Too much oil interferes with vaporization and then requires much more heat of compression to get a burn energetic enough to spin the engine, more like just a fluff sound and not even an increase in cranking speed.
One ounce per gallon is plenty.
The last resort is the cup of hot coffee and a big dose of motor oil, for a cold day start. The coffee takes the frost off the rotor and heats the chamber walls a bit plus the volume adds to compression ratio and heat of compression. The oil seals up even
a junk engine long enough to get a start.
None of this should apply to a rebuilt engine with a hot battery. Nothing less than an instant start is expected unless you have a computer, then it has to turn past the start tooth to find itself, so there is a wasted revolution. Should start on the first
rotor face that got a fuel charge.
I miss Leon. Some of his stuff is still on the Internet.
Lynn E. Hanover
I don't know if you recall Leon from down under (since deceased). But,
early on I had a similar problem with my rotary.
Since I was breaking in a new/rebuilt engine I was liberal with the 2 cycle
oil. Engine would act similar, would act like it was trying to start -
would dump excess fuel through the exhaust (plugs up), but just would not
run. Leon told me I might have "poisoned" the gasoline with too much oil.