ocilator
 

does anyone know what the headlight ocilator does??? if you think i am a tard for asking this, please go easy.

I thought it was a device used on motorcycle headlights to switch between high and low continously during the day.

On our cars, maybe they call whatever turns off the low beams when you turn on the high beams an ocillator....though I thought it was controlled with just a relay.

they use it for the warning lights somehow

I don't know what it is supposed to do (something about backing up the dash electronics), but sometimes it can be responsible for a high pitched screeching sound that seems to be coming from under the dash but is very hard to locate. This problem nearly drove me nuts and kept me from driving the car for a few weeks, until I figured out (with the help of someone on this forum, I think it was Carl) that the ocillator was the problem. To get rid of the screech all I needed to do was unplug the occilator near the left front headlight and it went away. The amazing thing was that when I plugged the ocilator back in, the sound didn't come back and still hasn't - a pretty cheap fix.

Ray

Seems to be connected to the coolant level sensor, oil level sensor, as well as the buzzer. Just an opinion here, but the oscillator is probably responsible for sending the signal (or pulse) to the buzzer, which emits that high pitched sound. An oscillator is a device which will take a continous signal (ex 5V DC), and turn into an alternative signal (ex 5V AC), which would be sent to the buzzer. I'm pretty sure this is right actually, been looking at that electrical diagram long enough. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

Oscillator is now out of car. OMG there's more rust on the connectors than there is copper! I'm hoping this oscillator thing is causing the screech ray green was talking about, this topic is what sparked my interest in this thread. The wires just broke off the connectors when I was taking it out! Water probably gets on it often because of its location. God I hope this solves the screech thing, I've been trying to fix this screech thing for months!! Thank you ray green!!

Just finished opening the oscillator case. There's a printed circuit board inside (glued at the bottom of the plastic case by the way). The board has literally rotted away, it's got rust everywhere! Hope the one in my parts car is OK.

The metal bracket that holds the oscillator to the car is not ground, so don't waste time cleaning it.

to my suprise, a week ago when i was looking at my ocillator, trying to figure out what its function was, i noticed mine was also FULL of water!!!!!! i shook it out and put it back in the car. looks like i will be removin it to inspect the breadboard. thank you also ray green!!!!

Well actually it was Carl, or maybe that crazy guy Sperling, than figured it out. But that sreeching is something else, eh? My dogs still won't get in the car.

Ray

i havent had the screeching?! wonder what causes it???:eek:

Screeching is gone!!! I can't beleive a stupid black box could cause so many headaches! I just cleaned up the PCB, resoldered some rusty connections, cleaned the contacts and NO SCREECHING! This should be archived or something...

Hey ray green, my wife wouldn't even get in my RX7 because of that screeching!

The screeching is really like nothing I've ever heard before, worse than either the warning buzzer or my wife's screeching. It's definately a noise that was not designed to happen normally and is so loud and irritating that nobody except a deaf person could be in the car more than a few minutes, and even a deaf person would feel the sonic vibrations. I had to drive my back up car (an MP5, not too shoddy) for the few weeks it took me to figure it out (with Carl's help of course). In fact it was while searching for a solution to the screeching problem that I first became aware of this forum. I still don't know what actually causes the screeching however, only that unplugging the ocilator makes it go away.

Bringing this back from rx7club purgatory. :lol:


I'm currently cutting out all the unused wiring from my stock harness and this lil oscillator box is now on the chopping block. According to this thread it's just for the low level coolant and oil minders, since I'm not using either would I be correct in assuming that I can toss it with the rest of it?

thats correct! i made this post when i was not sp up on my RX-7 knowledge and shortly after i joined the forum. you learn a lot in 7 years!

for reference this is the oscillator, located behind the battery. its function is to control the warning buzzers for low coolant and low oil levels:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/DSC09871.jpg

Awesome, then into the parts bin it goes.

I've only been here for 4 years and I've gone from not even knowing what a rotary was to being able to do anything FB related thanks to the people in this community and of course, thank you too SEARCH button. :rofl:

Yep, I threw it away when I gutted my harness down.

i'm not running it either. although the comp oil pan doesn't have a level sensor. the add coolant stuff isn't hooked up yet

Has it only been 7 years? My how time flies.

And yes, my oscillator is still intact and fully functional, thank you. Since 2003 I've had one or two screeching recurrences, both during cold wet weather, both fixed by the unplug and plug procedure. I keep my oscillator clean, although not as clean as Dave's.

I'm keeping mine. Along with the X wheels, Nikki and fan clutch, it kind of makes the car, in my opinion.

And, according to Dave, "its function is to control the warning buzzers for low coolant and low oil levels". Sounds like a good thing to me.

Nice work Dave!:

https://i605.photobucket.com/albums/...e/DSC09871.jpg

PS, I did a little research, it turns out my first post on RX7club.com eight years ago was about the oscilator. Notice I hadn't yet gotten it clear what the differences were between a GSL and a GSL-SE (I called my tan 84 GSL an SLE). Check it out:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hlight=screech

Ray, it may be the cleanest part of the whole car :)..i think my first post was about what kind of oil guys use in their 7...that was a hard lesson learned asking such a question :)

Castrol 20-50W, add a bottle of Gold Eagle Stop Leak or Lucas Oil Stabilizer with each change if you are having smoking or dowel O ring leakage.

lmao, yeah those threads were (and still are) nuts!

no idea what mine was, that was 2+ hacks ago

I'm gonna' start a post your first post post, so we all can see how far we've come. Do a little research and find yours, can't be any worse than me calling my GSL an SLE.

I don't believe I have seen an ocilator in my car, where exactly is it located? PO probably removed it, I still need to clean up the rats nest after his lame removal of the air pump.