Cidley's RX7

Happy belated Spring everyone!

I noticed last year, throughout the summer, that as time wore on, when I turned the key on the 7, the starter would "miss" ignition, with increasing failures to the point where on average I may have to turn the key 10 to 20 times before it would start.

I could hear the starter motor spin, but it wouldn't "catch". I took it off, and did 2 of the 3 fsm tests on the solenoid, which seemed to pass ok. I believe this is the original starter. Recently I was thinking maybe it's the battery, which has a low cold crank rating of 400 something. Maybe if I swapped in an optima battery with it's 700+ cold crank amps would help, thinking that not enough power is getting to the solenoid to kick it out?

Last week when I tried starting it up for the first time since last fall, it just wouldn't catch, so I hooked up my battery charger for a couple hours. When I tried, it caught on the second key turn. Coincidence?

But now, I'm wondering if maybe the coils may have something to do with it? I think they're the original coils as well, and I had some arcing on the trailing I think, and swapped them around early last year.

Thoughts?

Scott1982

Have you replaced battery cables? Some of these corrode and they are not expensive to swap out.

Scott

slow5oh

This seems like an obvious thing to check to me, but ill throw it out there anyways. Have you checked the flywheel? Broken/missing teeth on fly flywheel will cause this, as will messed up teeth on the bendix gear. the only other possibility is that the starter bendix is not popping out. if thats the case then its most likely a faulty starter. If there is enough power to turn the starter, there is enough to kick the gear out.

Kentetsu

Naw, the starter just isn't getting the juice it needs. I went through this a couple of years back, exactly as you described. Cleaning the connections between battery and started helped a little, but replacing the positive cable solved the issue completely.

The coils have nothing to do with the starter.



.

slow5oh

well, I certainly trust your judgement on these cars. These starters must be different than the average ford v8 starter (what im used to dealing with). on those old v8 starters, if it spins, the gear will pop out. if it doesnt, it needs a new starter.

either way, if your battery cables are in the kind of condition mine are, you probably need new ones anyways.

Rx Seven

iTrader: (12)

Not trying to hijack your thread but i have a couple question for you (or anyone) since you've been working on your starter if you don't mind.

Which post on the solenoid does the positive battery cable attach too? Does it connect to the post that has the wire connection to the starter or the post not attached to anything? Also does the ground wire from the battery attach too the starter bolt facing the front of the car or the bolt right behind the oil filter?

Carl

iTrader: (2)

I'll throw out another possibility. My symptoms were similar to what you describe. The starter wouldn't seem to "catch". I kind of heard a "zing" when I tried the starter. It was also very sporadic. Worked most of the time, only sometimes not working. Of course, happened at most inconvenient times, like heading to grid for the start of a race.

Anyway, the problem ended up being a loose starter gear on the flywheel. The ring gear is a friction fit (shrink fit more likely) on the flywheel. Mine came loose somehow. It appears that most of the time it would wedge itself enough sideways to hold and start the cars. Every once in a while though it wouldn't.

I finally found it when I had the starter off following one of the incidents and I was able to spin the ring gear with my finger (engine obviously wasn't turning over with one finger). Had to pull the tranny to push it back in and tack it in place. I might have been able to tack it through the starter hole, but I wasn't confident that I could get it lined up well enough.

This probably isn't your problem, but it is worth a look. I bought two starters before I figured out the problem (if I were a little smarter it probably would have only been one starter).

Carl

Cidley's RX7

Thanks for all the posts guys! Well, I decided to pull the starter off once again, and test the solenoid with a Sears battery charger.
All three tests passed, so then I thought's I'd clean the wire contacts nice, and reinstall...well numbnutz here torqued the battery cable nut too tight and off goes the nice copper post, so I'm searching for a starter/solenoid now, hopefully local.

It's been suggested that a starter from a FC would work, and be lighter. Your input?

Thanks!
Numbnutz

LongDuck

You can buy the solenoid separately from Victoria British (or Black Dragon Auto if that's their 'new' name). I replaced mine about 4-5 years ago, and it fixed the issue, but seems to have resurfaced.

I'm thinking more along the lines that it's the main power cable (+) that needs to be replaced in my situation, as I have exactly what the OP has described. I only have to key it over about 2-3 times, but it's starting to get annoying (no pun intended).

Once again, thanks to the board for sharing knowledge - it's nice to know I'm not the only one suffering with this, -T.

74RX4

iTrader: (10)

+ wire goes to terminal without braided wire. - wire goes under head of long starter bolt.
Smaller gauge Black/yellow wire (from ignition switch) with female spade terminal goes to male spade terminal on starter.

Cidley's RX7

Picked up a Mazda reman from Ontario Mazda for $160CAN. Surprise surprise, all seems good now! Cheers!