My car won't start, it's an 88 TII. I thought it was a small problem but I feel like I've tried everything. It was running fine and I took it over to a friends to install a dual alternator pulley. During this process the water thermosensor broke. When I got a new one, I installed it, the new dual pulley and 2 new belts and tightened and checked everything. I went to start it and it started right up but the belts were squeeling real bad. I called it a day after this because it was getting dark. When I went out again I fixed the belt squeeling by trial and error. I tried a lot of different tensions on the belt. I would sort of half way start the car and listen for squeeling but I never actaully started it. Anyway when I finally fixed the squeeling I wanted to start it and it wouldn't.. I thought at first it was the battery because it would sound like it wanted to kick over but it would just get slower and look like it was stuggling for power. But even with a jump and letting the battery charge for a little while it would not kick over.. I checked the connection to the battery and made sure it wasn't flooded. I've been out to the car after it sat for a night, checked all the connections, set up a jump start and all it would do is act like it wants to turn over but won't and sounds like it's getting weaker. Like I said before it was doing just fine and all I did was change the pulley/belts and replace a water thermosensor. Is there any chance that the sensor could have killed the ecu? Could I have hurt the alternator in any way? What could be wrong here?

 

Sure the jumper cables have a good connection?

 

So it doesn't have power? Meaning your lights don't work/are dim etc? If thats the case just take the battery and alternator down to the local parts store and have them check both of them. Most places around here do it free and I'm sure its no different there. If the car does have power but just won't turn over, check the starter connection and you might wanna have the starter checked out as well. If everything is completely dead, check the black wire next to the battery. It has a black harness connection in it and sometimes that comes loose.

 

I am new to my own 87 RX-7 but I have read here many times that if you start your RX-7 second gen and don't keep it running until it warms up, it will go through the entire warm-up process of very rich initial fuel mixture. This causes some RX-7 FC's to flood themselves after the car is moved or "almost started and then shut off" as you described.

Look up "flooding" in the search and you will find many topics on how to fix a flooded RX-7. Think about it: if it is flooded, nothing will seem wrong with it except for maybe a stench of raw fuel to the engine (smell the oil on the dipstick, too, as it can get soaked in fuel if you "almost start it" several times).

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 

i agree with Felix W. something fishy with battery.... i dont think you could kill an ECU with a thermostat and pulley install...
try new batter, or use another jumper cables. just my .02.

George
89T2

 

thanks for all of the replies, the lights just seemed to be a little dim. I haven't had any of the equipment checked but I tried stuff like different cables and the fuse method for flooding.. I'll be able to give it another shot in a few days. We'll see how it goes.

thanks again