Ok, this is my first RX 7 and it's been nothing but problems. It's an '84 GS that's a great little car when it's working, but those times are getting less & less. Just the other day I was warming it up & it just quit. OK, not a problem, it stalled. I go to start it up & no dice. Smell fuel. Ok, it's flooded, no problem. So I fix that. Turn it over again and it still won't start. I hook up a timing light and lo and behold, no spark. there's the problem. Well it's had this problem before & I fixed it (I thought for good) with a set of good ignitors. Is there anything that would cause these little black pieces of junk on the side of the distributor from going out every 2 weeks? I have 2 extra parts cars, but just went through my last set of ignitors. I've changed out the dizzy & had it working great for maybe two weeks in a row. Now i can't afford 2 new ignitors, and i especially can't afford them if they keep going bad. ?Any help? Thanks
Phil

 

Get an ohmmeter and check the resistance of the coils - disconnect the wires off of them first to get an accurate reading. Could be low resistance in the coils burning out the ignitors.

Sorry, don't have specs on me.. something in the back of my mind tells me about 3Kohms is a good number for a coil but I could be way off base.

 

3kohms!!

The coil should measure 1.3 ohms +/- 10%. Always measure coils when they are warm. I doubt they will measure far from that; you are saying both ignitors die at the same time? Hmmm...

-John.

 

Hey, I did say that I could be way off base

 

When a running 1stgen RX-7 dies suddenly, the first thing I think of is the engine fuse under the dash. You don't usually see both ignitors die at the same time. If it starts to run rough and you're tach is dead, too, then it's your trailing ignitor that has bit the dust. If it starts to run rough but your tach is still alive, then it's your leading ignitor. These cars are decades old and so is the factory wiring. Replace the 20 amp fuse with a 25amp or possibly (but I shudder to recommend this...) a 30 amp fuse to cure the fuse problem.

 

Why not just bridge it with a paperclip? You like starting fires in your car? Fuse is there for a reason. It's a safety feature. If it pops, something is wrong. FIx the problem and then put the correct fuse in.