I have an 82 mostly stock.

I have had a hard time starting it on mornings when it is raining out. Today it started raining, and when i was going to leave work my car wasnt even trying to start. I pulled plug wires and determined I was getting no spark.

Then I pulled the leading coil wire off the distributor cap, and ran the same test. it had plenty of juice. The rotor and distributor cap showed signs of wear, but no broken areas or areas that looked to bad. I tried cleaning up contact points, but still had no luck.

So I have voltage coming off the coils but nothing off the plug wires.

Sound like the igniters.

I also saw a lot of chalky buildup in the trailing wire connections. It appears to me that they dont function very much.

Any input or advice? The car is broken down at work, so I have limited tools and time.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks to Jerry (AKA Rotaryhaven) I should have her back on the road by tomorrow.

 

That's great to hear. What was the solution?

 

Bought a new sprak?

 

Ahh. I was hoping it was the igniter, but it appears that was not the case. I have done alot of diagnostic work, and this is what I am coming up with.

I am getting powerful voltage out of the coils, but very weak spark to the plugs. After hours of trying different things. I removed the distributor cap, rotor, and aluminum cover. Now I could see the vacuum actuated magnets. I turned it over; and the spindle was spinning, but the vacuums were not actuating. They remained in the same spot.

I tried pinching the hoses and moving the trailing and leading vacuums in and out. I didnt find any obvious leaks. They became stiff when i pinched the hose, this leads me to believe they are not leaking internally. When i opened and closed them I could hear the noise coming from inside the carburator.

I recently rebuilt my carb, and hand made the lower gaskets. I am starting to think they may be the problem.

Can anyone make some sense out of this? Does my assumption sound right. Maybe I lost my vaccuum to that port, because the gaskets failed.

 

Final update for the day.

I made a mistake this carb was not rebuilt anytime recently, and it had manufactured gaskets. I must have forgotten about the first time I dealt with the Carb.


One of the first things I did when this all started, was check and replace vacuum hoses.

I rechecked everything, and then I went to remove the ignition vac line. I got a few drops of fuel on me. I could tell it was not coming from the top half, but the Acc. Pump is possible, but it works perfectly. Overtime I knew there was a slight weep, because I could see the grimy stain growing around the base + smell Gas a bit.

I decided to rip that sucker off of there and get a good look at her. I went to split her open, and I noticed the 4 corner screw holding the two halves together were not very tight. Like a 5year old tightened them down. Then when I opened her up, the gasket crumbled. I could tell it was worn flat, and probably developed gaps.

I know this was a problem, but anyone think this could be the cause of the ignition failure.

I would hate to spend more money on the carb right now, and then still have to sink more money into the ignition.

I noticed the ignition vac port on the carb ports were inside the barrel itself. Shot it out w/carb cleaner, and it was clear.

Is there any other components on the associated vac system that could have failed?

It looked like it was coming from the center gasket.

 

Just a few details to help me figure this out.

Some of the tests I made to narrow down the possibilities.

-Tried with jumper cables to running vehicle
-Pulled/cleaned all spark plugs several times (deflood-clean)
-Turned over with trailing plug removed One rotor at a time (to confirm compression) - - - Was very powerful
-Had a friend turn over with coil wire grounded - - - Very powerful
Held in hand and was very powerful shocks
-Had a friend turnover with spark plug wire grounded - - -very weak
-Held spark plug wire in hand and almost no shock at all
Connected a sparkplug to the wire grounded it, and I could see it spark but seemed weak

This might be pretty important - I disconnected the fuel supply line and turned it over ALOT without pressing the gas and I am pretty sure no fuel left the bowls

If i hit the gas the Acc pump works fine

I also have a G-2 fram fuel filter under the hood and the gas is clean, but never really fills the filter.

The fuel was at mid level in the bowls.

I checked all fuses

I checked for 12volts at the igniters - all was good

Tested all spark plugs with same results.

I probably tested it 20 more ways to get to where I am.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

I need to make a decision to sink money in it, find another way to work, keep taking my wifes car till she snaps, or save money for a more upto date car until i can fix this and use it just for recreation

 

Check the quality of your ground connection to the engine, @ the starter, the strut tower, and the battery... poor engine ground makes for poor spark.

 

82 rx7s have that funny ignition switch were you hold to crank and release for the coils to spark. which means if you are holding the switch all the way forward just cranking and cranking its never going to start.

sorry didn't have time to read everything u have done but try jumper cable from positive side of battery to positive side of coils

 

Lets run it down a bit.

1. You've got good spark from the coils, this means the coils and ignitors are good. It also means
the dizzy is signalling the ignitors. All is good.

2. The vac advance is not the issue. It can be disconnected and not affect starting.

3. You verified you have weak spark. Its one of 4 things; bad rotor; bad cap; bad wires and/or bad ground.

If I were you I would replace the cap and rotor and make sure the grounds are good and then
try it. If its still weak, get new wires. The fact that this only happens when it rains indicates a
leak to ground somewhere. Start the engine at night and watch for fireworks under the hood.
Probably a bad cap that has cracks. The moisture makes it easier to go to ground.

Stop looking at your carb and solve the spark issue. Your playing with too many variables and
just digging a deeper hole to climb out of.

 

Hmmm, I'd like to see documentation on this.

 

You got bad plug wires. Rain + bad leaky plug wires = voltage leaks and hard starts or no starts. I'd change the plug wires for sure and the cap and rotor maybe. If they are old and kinda worn looking, might as well.

As for the 81-82 switch, I never encountered that with my 81. I think you're talking about a 79 which had points and indeed did have two different circuits. One for cranking with full voltage to points and the other circuit in the ON position for reduced voltage through the ballast resistors. I've never heard of an 81-82 car requiring this as they all had electronic ignition by then. Then again, Mazda used the parts bin a lot for these cars.

 

Running like a brand new car.

I replaced all the main gaskets in the carburetor, cleaned it, new floats, ACC pump, and some other small items.

I replaced the Rotor, distributor cap, wires, plugs, and battery terminals.

I cleaned everything thoroughly including inside dizzy, grounds, electrical connections, and surrounding engine bay area. I put dielectric grease on all wire connections.

I adjusted the carb mixture/throttle.

The car starts up strong without a need to warm up. It is super quite now and hums. It shifts more like a normal car. Feels like it is running more consistent. Before it sounded loud, and ran really fast. It had power surges, but at times was sluggish.

Is it possible i am running it a bit leans, and not getting the same torque? I just preset it to about 2.5 turns out. I tried to get it idling at 750 (tach reading) and not stall, by changing the throttle and mixture screw slightly.

I think you guys were right about wires. I actually bought all this stuff and did the work before I read your posts, but thanks. You guys probably would gotten me on the road pretty quickly.

After working 10 hours on a 7-day a week schedule, I did all this in about 2.5 hours with basic tools.

 

What a great feeling, aye?! Good on ya.

 

it is sluggish. no torque. seems like it is running perfect, but something holding it back. Could the flooding have plugged the cat? Timing be off, or mix/throttle ratio messed up.

All the adjustments were made while the car wad not running to spec. Can anyone give me a step by step to time and adjust carb with primitive tools.

If tools are needed please keep in mind I plan to buy it from harbor freight and want to keep the total below $50. (ie. vacuum pump, timing light, rpm gauge, etc.)

Could also be secondary not opening, but how to test easily. I know they work cause i held them open by accident and the engine took off. (Right up to red line)

 

Lol at this thread. Confirms weak spark, takes carb apart.

 

Lol . . at a guy taking the time to point that out. Pretty much a sucka just harping on a guy looking for help.

I am trying to find a tutorial on mechanical secondaries. I was hand feathering throttle and working in secondaries.

It had tons more power.

I have the carb off now, and I am just trying to find the best way to wire the secondarys to the main linkage. Anyone got a good link.

 

Leave it to a canadian to be a complete D!@k Head. HAHA

 

Jeff Sprak would take no flack. His wife would take no mean.

 

Pretty much any piece of wire you have around. Even bread twist ties work, but I have little faith in their longevity.

 

Looking for help and taking your car apart with no idea what is going on are two completely different things.

Maybe your high tech diagnostic tests fried your brain.

This is actually the dumbest thing I have ever read on the internet. Maybe you should consult a professional next time.

 

Alright newb, keep it down in here. You're making a lot of noise for us trying to help.

I hope you're as gracious when you post a thread and someone berates you in it.

 

Maybe you need to get out more... not even in the same galaxy with some of the dumb things I've read on the internet.

 

The Mechanical secondaries Modification worked great. Now I have all the power back. I appreciate the help. I work an average of 70 hours a week, so when things crop up with the car I usually only have a matter of a few hours to get it right.

Thanks again.

 

I'm happy to hear you've got it right! It's a great day for driving.