Ok.. Here's the deal. I have an '85 RX-7 with a 12A.. Everything stock. Now, I bought it this way- When I try to start it, the battery drops down to about 8-10 Volts and the car won't start from the key. Now if I jump start it, it runs fine. I can roll it out of my driveway or struggle pushing it in the street to start it and it will start, but it's a pain in my ***. When it gets running it will stay running as long as I want it to and it runs great. But it just doesn't charge the battery enough to start again. It's almost like the starter drains the power from the battery when I try to start it and it just doesn't have enough juice to start. But it's a brand new Altenator and Battery. What I'm wondering is, is this a common problem or not? I just want to be able to TURN THE KEY and start my car. It's kinda embarrasing to push start my car at the grocerie store or leave it running when I'm at a friends house. hehe. HELP!!!!!!! I'd like to think that I'm not illitterate when it comes to working on cars, but this just baffles me. OH!!! And get this! If it's hot outside, and my car is in the sun, and I leave it running, just idling without using anything that would use the battery, it will sometimes keep the charge and start using the key when I come back to it. But if it gets cold outside or I leave it long enough not started, I can't start it.

The conclusion is, my car runs great after I push start it. But I'm sick of it. I need my car to start with a key and without using jumper cables or push starting it. Please!! Any information you guys may have I'm sure will help. Thank you so much. Latah!

 

Try another battery, maybe your "new one" isn't so good. Good luck!

--Bob

 

yea get a new battery and see if that fixes it first...if it still doesnt work do a check of your charging system to make sure that it is working good....if you get a new battery and the charging system checks out and it still doesnt work check for short circuits that would be leaking the charge from your battery.

 

It might be a good idea to check your battery cables and see if they are corroded. Sometimes they can be corroded for a way up after the insulation. Or else it could be a crappy/corroded ground thats slowly draining the battery after you turn the car off thats why after if you turn it off and start it back up right away there is still enough juice start teh sucker up??

 

Take the battery and alternator to a local parts store. I dont' know about there, but here they test them both for free.

If both of them test good (and I think one of them won't), then you have some really serious electrical drain going when the car's running... Or the alternator isn't hooked up right. Check all your *ground* connections on the car.

Good luck.

Jon

 

Screams battery.....

 

I'm going with corroded terminals, as evidenced by the fact that the jumper cables attach to the OUTSIDE of the the terminals. That, and the fact that even if the charging system is okay, corroded terminals would inhibit charging current flowing back into the battery. But it could also be a bad battery, even if it's new. Clean the terminals really well and if that doesn't solve the problem, have the battery and alternator checked out. Some auto parts stores will do it for free. Good luck gettin' it figured out.

 

Well, thank you guys for ALL your help. You were all pretty much right even though I didn't get a chance to check the forum before I fixed the problem on my own!! hehe. You guys all knew what you were talking about. It was shorts with battery cables and of course I replaced the battery with a new new one. hehe. It starts like a champ now every time, and I also fixed my minor exhaust leak so that added like 30 HP hehe. Now I'm ready to race you guys! I'm extremely excited about my "new" re-vamped RX-7.. Once again, thank you guys so much for the help!! Although all it took was some elbow greese and a days worth of garage work . Take care! Peeeeeeeeace.

 

woooowoooo! i think i won!! rofl