Frogblender

(READ MY OWN REPLY FOR UPDATE)


I started up my RX-7 today to see if I could get it idling properly after installing my brand new battery. It would start up no matter what, but at 1000rpm it would just cut out. All the while the "Add Coolant" warning was on and beeping (I had drained the old coolant from the removable tank and added new coolant to the fill line previously.) Eventually it got to the point where it would die at 1000, drop down and then start idling choppily as it hit the extreme bottom of the tach; at this point I had to actually try hard in order to stall and kill it, so it was SOMEWHAT of an improvement. So finally I decide to take a bit of a risk, I leave it in neutral and slowly crawl it up to 7000 and leave it there for about a minute. I let it drop down and it falls to 500 and starts idling much better. My mom (who owned a new first-gen back in the 80's) commented that it was now idling very well, almost perfect. I left it idling for about five minutes and after shutting it off, turned it over to see if it would crank back into the perfect idling RPMs, but instead of turning over it made a very short loud noise and then shut off immediately. Now every time I try to start the car it makes the same noise and cuts absolutely silent (no engine activity at all.) Is there something here that I've blown? I've checked the fuses but I'm just going out now to double-check, otherwise I'm stumped. I hate not being mechanically-oriented

Frogblender

So by the power of Mazda magic, I go outside to check the fuses and decide "what the hey, lets turn it over." It cranks right away with absolutely NO problems and idles very smoothly at 500rpm now, and revs in neutral quite easily. What the hell? The only problem I have now is the "Add Coolant" beeping when I've filled the bloody tank, any way to shut that up? It only started after I drained it and put fresh fluid in.

darkfrost

iTrader: (1)

Which tank did you fill up? The clear overflow tank?

If so, you need to let the engine completely cool down, and open the radiator cap and fill that up. If thats full, then its likely the sensor wire has been disconnected from the top of the radiator.

Frogblender

I didn't know much about the car so I assumed the clear overflow tank was the main tank (was raised on my old Buick where it didnt exist.) Sorry to be such an idiot, I'm letting the engine cool down now and I'll give it a good shot of Prestone to shut that beeping up

1stgenNutt

iTrader: (3)

your wire to your radiator coolant level sensor is unpluged or its not grounded properly . there is a sensor on the top of your radiator that looks like a nut on the top with a wire comming out of it make sure its pluged up if its broke you can ground it to the battery on the negitive side to get the buzzer from going off..

Frogblender

Problem solved! I was with a friend and he located the broken sensor wire after we confirmed the radiator was pretty much filled to the brim with fluid. I just have it temporarily taped to the sensor cap so it'll shut up while I'm working on the car. Thanks for all your help guys!