Just bought an 85
 

Just bought an 85 rx7 with the 12a that has been sitting in a field for who knows how long. I threw a battery in it and when i try to start it clicks and all the dash lights go off. When i pull the battery terminal and put it back on it kinda resets or something. any help would be greatly appreciated this is my first rx7 and its a whole different world from my other cars.

Hey Welcome-
wow. where to start...
1) need a solid battery to crank and get wankels fired up. weak battery, prob combined with old (original??) battery cables can cause all sorts of non-starting issues. Charge it fully, clean all the posts and cables, make sure the other ends at the starter are mounted and clean. (starter is lower driver side behind motor)
2) fuel. If its been sitting an unknown amount of time, am guessing fuel is pretty far gone. Drain the tank (there is a drain plug) and start with (a) fresh gas (b) new fuel filter!! ($4 at NAPA) - located in front of the rear driver wheel
3) make sure fuel is getting to the carb: its a 4 barrel, and has view glass on both float chambers. You can see the front one. make sure it is 1/2 full of gas.
4) goes w/o saying the rad and oil need to be OK.
Others will chip in here I expect.
'luck!

Stu A
80GS
AZ

Welcome!! Would love to see pictures of the car!!

Sounds like you have a poor connection at one of the battery terminals. I would start there and make sure they car clean and tight. You will also want to ensure you have a good ground for the negative cable as well. There's one ground point on the left side strut tower and the attachment point is on the trans.

If the car has been sitting some time, you will likely need to drain the tank via the drain plug on the bottom, perform a carb rebuild, tune up, replace the vacuum lines, fresh fluids, belts, tires, brakes etc. Keep us updated with what you find and we can go from there!

Have you tried to crank it by hand first? Make sure it's not seized up, or maybe just a little TLC to get it spinning freely.

The above comments are also all the things you need to do as well.

+1 classic poor/dirty battery cable/ground connection symptom brought about by excessive oxidation due to sitting over dirt/grass surface which exposes underside of vehicle to high amounts of moisture.

+1 here. I got my car w/ a 12A from a field too and it was seized solid (but I freed it and drove the car for nearly a year with that engine so don't be too concerned if yours is, yet). Crank it by hand/with a breaker bar on the e-shaft pulley. Before I discovered that my engine was seized, I thought the starter or battery or something was dead because I was getting the same clicking sound that you described. So try turning it over by hand, and if it's stuck, there's some unseizing procedures here somewhere.

Best of luck on the new project!

Isnt seized I turned it over with just my hand before I did anything. Just wanted to pick your guys brains because I have never worked on a car like this. I'm planning to do all this stuff I just wanted to see what condition the electrical system was in. It's crazy how my foxbodies need less cranking amps than this thing. The previous owner had it since 92 and it was her second FB, her first one got ran over by a semi in front of her house. Thanks guys I'll let you know how it goes

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...5eace0ab87.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...ad463aeac8.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0c406fccb1.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b6865c3884.jpg

Couple of my other cars in the background I have a 88 T-Bird, 88 Cougar, and an 89 Daytona ES Turbo sitting behind the rx7. Doing a lot of stuff to them atm if you're interested I'll definitely share.

That's a beautiful 7, well worth saving!! Thank you for trying to save it! These cars are very simple and straightforward to work on. Not much different than nay other car really. All of the same basic principals apply to the rotary engine as they do a piston engine.

Keep the louvers!!! But check all your wiring connections. Probably something like a corroded terminal as stated before.

Nice collection, my first car was an 87 Cougar. Was on the lookout for another or a tbird for a long time but I have too many projects as it is.

I feel you on the too many projects I really cant keep up with them all. The T-Bird is getting it's rear end rebuilt and a 5 lug swap. The Cougar is completely torn down I'm going for a bare bones simple corner carver. The Daytona is just its own special nightmare. Planning on getting the rx7 started Wednesday its my first day off in weeks. I'm keeping the louvers I love them on my daytona.

So I cleaned up my grounds and tried to start the rx7. no go on that so i ran a wire to trip the starter solenoid and it kicked over. I then put a mutlimeter on it and it seems like the ignition switch is bleeding anywhere from 4-11 volts on anything put the off position. any thoughts guys? im gonna pick up a new one and see if she'll go

Looks like the car will clean up nicely. Be sure to post pictures once it's cleaned up and running!

I assume you mean you have a voltage drop across the ignition when its on. You can try pulling it out and cleaning the switch, it comes apart but you have to be careful as small parts will jump around. Or you can just soak it with electric cleaner and let it dry. Either may help and be cheaper than new. Your battery cables may be an issue as well.

yep, took the ignition switch apart and cleaned it after i posted and put it back together. It worked, but it was cracked and fell apart and the internals shot everywhere. What i meant was the solenoid trigger wire was hot jumping around between 4-11 volts when the switch was in the run position not the start position. Sorry i was a few beers in