marshp

hey there, now here is my dilema, ill try to give as much info as possible

i have an 83 rx7 gs model 12a, manual tranny, with about 190,000km on engine and car etc...

now heres the problem, rarely, but sometimes, i go to start my car and it doesnt start, not to do with the starter, but to do with not enough juice coming from the battery.

now, the battery is about a month old and i just got it tested and it passes the load test with flying colors.
then i go the alternator tested, and it works great i was told
now the connections at the battery are tight, and are not loosely connected anywhere i can see with the human eye.
oh yea and as well, when this happens, it usually seems to happen for days at a time, and then it goes away, like it hasnt happened for at least a month up until this morning when i noticed it

now there is one thing i noticed that started to happen around the same time as the battery was doing this.
it seems as though something is weird with my lights. on the light switch on the column of the steering wheel i used to be able to turn off the lights (like the lights would go pop down and turn off as well) but now it seems that i can only turn them off when the car is running and i have to go through each stage on the switch before they go down,(there is full popped up, then just running lights on, and then totally down and running lights off) as well today when i jumped started the car it ran good, and seemed to have more than 12 volts ie the alternator is still working, but when i went to shut off the lights this time, they didnt shut off at all, and i had to mess with them like a lot before they did
now with all this info, im hoping someone knows something or has had something like the same experience as me, and can help me,
i really appreciate any help and or suggestions that you may have for me.
thankyou

oh yea and btw, i do not leave the lights on, i have a stereo and an alarm and a radar detector, but i unplugged the alarm computer, took out the radar detector and unplugged it and removed my face plate.

and it still dies..

mwpayne

This is a very common problem with the FB's, they're really sensitive and will do all kinds of crazy stuff when not getting enough voltage/current.
If you'll replace BOTH battery cables (I know they look fine, mine did too) and run an extra ground from the neg terminal to the frame (be sure and sand the area to bare metal) you'll be impressed. Bet it fixes all you've
described, as long as the battery is good.
I'm betting 'cause the same things were happeing to mine!
Oh, yeah, be sure to sandpaper all connections when replacing the cables.

marshp

so you think i should replace both cables, and the connectors an extra ground wire from neg. terminal should make it work, its worth a shot for sure, im gonna try that tonight, but it doesnt seem like that is it, cause the cables look fine, as do the terminals and connectors

Rotary Revolution

Hi,
I actually encountered this problem, earlier tonight. I went and got new Interstate battery, hooked it up. When I turned the key, you heard a big click and that was it. Then it worked great, after I cleaned the connectors.
Just my 2 cents.

mwpayne

They look good, but they're coroding from the inside-out. Mine looked as good as the ones I bought. I replaced them anyway, unbelievable difference. Car cranked faster, windows (electric) went up and down better, headlights brighter. It actuallr ran smoother, too.
While you're at it, it's a good idea to take out and clean the fusible link connections as well.
Here's a link with lots of good stuff:
http://www.nellump.net/peri/epi/firstGenTech.html

Good luck, holler back if you need to. You'll find lots of rx-7 genuises (I'm not one) on this forum.

marshp

i dont believe either of those will fix the problem tho
the problem is the draining overnight while the car is sitting
im just not sure where or how to fix the drain

marshp

ok i went out and cleaned the battery terminal connectors and pulled out the wires from the connectors and sanded them down, and i even pulled out the fusible link jumpers and sanded them down good and blew in them to clean them out, but it made no difference
im thinking its either gotta be, maybe one of the motors on the lights are staying running after the car is off, or it might be the switch on the steering column is still sending power somewhere, possibly the lights when they are popped down, i just dont know, and i dont know what to do, i think tommorow im gonna get a tester to see where the amp draw is comin from and start pulling fuses, i dunno if that will help tho

mwpayne

Maybe i misunderstood..

You're saying that the battery seems to run down when the car is just sitting? Good battery at night, next day, dead?
That may be a whole different deal..
Do a search on this forum for "battery", I read how someone had this problem and came up with a way to trace it down. Sorry, thats all I remember. Do the search, bet you'll find it.

Good Luck!

purple82

So is the battery being drained? If you start it and drive it around for a half hour and turn it off, does it start up fine and do all the electrical components work? If so, then you're right and your battery is being drained by something. Maybe a shorting solenoid? That type of thing is very hard to find.

It actually sounds to me, however, like the other suggestions are correct and either your power cables are internally corroded or you have a cheap battery that can deliver 12V, but can't deliver enough current. It sounds as if the car works absolutely fine when the alternator is running, but as soon as you stop the engine and rely on the battery you have electrical problems again. Try borrowing a different battery, DIFFERENT BRAND, the Optimas are one of the best, and see if the problem goes away.

marshp

ok i have a motomaster eliminator i can use, thats about it beside my cold start plus one that i paid 115$ for , its supposed to be really good quality?
and its like 1 month old
should still be good
yes someonthing is draining the battery when i leave it siiting over night ie yes its good at the night, then in the morning its not quite fully dead just down to like just a little under the required amount of volts to start.
i just dont know what can drain it or how to fix it

marshp

its not the battery cause i changed it now
what else could cause it to drain

mwpayne

Might be time to just start pulling fuses at night & making notes of what you did until you find the circuit that's causing the drain.
Surely someone has a better idea?

Dom

If you're having probs with the headlight doors going down AND an overnight drain on the battery then that means the headlight doors are not shutting all the way and keep on trying all night. Maybe the headlight mechanicals are binding and need to be greased. Anyways, I would pull the fusible link for the headlights out at night and watch the dead battery prob go away. I would also think that the headlight door motor(s) would get warm.....

mazdaspeedrex

Disconnect the negative battery cable from the battery. Take a voltage test light and hook it from the negative post on the batery to a good ground. If it lights up when the car is off there is some kind of drain. With the test light hooked up still, take out fuses one at a time until the light goes out. That circuit is the problem. I would guess the headlight fuse will do it. If it is not the headlight circuit you need to look very closely at whatever circuit does cause the light to go off and try to find the bad wiring that is most likely causing the problem.