Rotary Weasel

lol....went out to start the 7 last night and all was well til I turned the headlights on, the radio started to flicker on and off, then weird noises started to manifest from the dash near the hivac controls, then the volt meter headed left and the car lost power altogther and stopped...several minutes later she restarted then did it again, the battery light didn't come on but i'm going to say the alternator is dead?
she is testing me already lmao

DriftFB

I'm going to say the alternator also, although the fact that it let you restart once is kind of weird.

Box_Man

My car did that when a dirty battery terminal came loose. I cleaned it, and put it back on, never had another problem.

speedturn

iTrader: (1)

sounds like a battery terminal to me too.

Rotary Weasel

it restarted because the battery regained some of its juice, and it seems okay as long as I don't turn the ligts on, battery terminals are clean, so basically it's become a 'day walker' 7 that shuns the dark

DriftFB

^After that I would definately say its an alternator on its way out, or the part (forget name) that regulates how much power goes to running the car and how much goes to charging the battery.

Rotary Weasel

The flux capacitor eh? I believe it's the regulator, the alternator is a napa refurb and has lasted about 2 years..not very impressive

rotary_83

Whenever I had my eclipse it did that, but mine was worse. It would run like crap (miss, wouldn't start, Whenever I did get it started I could only go about 1/4 miles before it died), headlights wouldn't come on, stater would lag. I thought it was electrical since it wouldn't run right. So I parked it and hauled it to my house. Next day bought a brand new battery and replaced my terminals. After that it ran perfect. Weird? I thought so.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Heres a thought for you! Take the car or alternator back to Napa and have them either test the charging system if you take the car or test the alternator if it is out of the car. Also have the battery recharged and tested to make sure it's not compromised also.

Napa's alternators have anywhere from a 2 year to a lifetime warranty depending on which one you bought. But quit dicking around and get it fixed before you get stranded on the side of the road.

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

Agreed with all of the above. Also, check your ground, make sure it's grounded enough. your negative cable should be grounded twice, if it's not, add a second ground and see how that works. When I changed my battery cables a few months ago I didn't realise it was grounded twice so when I had the car running the interior had poor lighting, my voltmeter was reading at about 8, the temp needle shot up to the top, my headlights were dimmer, and on occasion my radio would flicker on and off when I hit the brakes. I added a second ground and bam she's like before I changed cables again

Rotary Weasel

Roger That Sir! I also noticed that the tach is jumping a bit on it's own while running

j_tso

iTrader: (2)

Like quick jerks ? Mine did that right before the trailing ignitor died. The trailing ignitor signals the tach 1981 cars and up.

Rotary Weasel

my trailing ignitor did indeed die prior to this, but yes the tach does jerk quickly

kymber39845

The first time I changed the motor in my 83 I didn't realize that the neg cable grounds on the firewall as well as the block. I had weird electrical gremlins for a couple of years. Even in 2 hours and 100 bucks later Mazda could not figure out the problem. I had a friend ask me where the ground was. Five minutes and 3 bucks later I had a ground strap from the firwall to the block and never had another problem out of it. It helps this time around that I had two cars side by side when I did the swap so I was able to see how they were put together. Apparently the previous owner bought new cables for the car and did not put them the way the factory job was. Now I know...LOL Glad I am not the only one who has had that problem.

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

^^Yeah mine was first grounded to the inner fender then the block. I didn't realize it was grounded to the fender when I replaced them. I had the problem for a few months and a trip accross country. Now I just rack my brain by how simple it was

kymber39845

yeah, mine, too. The inner fender is where mine was, too. (that's what I meant by firewall...sorry!)

85rx12a

that sounds like a bad ground to me as well, i had an 86 4 runner that did the same thing i looked the thing up and down to find the problem, and it finally ended up being a 3" piece of ground wire from the battery - to the fender that had been pulled in two inside of the sheathing that caused the whole mess, BTW, an easy way to check that ALT, is to take a metal object I.E. screw driver (i perfer a flat head) and place it to the back center of the ALT (where the rear bearing is) with the car running the metal object will be drawn magneticly to the ALT, if it is good. happy hunting.

speedracer_not

"Even in 2 hours and 100 bucks later Mazda could not figure out the problem.", wrote kymber....

I have never had any success with any car dealer's service department. They are all about customer relations and screwing people over. You might as well take the car to a lawyer, or a philosopher. or some other bullshit artist.

Rotary Weasel

I've checked the cables, and they are looking good, all the car's electrics work fine and were working fine til I turned the lights on that night, with the car running, the 7 was running perfectly until the lights were switched on, once that was done the volt meter made a mad dash left, without the engine running all accessories work without issues.
The battery only had enough juice to start the car once more after that and the same result occured from turning the headlights on, their was not enough power to run the accessories etc, is why they switched on and off..the alt was tested and failed..it needs a new alt and battery to boot, the optima that's in there has discharged a few times over the last year or so and would be good measure to replace that heavy thing, I have not been impressed with it's performance.
Thanks for the suggestions fellas, she'll be back on the road asap

GavinJuice

Before you go and buy a new battery, throw in the new alt and see what it does. Those optimas claim to be able to discharge multiple times. Then again if you alternator has been going out over a Length of time you could have been slowly killing your battery.

I've been using an Interstate Megatron battery for some time and it always pops my car right over. There was a post on here a while ago about what batteries everyone used. https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hlight=battery

Also a good read about battery grounds, I've posted this before. Everyone should read it... http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...TID=73496&PN=1

Rotary Weasel

well the thing is the current state of the battery, it won't currently even crank the engine at this point but powers the lights etc, so I'd have to charge it up even after the new alt goes in, and batteries aren't terribly expensive....but we'll see...if i can get a charger or jump the car

speedracer_not

if everything is fine but when you turn your headlights on, the trouble starts....and the trouble sounds like a under performing alterator....but only happens with the headlights on.....therefore you isolated the problem to the headlights....sounds like you got a something grounding out just enough to pull juice from your alternator....but not enough to burn a fuse...so unplug your headlights at the head light, and see if that's where the problem is

do this before you buy another alternator and battery!

also I assume that you haven't tried to "tidy up" the engine compartment by having the ground only run to the starter and that the ground is still connected to the left front wheel well.

Nicholas P.

iTrader: (1)

All cars batterys should be grounded to the car frame..... Most of the electronics ground the car frame because the battery does..

Just responding to the posters on pg 1.

-nick-

Nicholas P.

iTrader: (1)

That sounds to me like some battery wires are grounding out.


Ok this is what you do.

Hook a volt meter up to the battery after its charged. Then watch the battery and see if the voltage goes down while the ignition and everything is off. It sounds to me like something is draining the battery and a short.

Rotary Weasel

gaad damned...
found the problem today...
wasn't the alt, even tho napa tested it and said it was bad!!?? idiots....
wasn't the battery..the optima is pardoned
I was cleaning all the contacts today, with the alt and battery removed
I noticed some melted wiring cover coming out of the REGI terminal thats on the side of the intake manifold, so I pulled the boot off and noticed the two screws that secure the connectors were loose, esp the alt wire...so I cleaned it all up, applied some electrical tape to the bare wire, and cinched it all down good and tight...
thought to myself what the hell, reinstalled the alt and battery
the 7 started instantly, no problems, all electrical works, volt metter was reading +13-14 range...took her for a drive, no issues except the tach..the trailing ignitor is probably on the way out,I had replaced the blown ignitors with just as old but, working ones..so new ones are probably in order, also I may switch back to the stock coils on both, right now just the leading has a msd blaster, the trailing is back to stock...
either way she lives again!