My 88 Turbo II cranks, but will not start. Before I get answers of..."it is flooded", read further.



I suspected flooding so I already did the unflooding procedure. Still didn't start.



I ensured that the battery is charged. I also checked the spark plugs. These are new NGKs. They are totally clean. A little bit of soot from the cranking of the engine, but everything is normal. Spark plugs show no sign of wear.



I used my multimeter to ensure that the coils are working. Totally within spec. I also tested spark by pulling each spark plug out and watching it spark.



With the troubleshooting diagram from the FSM, I diagnose the problem to be the water thermo sensor. So I change the water thermo sensor.. It is new (non-OEM, but it should still work).



After all this, I make a code puller.



http://home.earthlink.net/~msemmes/RX7_ErrCode1.htm



Guess what error code I get.....WATER THERMO SENSOR!!!!



How can this be? The connections are fine (at least visually). So what is the exact culprit? It is totally strange.



The 86-88 ecus are not supposed to be able to store error codes (as opposed to the 89+) so I'm pretty sure that the problem still lies with the water thermo sensor. I doubt I have to reset the ecu.



The previous owner said that his radiator broke and when that happend, he replaced the radiator and thermostat. After that happend, the car would not start anymore.



Any ideas? I haven't checked compression yet, but I'm pretty sure that it is ok.

 

check the water thermo sensor back at the ecu, maybe you have a bad wire. also the one you changed was in the back of the water pump right?



mike

 

It was definitely the water thermo sensor. What happens if the wire is bad.



The wire seems fine, but I'll check. Any other ideas?

 

it will only set a code if the ecu doesnt have continuity, so i would check that first



mike

 

For real? The car hasn't started since the radiator broke? Was it way overheated?

I suggest you check the compression.

 

If the car hasn't started since the rad. broke then it may becarbon locked. Like 1988RedTII said check your compression.

 

For real? The car hasn't started since the radiator broke? Was it way overheated?

I suggest you check the compression.[/quote]

thats a good point, i'm getting a car this weekend that is so bad it has no compression if you take the radiator cap off



mike