So you have flooded your rotary yes many of us have been there at one time or another so do not despair below you will find a simple guide to help you get your rotary fired back in to life again.
Please remember that this guide was put together based on the RX-8 while the procedure is essentially the same for the older RX-7′s we would recommend that you also take the following steps prior to cranking the engine to deflood.
RX-7 FC3s
In addition to flooring the throttle it is good practice here to disconnect the Crank Angle Sensor (CAS), this will prevent the spark plugs from firing and also stop the fuel injectors from operating (as some aftermarket ECU’s to not feature a fuel cut when the throttle pedal is wide open while cranking. this will ensure that no additional fuel is delivered while trying to deflood your engine.
REMEMBER to connect the Crank angle sensor again when your ready to try and start the engine though.
RX-7 FD3s
On the FD things are a little different do in addition to flooring the throttle pedal mentioned in step2-4 b3low, you will want to remove the EGI fuse from the fuse box located in the engine bay next to the battery. This will prevent the Fuel injectors from operating and delivering fuel while your attempting to deflood your engine.
REMEMBER to install the EGI fuse again when you are ready to attempt to start the engine
Preperation.
- You would want to disconnect the secondary air pump to stop it running.
- Ideally connect the car via jump leads to a second running vehicle.
Deflooding Steps
- Jump in the car and press both the clutch then the throttle all the way down to the floor.
- Depressing the clutch will remove a little extra load from the engine meaning it will crank slightly faster.
- Depressing the Throttle pedal will cut the fuel to the engine.
- With both pedals fully depressed you want to crank the engine for around 10-20 seconds maximum.
- Now allow everything to rest for around 30 seconds to 1 minute before cranking the engine again as mentioned above in step 2 with both pedals depressed.
- You want to continue to do this for as long as you can. alternating between step 2 and step 3
- Remember to allow the starter to cool sufficiently as described in step 3, this is where the bump leeds come in too as your also allowing the battery to recover charge from the running cars charging system. this is very important.
- Starting the engine, you only really want to undertake this when you feel you have been cranking the engine for some time as described above, remember that if the engine fails to start you will be having to the step 2 and three again for some time to try and dry things out again. Only undertake step 5 when you feel its time to give it ago. this unfortunately is something you tend to gain from experience so chances are you may have to do this a few times.
- Before attempting to start the engine we would recommend giving the car a couple of minutes to gain extra charge in the battery,
- The better the charge state of the battery the faster the engine will crank and the better chance you will have of it firing up.
- To attempt to start the engine it is simply a case of removing your foot from the throttle pedal but keep the clutch depressed for the reason stated above. turn the key to crank the engine.
- It may take a few seconds to actually fire and you may need to keep the engine cranking for a few seconds after the engine sounds like it has started.
- You may also need to slowly feed some power in with the throttle pedal in order to bring the revs up before releasing the ignition key.
- If all goes well then you will not have a running car. keep the revs up around 3500rpm until the engine had warmed up. however if it fails to start then i am afraid its back toStep 2 for you.
- Once started and warmed up allow to idle while you remove the jump leads.
- Turn off the engine and reconnect the secondary air pump.
- Have your heart in your mouth when you restart it once again (even we do this)
- Go enjoy a good drive to clear it all out….happy rotoring rotorhead!
Please remember this procedure works best when everything is in healthy condition if your coils, leads or plugs have seen better days, your starter motor is very slow or battery is was at its best in 2010 then this is going to make the above procedure a lot more difficult as you will be going over it multiple times.
Good luck