kypraio

Hey i own a 87na and i have a huge problem with starting the car.

I was driving it normally and all, and then one day after school i got in turned the key and absolutely nothing happened. I tried some electrical components and none of them worked, my lights didn't work nothing. I did what i had to incase it was flooded but still no dice. It doesn't even sound like the engine is turning over.
I went back to my school like 3 hours later and it started first time. Ran it for a few minutes and then switched off. When i tried to start it up for the second time it did the same dead thing. Waited a bit and then the 3rd time i was lucky, so i drove it home before i took any more chances.

I thought maybe my battery is dead, but can't you usually tell when your battery is going to die? Pleaseeeeee help its spring and i miss driving my car.

-Matt

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

check and make sure your battery terminals aren't loose - mine did that to me once, and it looked tight, but when I grabbed it, it spun right around. When you turn the key do the lights dim? Does your radio come on when you turn the key to on? Does everything work right except the starter? Just things to think about.

kypraio

no nothing works, no radio, no gauge lights, no cluster lights.. nothing. It is as if you didn't even turn the key when u put it in the on position.

seven1997

iTrader: (2)

If it does it again give the starter housing a smack . If the starter turns it over you problably have a starter going bad and will need to get it replaced or rebuilt.

Our 88SE had this problem. We even took starter it to the local auto parts store and had it tested and it checked out okay, so we put it back in the car but three days later it would not turn the engine over again unless we gave the starter a wrap. We got a new starter from auotzone and have not had a bit of trouble for over 9 months.

kypraio

I also checked under the hood, the terminals are fine.

seven1997

iTrader: (2)

Whoops! I didn't notice in your post that you said you had no power to other electrical items such as lights. This doesn't sound like a starter problem but sounds like a ingnition switch problem!!

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Okay, logically to find out if it's the ignition switch, do the lights still come on when you open the door? Does the cigarette lighter work? How about headlights? That should be really telling right there. If your headlights work, then you've probably got a bad ignition switch or faulty wiring to it - if they don't, then you've probably blown a main fuse or disconnected main power to the passenger cabin somehow.

kypraio

Headlight's don't work, door lights don't work, cigarette lighter doesn't work. No electrical components seem to work. Could washing the engine bay have anything to do with this? like a bad ground or something from corrosion? I drove the car after washing the engine bay but could a ground or a wire corroded somewhere and cause this?

kypraio

bump need help, makes me down in the weather when my car doesn't even start.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

There are so many grounds on the car that having one bad wouldn't kill your entire electrical system, unless one of the two battery cables was off - second to that, you could have popped the main fuse in your engine fuse box - check it with an ohmmeter or multimeter and make sure you're getting some kind of low reading on it. Or check for continuity.

kypraio

Well tonight i got home from work and my mom told me my rx7 lights were on so she switched them off. They obviously turned on because i was fiddling with them earlier on trying to get them to work and left them in the on position. SO i went to the car and tried them again and they worked. All the lights worked, gauges, door all of them. I tried to start the car and it just made clicking sounds like a semi automatic gun shooting, no actual engine starting sounds tho. I kept trying and kept trying the lights too and i noticed they got slower and slower going up and my gauge lights kinda fluttered here and there.

SO i just stopped there.

Now any better idea's?

I checked my battery and the voltage is ok and i don't think it is a blown fuse because the problem is intermittent, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. If it was a fuse it wouldn't work at all, until i replaced it.

kypraio

very early morning bump trying to get this fixed today!

Kory_yahi

sounds like your only solution here is too call an exorsist... sorry bro, but this type of thing happens... Cars DO become posessed.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Checking your battery for voltage does not tell you what happpens under a load.
Need to take the cables off and clean them with a battery brush, also the posts on the battery. If you have another battery that will fit in the tray that you know is good try it and sees what happens. rx7doctor

sectachrome

my car did the same thing, and a new starter fixed it. my electrical stuff worked though so i dont know what the deal there is.

kypraio

I've already cleaned my battery posts and terminals with a toothbrush and baking soda and **** to get rid of any corrosion. I'm gonna have to take my battery from my lancer and test it in the rx-7 i suppose. I hope it's something that easy.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

when you crank the car and just get a clicking sound, that means your amperage of your battery is too low - jump the car off and you should be fine. Check your battery cables for interior corrosion - or tap your main fusible link with a screwdriver to see if it's a loose element

kypraio

I changed my battery with my lancer battery and it did the same thing, no luck. My lancer battery is also new so its not a problem with the battery, who knows maybe its a fuse

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Get an ohm meter and check the resistance between your negative battery terminal and chassis ground - and you probably know but just in case - negative is black with a yellow stripe and should go to the front usually - the cable runs from the black post to a ground stud beside your driver's strut tower, and then down to a stud that goes through the starter. If you get continuity (like 5 ohms or less) between the negative battery terminal and the chassis of the car, then disconnect your main fusible link - the 80amp black one in the fuse box under the hood, and ohm between the two posts, you should get almost nothing. If NOTHING works, then I'd bet that it's one of those two things.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

If you don't have a multimeter/ohmmeter, they're 20 bucks at Walmart, and worth every penny on a car that is notorious for electrical weirdness.

kypraio

okay, thanks for the help. I'll be re checking all my grounds and electrical wiring this weekend just to make sure nothing funky is going on.