I had a no-start of my RX-8 in my RV-7A about three weeks ago.  I had rebuilt the engine starter and after re-installing it, I started the engine 3 times to make sure the starter was performing properly.  Everything was OK.  I got in the airplane 2 days later and the engine turned over but  did not start.  I ran the P 680 battery down trying to start it.  I discovered I had NO compression on any of the 6 rotor faces!  I checked the ignition, injectors and cleaned the plugs.  I also squirted some fuel into the spark plug holes to try to get it to fire.  I finally squirted 2 stroke oil into each rotor face using the prop to rotate the engine.  I sprayed  2 to 3 squirts per rotor face using a hand oil  dispenser.  The engine fired several times but did not start on the first try – I let it sit 3 hours and tried again.  It started and after about 10 seconds it ran smoothly.  It filled the hanger with smoke burning  the oil!

I figure I must have left some unburned gasoline in the engine when I tested the starter and this washed most of  the oil out of the seals while sitting a couple of days. Hence no compression.  This is only a guess -

I ran it on the ground several times and have flown it about 5 hours  – everything appears back to normal!

PS – I don’t ever measure the rotor’s compression.  I only turn the prop thur by hand – compression is back to  normal.

Dennis Haverlah

RX-8 in RV-7A

About 800 hours