so on the way home from work tonight i decieded to do a couple 3rd gear pulls. Once i hit about 7k i felt a slight hesitation but kept going, and it did it another 2 times so i let off and shifted into forth. I did it another time with the same results. I rarely beat on my car, but it has been a while so i figured a couple redlines wouldnt hurt. So when i got off the high way, i wanted to see if it did it in 2nd gear. But after a pull all the way to 8k it felt fine. I only have about 6k miles on the spark plugs.. thats the only thing i can think of that might do it. only thing done to the car is a gutted cat and 2.5 in cat back. any help is apperciated.

Nick

 

check timing, spark plug condition, spark plug cable condition (make sure you are not using crappy spark plug cables like Nology ones) and that the coils are grounded

 

its plugs I bet. Have you flooded your car out recently? I've had plugs go to **** on me with way less mileage than that due to flooding

 

i have never flooded the car that i know of. its always started no problems. could be my wires. they're kind of old. ill get some new ones and see if it helps. ill pull the plugs and check them too. should i clean the plugs while i have them off? if so, how should i do that. carb cleaner.. wd40?

 

I use carb cleaner and a wire brush.

 

i use a wire brush to clean in the grooves. a flat surface and sandpaper to clean the face. then i spray it off with carb cleaner and let dry.

it makes a big difference or at least i think it does, having clean spark plugs. with all the oil burning gas flooding high rpm hell we give them.

 

Does it help to advance your timing a little or is it best to keep it set as factory?

O and if your plug wire are old might as well get new ones and new plugs at the same time, then borrow a timing light if you dont have one and set your timing....

 

prolly a newbie question, but how do i set my timing. i just put new ngk plugs and wires on today and its still doing it. lmk
thanks
Nick

 

I had a similar hestitaion in my T2. After grounding my coils I haven't noticed it. Just run a 10 or 8 gauge wire from each of your coil packs to the battery. Personally relying on the chassis for a ground isn't the best design, especially after 15-20 years.

 

which wire/plug on the coil pack do i need to ground? im not real good with all this electronic stuff so any help is apperciated

Nick

 

The first thing I usually do on any RX-7 I get is buy a bunch of braided grounding straps and start grounding EVERYTHING... chassis to frame (in 2 places usually), battery neg to frame, Alternator chassis to frame... There's nothing overkill about grounding your 12v system. I found that on an old car like ours, good grounding points can solve a LOT of little gremlins... Its a cheap mod too!

 

There's no reason to just randomly add grounds. The stock points have worked fine for me after 20 years. I need a regrounding (not badly), but when I do it's going to be using the stock points. Hell, the stock points are "overkill". If they weren't then there's no way 20 year old dirty/rusty grounds would work worth a damn.

 

here are the things that I thought of:

(as above) wires and plugs
your Auxilary ports not opening
your tps crapping out on you

check all your fuses first.

download the FSM from the FAQ and find the wiring diagram and trace the CLUSTER wires and diagnose it properly ( not blindly like you're doing now).

check to make sure your fuelpump is getting enough power

check/change fuel filter


come back once you have checked and replaced these things ( search for Aux. port and TPS info)

 

My point is.. better safe than sorry for a couples bucks worth of ground straps... I've seen grounding fix too many things on this forum.. Why not.

 

might as well throw grounds in there too but to an extent. Check out the FSM and find out where all the grounds are and check them. Replace any that seem to be ripped or loose or just not right.

 

hey guys, thanks for all the imput. with school and work, i cant get to it right now, but i will let you know when i figure it out.

Nick