens.

bartlette84

Ok, I spoke with a mechanic friend of mine who seems to think the problem is the fuel pump. When the car was running it was running perfectly fine. Every once in a while, usually when it was extra cold outside, the exhaust would let out white smoke that smelled sweet. My guess is coolant. I am going to get some ether and spray it in the intake then try and crank it over. If it starts, my guess would be the problem is not enough fuel. I will also pick up a new set of plugs just to be safe. Does anyone have a diagram of how the plugs and plug wires should go? When I changed out the plugs the first time, they were previously installed wrong, but now Im thinking maybe the plug wires are wrong as well. I put the plugs in as follows: lower 2 sockets are leading, top 2 sockets are trailing. Is this correct? A diagram or explaination of what plugs wires go where would also help out. Thanks for all the responses and helpful diagnoses guys.

herblenny

Oh man..



Please, listen to my advice from before.. Take the spark plugs out and look at it.. Take some pics and post it. Before you spray "Ether" into your intake, check the basics. If you are not sure about which wires go where, search the forum or the internet about how rotary engine work. There are ton of info about the engine.

hus

I would definitely check everything else out before I started spraying ether around. And just run all NGK 9s for the plugs and don't worry about leading and trailing.

bartlette84

ok i will go pick up some new plugs over the weekend and put those in. i also have a set of race plug wires that i have yet to install. i will throw those on there while im at it. i looked at the wires before and it looks like a lot of work is involved in changing them out. i couldnt see where they lead to. i have some research to do. i havent really had time to tinker with this engine much. the 2nd gen was so much easier to work with. haha. the plugs are fairly new, i changed them when i bought the car, less than a year ago. but due to the fact that the car has a water leak, the plugs very well could have gotten wet. im just trying to prolong the enevitable, and have something to drive until i get the engine rebuilt. might just pick up a street bike for now and order a reman from mazda.

herblenny

LOL! If you think changing out FD wires are going to be tough, than there are far more surprises a head of you.

But thats the fun of owning this car