Cyris426

Hey, so i got a SE with 300 k on it and I am having this problem with the idiot lights turning on while I'm idling and flickering dimer and then brighter. When it does this i notice this strange strange noise coming from under the dash, its hard to explain what it sounds like but its like ckkckkkkckkkcc. Kinda of electrical almost. At this same time i notice my battery is below the 12V mark when usually it is around 13V or so. But here is whats most weird about it. If you rev the engine to above 1500 RPM or so, it will stop. Then as the RPM's fall down below 1500 to idle, it will come back on and start doing it again. It seems to go away on its own after driving around for a while. But then it will come back after a day or so. It doesn't affect the performance of the car as far as i can tell. But it is really not a good sign. Anyone know what this could be?

Thanks,
Nathan

rx71king

iTrader: (6)

what does the light say?...... maybe a bad relay

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like the regulator on your alternator is about to go completely.

FunK73

iTrader: (6)

Im with DF on that one. Low voltage would cause your relays to have some issues. And when youre up off idle its generating enough voltage to over come that.

Whats your voltage reading at idle, and at the point where the idiot lights stop flickering

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

before replacing or removing the alternator for testing, check the alternator belt tension. a broken, glazed or badly slipping due to lack of tension alternator belt will cause the warning lights to illuminate.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

It could also be a bad fusible link. I had this problem years ago because the main fusible link wasn't making a good connection.

Operator Error

iTrader: (1)

Ok so i am experiencing the same symptoms on my car. A weird clicking noise coming from the dash somewhere. Lights flicker a lot. Also when i try to rev my engine at all it starts sputtering like its gonna die until it returns to idle. Another thing that is weird is that when i try to unflood the engine by unplugging the blue spade connector on the trailing coil and then turning the engine over while flooring the gas pedal, the engine will fire up. When the spade connector is attached the engine refuses to catch. Any ideas?

rx71king

iTrader: (6)

it hard to figure out these types of problems with out seeing it run....sorry i am no help.........

LongDuck

First off, we've got 2 things going on here in this thread, and they may not even be related.

To be respectful to the OP;

On the first thing - the Idiot Lights flickering - this could be a bad battery (dying), bad battery terminal connections, a bad ground from the battery to the driver's side strut tower and on to the back of starter bolt, a bad alternator voltage regulator, a bad alternator, or as the other poster pointed out, a bad V-belt to the alternator or poor tension on the belt.

The nature of an alternator is that it requires field current to create the magnetic field that's used to generate electricity. In this case, if the battery is weak, or poorly connected, the field current won't be enough for the alternator to create current, and your voltage regulator won't function properly. The end result is that the entire electrical system on the car sees something less than 12V, resulting in weird electrical gremlins. If your headlights are dim or flicker, this could also be a symptom of this issue.

Batteries don't last forever, and if you haven't changed yours in the past 3-4 years, then it's likely due (lead-acid type). That would be my first guess. Throw it on a ramp charger and see how much current it pulls, or take it to your local parts house and have them test the battery - they can tell you quickly if that's the culprit.

From the battery, start looking at the other stuff on my list, above; cables, grounds (you can't have too many!), lead to the Fusible Link Block in front of the driver's side strut tower (give those things a twist and slide the connectors back and forth to be sure they're clean), and basically give it a good search to see if that changes it.

Usually, when troubleshooting things like this, it's helpful to try one thing and then test it to see if it's fixed (*or behaving differently). That helps you to nail down the root cause.

To the second poster - try these things as well, and post under a new topic if your issues are different. HTH,

Cyris426

Thanks for the reply's guys. The battery i got in 09 and its a red top which is supposed to be a good quality battery. It got worse, it used to be just intermittently going down to 10, but before i knew it the battery was regularly at the 10V mark. I also got the dreaded tach bounce.... where the tach acted like it was getting shocked and was dancing up and down when it was idling. Id give it some gas and the volts would jump back to 12. Lay off, and it dropped back down. I couldn't see much by the way of the flickering idiot lights at this point. Then it was running at 9V, and i thought, "**** i haven't ever seen it this low while driving around, before i know it it'll be at 8V" sure enough it was 8V, and barley running... The CD deck wouldn't work not matter no matter what buttons i pressed. It seemed like it dident have enough power to play it, even while i was driving. Then it started to run at 250 RPM with 8V and i was sure it was gonna die...and it did, i tried to turn it over and it dident have enough juice to move it once. So i thought wtf i have a huge hill here and ill just listen to tunes for a bit`. Which i did, i then tired to bump it and the battery read 8V and it would not fire up. It sparked and sputtered for a bit at the beginning and then wouldn't do anything. My dad towed me the last 2 K home and now im gonna try to slap in the spare alternator i got. What a disaster. Ill reply with the success or failure of the alt swap. Thanks again guys.

Nathan

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

You can take the alternator out and most parts stores will test it for free.

You could have a bad battery cable if it turns out not to be alternator. Also start cleaning connections.

Directfreak

iTrader: (2)

Cyris426

So i charged the battery and the alternator from the parts car worked and now it runs again with the old problems being resolved.. However it only runs on one rotor..... I'm fairly certain it isent flooded because i did the unflood procedure several times. Both rotors have lotsa compression. I saw some gasoline mist coming from under the upper intake manifold tough. Could a damaged gas hose cause only one rotor to fire? The injectors were replaced 45000KM ago.

Thanks,
Nathan

83Limited

Be sure you didnt hit and knock loose one of the igniter plugs or one of the coil or spark plug wires on top of the cap when you swapped alternators. If it was running on both rotors before the alternator went south,its very doubtful anything went wrong with the motor in the mean time....

Cyris426

Both the lead and trailing sparks are firing on both rotors. They are also hooked up correctly to the dizzy.

Nathan

Cyris426

So i was able to get it running on ethier rotor, although it seems like the rear rotor has a harder time running by itself, maybe im just imagining it. But either rotor will run the engine with the plugs out on the other rotor. They just wont both run at once.... Any ideas? When it runs it seems to wanna smoke white.

Thanks,
Nathan