So, i've just recently rebuilt the 13b in my 87 rx-7, and after the rebuilt it wouldn't seem to start, turns over and some what fireover but not quite. I asked abunch of people what was up and they said a common problem with rebuilt is they start hard and that u need to push them for the first time. So i get my bro and his truck we drag it up a hill above our place and roll it down at about 20mph i drop the clutch and sure enough vroom it starts right up no hesitation. Of course though theres complications, first off i have to feather the gas to keep it going and it smoking bad nice whitish gray smoke plumming from the exsaust smells kinda like burning anti-freeze. So i keep the car going cause i was told that it would in fact smoke bad, but after about 15 min's still smoking bad. KIll the car wait a day and go out and try to start it and wont start so i push start it again and vroom right up so i thought hell maybe it just needs to go for a drive and i take it around the block twice seems ok besides the 50 yards of smoke that i leave behind in the nieghborhood. So any ideas did i mess up big or is there something i can do??? please help

it should smoke for a short time due to all the asembly lube or what you may have used to assemble the engine. as far as the starting problem,,,,,,,,,, um i have never had to pull start or push start a car before with a freash engine,,,,,,,, only had to do that on a 85 with a 12a when the motor was burnt up due to housing failure. as far as the smell ya kinda sounds like something has gone wrong with the build like a water jacket seal or even a iron may have been cracked and you didnt knotice it when you cleaned up the parts. is the oil milky?



randy

I know this is an old thread, but for future readers I had the same problem a month ago with my 13B rebuild.



I didn't initially replace the O-Rings that seal up the coolant holes in the intake manifold. The old rings swelled and coolant leaked in through the intake manifold. They are a common size and can be picked up at Autozone or some sort of parts store. I pulled off the manifold, replaced BOTH O-Rings, put the manifold back on topped up the coolant and started her up. She smoked the first few mins till all the coolant that was in the housings burnt off then it was fine.



An "old" timer rotary guy told me that they used to have a hard time getting new engines to start and they'd pull or push start a newly rebult engine. luckily i had no troubles.

I've never had that problem but it sounds like a pinched gasket , instead of pulling or pushing the car you can try running 24 volts ....

everything comes down to compression. if on the build the compression is weak, these problems will come about.

Re: Rotary Rebuilt Problems....noob
 

Did you ever figure it out why it wouldn't start i dont smell coolant but my car wont start it will turn over, but i traded a datsun 280 for an rx the other day that has a rebuilt engine just wont start. i have spark, fuel pressure, and compression ( covered the intake with my hand while it was turning over and it tried to suck my hand in.) i just changed out the crank position sensor because it wasnt putting out very much voltage.. So i am at a loss any help will be awesome. it also has a massive coolant leak i put it up on jack stands while i was working on it and tried to start it i put like 1 and a half gallons of 50/50 coolant in it so if i got it started i could try to keep it running. well all of the coolant has been dripping out for the last 4 days covering the shop floor.

Also the starter doesnt seem like it is spinning high enough rpms to get it started. i also read on one of these forms to put some 2 stroke oil in the cylinders and spin it around to try to get the engine to start. i also dragged it around a bit went from 1-6th gear about 20 mph....

thanks again!