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OK guys, I need some real help here, calling all the electrical pros on the 1st gens.
I have a fantastic 85 RX7 GSL-SE in extremely good condition. I bought it and had new OEM carpet set and new seats I bought professionally installed. Those are the only significant mods I've made to the car.
The car is a late 85 890350. 1.3 L 13B been rebuilt no doubt, not ported. Runs great. Basic nut and bolt restore with 200K, looks like new and not a sign of rust anywhere. Confirmed no flooding ever happened. All bulbs and lights work except interior roof/map set has grounding problem, thats a smaller fish for now. Hatch release works fine and latches securely. Same for fuel door. Cant find anything wrong!
The car is beeping at me when driving. It is an erratic short beep beep. All warning lights work at startup, not seat belt related as both checked out and are latched, the warning for this can be triggered by not using and sounds a different type of note set, then stops reminding. So not SB related.
Coolant level sensor is working and has good checked connection. Radiator full to brim at cap, and has always same amount in OF tank. Does not use any coolant in 500 miles.
Oil press sensor works and runs right up to 60 PSI at start up. Runs a little higher later after warm up at speed to maybe 65 PSI. Oil level sensor works and no warning lights ever come on after start up.
I repaired and cleaned the door switches and both look good and work well by testing interior lights with door open.
I cannot find the reason for the beep beep. I have no idea what the alarm means and no way to diagnose now as I'm running out of ideas for the root cause.
It is occasional and not consistent but when in repeat mode the alarm beeps every 6-8 seconds.
Can anyone tell me where the oscillator is? I have Haines manual and can understand the W dia. but not knowing the nature of the alarm is hampering me.
Please help me improve my driving experience! If I ever find the @ Freakin beeper it will be deleted and hammered into a thousand pieces! Can it be a problem with a thermal fire alarm sensor?
Can aaaanyone tell me what would make the dash beep with no warning lights?
The magic Mazda beast.
The Oscillator is almost certainly the cause for your random beeping, as long as the car doesn't have some kind of aftermarket alarm system installed. The Oscillator is located behind the drivers side headlight binnacle, and is mounted to the frame there just in front of the battery. In fact, this poor location is why many of our Oscillators no longer work, as battery acid runoff from filling the older lead acid batteries typically corrode the contacts and destroy the Oscillator. Luckily, as ost of us know how to maintain our cars,, the Oscillator function to warn drivers of a Low Coolant and / or Low Oil Level condition isn't really needed.
If you remove it - HANG ONTO IT - as the Oscillators are NLA parts. I bought one of the last ones in the US parts system over a decade ago, and never got mine to work correctly due to corrosion in the wiring to it.
The Oscillator looks like a relay, and in fact that's all it is; just a complicated version th sound the beeping alarm behind the dash panel. Since you already know what it monitors, you can make the choice about trying to fix it, or removing the Oscillator from the wiring system by unplugging it (*and wire tying or otherwise insulating the existing wires to avoid shorts). Removal of the Oscillator affects no other systems or monitoring, and Mazda only included one to alert new owners of conditions that if left unmaintained would result in severe engine damage (overheating / oil starvation).
Welcome aboard, and post some pics of your original car,
Thanks for the help, I knew about the electrical relationship of the oscillator to the warning functions from the wiring diagram, but the sorry haines manual has no clue as to where it resides. There is so little info on the late 85 set up on GSL-SE s. Someone needs to do one on just the GSL SE 13B RE EGI set up. The other frustrating thing is the recommended workaround for the water level sensor, (grounding the sensor's singe wire ?, it will be disconnected completely from the harness), do they mean to jumper the harness connector to ground? Could the radiator need some prime of some sort? Does there need to be another wire to ground from that harness connector? If the sensor is the cause, i have a spare to try. I just needed info on whether it can beep without providing a warning light. So many questions about the root cause. Oh well, I will root for the osc now. Thanks and Ill keep posting on the issue.
Hey guys,
I wanted to update on this thread. During The last two trips (30 miles each), I had no issues with this problem. I have not taken any further steps, nor disabled the osc., and it has not reappeared. I did take the step of cleaning and treating the coil wire connections with electrical contact grease, but the problem was not evident during the trip to the garage, so I'm still mystified as to the root cause, but the beeping has stopped, hope it is gone for good.
Updating again on the beeping dash. It is very infrequent though once you get a beep its more likely to get a few in a row. I'm thinking it more to be door switch alarm, though I took both door switches out and cleaned them, One was ok, little dirty, the other looked nearly new, rubber grommet seats for the switches are fine too. Still searching to fix it. Since it is infrequent now, its not such a bother. Otherwise it is a great car.
First, I would love to see pictures of the new oem carpet and am curious where you got it.
Secondly, are you able to post a video of the beeping? Depending on the sound we can help point you in the right direction. The car has more than one audible tone used as a warning alarm. Each tone is different and points you in a different direction regarding what the car perceives as an error.
Great! and will post a video if I can. The problem which used to be at times consistent with every drive, beeping occasionally, has mostly stopped in the past month as I've been driving it more. It is a double beep. I have heard it a few times but mostly just a couple beep sets then OK. All warning lights function and I checked the door switches and they were cleaned, maybe they are not making good ground contact? No leaks and all levels are good. I have been checking and cleaning contacts in the ignition train, but the car runs so well and has good power at low RPMs, a real torquey feel. This is an annoying problem but has definitely gotten less frequent. The last few trips I had no problem. My two top theories are that it is the door switches or possibly a bad contact somewhere in the ignition wiring, though there is no evidence either is a real issue. I got the carpet set from rock auto I think. New seats are Tanaka and look like racing seats.
No, they actually took away maybe an inch and a half to two inches head room. Also mounting them is a problem unless you buy the planted seat platform ($180.00 ea.) which fits on the OEM bolt pattern in the floor, and raises the seat about two inches more, I only did this on the passenger seat. The installers got the drivers seat installed without one. The pattern on the seat is for flat rail surfaces, the planting brackets on the OEM seats are not leveled co-equal so there is a need to fab a bracket set or use the planted bracket I bought. Definitely worth it as the velour seats were ugly and the drivers was ripped on the side. BTW I have a brown passenger seat (velour) in excellent shape I want to get rid of, all boxed and ready to ship. Different slider lever was used on pass. side that came with the (Tanakas @ 230.00 ea). These seats are better suited to the cars performance, the OEMs don't have sideways support. Quite comfy too. I also replaced drivers seat belt with a static belt. This thing belongs on the track and begs to be driven like a performance car, though it is just a bit-chen daily driver that gets a lot of attention.
The Oscillator is almost certainly the cause for your random beeping, as long as the car doesn't have some kind of aftermarket alarm system installed. The Oscillator is located behind the drivers side headlight binnacle, and is mounted to the frame there just in front of the battery. In fact, this poor location is why many of our Oscillators no longer work, as battery acid runoff from filling the older lead acid batteries typically corrode the contacts and destroy the Oscillator. Luckily, as ost of us know how to maintain our cars,, the Oscillator function to warn drivers of a Low Coolant and / or Low Oil Level condition isn't really needed.
If you remove it - HANG ONTO IT - as the Oscillators are NLA parts. I bought one of the last ones in the US parts system over a decade ago, and never got mine to work correctly due to corrosion in the wiring to it.
The Oscillator looks like a relay, and in fact that's all it is; just a complicated version th sound the beeping alarm behind the dash panel. Since you already know what it monitors, you can make the choice about trying to fix it, or removing the Oscillator from the wiring system by unplugging it (*and wire tying or otherwise insulating the existing wires to avoid shorts). Removal of the Oscillator affects no other systems or monitoring, and Mazda only included one to alert new owners of conditions that if left unmaintained would result in severe engine damage (overheating / oil starvation).
Welcome aboard, and post some pics of your original car,
I have an 85 GSL-SE and my beep is continuous AND LOUD as soon as the key is in the Run position. I've never heard this beep and only after I changed the plugs. No, I didn't disturb the temp sender under the oil filter, and I have disconnected the oscillator. No change. Any other ideas? Thanks to all in this thread.
I have an 85 GSL-SE and my beep is continuous AND LOUD as soon as the key is in the Run position. I've never heard this beep and only after I changed the plugs. No, I didn't disturb the temp sender under the oil filter, and I have disconnected the oscillator. No change. Any other ideas? Thanks to all in this thread.
Wow! Deleting the osc. did not help? We need to find the root cause. I had heard somewhere that the beep could be from some poor contact in the engine RPM sensing string to the computer. My tachometer works fine, though and shows no wonky bits when beeping, but that does not mean that the computer sees the RPMs as clearly. Is yours a beep-beep (two .5 sec. beeps together)? Mine is bone stock and after replacing the plugs with NGKs (BR8**) recently, (It had Densos), I noted no changes.
Wow! Deleting the osc. did not help? We need to find the root cause. I had heard somewhere that the beep could be from some poor contact in the engine RPM sensing string to the computer. My tachometer works fine, though and shows no wonky bits when beeping, but that does not mean that the computer sees the RPMs as clearly. Is yours a beep-beep (two .5 sec. beeps together)? Mine is bone stock and after replacing the plugs with NGKs (BR8**) recently, (It had Densos), I noted no changes.
Have you looked at the wiring diagram and used the process of elimination to troubleshoot any circuit that supplies the buzzers? That is were I'd start.
I'd still like to hear an audio clip or see a video of the beeping. You can even post it to YouTube and link it here. Our cars have different tones for different warnings and it would be easier ro hear the tone and send you down the correct path.
Yeah, I keep using the term 'beep' which some here are arguing means a 'beep beep beep' noise but I should be using the term 'buzzer' to describe a continuous sound. So, mine I guess is a buzzer that is a continuous beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep with no breaks in between. It's different from the door buzzer because with the door open they are both going on simultaneously. Shutting the door turns off that one, but the continuous and loud beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep keeps going no matter what I do. It only turns off by turning the key off.
I pulled the gauge cluster and it's coming from the buzzer that's mounted to the top left of the cluster's circuit board. That looks like it's wired to the temp sender and oil sensor, but both those sensors are fine under the hood.
I ordered a new gauge cluster circuit board and should arrive in a couple days. I suspect the damn buzzer itself is the issue. I'll let the thread know if that took care of it.
Why is there NO guide to decipher the beeping? There is NO info in the service manual on what beeping means. I don't see buzzers on my diagrams. Which bell or buzzer is activating? and NO one knows what the beep beep means?
The double beep is usually the headlight reminder chime on the 84-85. This is activated when the headlight switch is in the parking light position or headlight position and either door is opened. Each door switch being closed will complete the circuit and cause the double beep. I can dig up the page from the wiring diagram that covers the headlight circuit and see if that has any info. I would bet something in that circuit is failing, be it the beeper box or something in the headlight reminder wiring.
Right? So loud and annoying. Doesn't matter if it's running or not, the beeeeeeep goes on. I still suspect the 'beeper' itself. I'll find out soon enough.
Thanks for the valuable information. I have experienced a big improvement on the problem, and it is now a rare condition. While this is a big relief, it has made it harder to diagnose what the issue was/is. In the past few trips it has not occurred at all and it has been a while since the original post so I'm keeping up with responses but not finding the root cause. I am going to check the circuit and find out more, but in the meantime, it has not manifested in a seriously troubling way. The car is now being driven more often and is a lot of fun now that the beeping has stopped (hope/wish, pray). I so much appreciate this community and it's members for their invaluable support as this is a rare edition of the 7 and without their help and support the car and its characteristics would be indecipherable as the manuals are not very informative.
Hello Ray, Thanks for the compliments. The GSL SE has a deep dark metallic purple paint job with iridescent "ghost flames" on the front and sides. It doesn't show in that photo. I think it was originally frost white. The interior has the brown trim which does not go all that well with my new blue OEM fitted carpet. It had brown velour seats that were recently replaced with Takata race seats. I'd like to dye the trim too, but would still have the brown velour door trim. Too hot here to work on things right now but the AC blows cold and I'm driving it, next year it will be on the track for the vintage parade at Sebring, it drives like it belongs on the track! Thanks to all of you.
04-17-22, 08:14 PM
