Hey all, I made an account hella days ago (actually years) but i acutally took the plunge. I bought an '88 rx7 vert w/ a 5 spd and broke it the same day. Car had 136k, and has service history since 1998.

Please bear with me guys, as with any forum I did search but didn't find what I was looking for.


Anyway, I bought the car with a bad alternator (it was diagnosed at the dealer at the sellers expense, all of the warning lights came on) so I bought and installed a new alternator and a battery. Now, I can run car on a fully charged batter for maybe an hour and a half, but then the voltage meter runs low... I'm wondering what else is wrong? I checked the fuse box under the hood, all of the fuses were ok. I didn't find a fuse box in the passenger area.. so I'm at a loss. I was thinking the voltage regulator, but I haven't tested it yet. Its like the alternator kicks on and off when charging (the light will dim and brighten when its working) so I'm not sure.


My second problem is the transmission. I was driving the car home after buying it like an hour and I hear a grinding noise from the trans. Now, I can start the car in 1st if I need to move it, however the clutch pedal has no function at all. I can shift when the car is off, but when running, its like the synchros aren't aligning. I cannot force it into gear, when i try to force it, the rpms drop. The clutch res is full and isn't losing fluid, and the clutch can make contact with the fly wheel when I try to start it in gear. I did notice a large leak between the trans housing and the block, but I don't know... maybe a clutch fork or the pilot bearing? I'm going to have a shop do this one for me, but what I need to know is, what transmission can I swap into this car if it needs replacement? I've been told only s4 vert transmission are unique to only '88's but others have been swapping coupes trans into verts... advice? I have an s4 N/a coupe trans lined up, but i'm not sure if it will fit.



I really appreciate the help guys. I really want my vert to run, cause summer is here!

 

hey where you at in SF
do u want a mechanic in oakland to come check it out i know a good guy with FC's
he fixed my FC when it didn't run right here i'll pm you his #
Alot of pll on here can give hime props about it and his work.

 

I sounds to me like your clutch hydrolics are bad. Could be the master, slave, or even the hose to the slave. If the tranny was bad which it doesnt appear, you can swap in an n/a transmission, doesnt matter if its coupe, vert, s4 or s5. The only one that was different was 89-90 GTUs which had a different 5th gear but still fits all other non turbos.

 

Probably a bad master or slave clutch cyl... not a bad tranny.

Replace both the clutch slave and clutch master cylinder.

 

Awesome, thanks very much guys.

I'll keep you posted.

 

anyone got any ideas on that electrial problem?

 

Well the voltage regulator is inside the alt, so a bad alt would alt like you describe.

Where did you get the alt from? If it is a Autozone alt, chances are excellent that it is a bad alt as they typically run about 50% of them bad from the box.

Either that or it could be the wrong alt, or that the voltage plug on the top of the alt is not plugged in... but of the idiot lights are coming on, that pretty much rules out that the alt is not plugged in.

 

One thing to check is the alternator gound, as well as what Icemark says. The alt's ground is through the pivot bolt. Make sure that thing is tight.

Most likely it's the alternator that is shot. Take it to a store for a free test. If it fails, back out of their pitch to buy theirs. I went through 3 store brands in 4 months. Bit the bullet and got the mazda reman. That was a couple of years ago and have been happy since. It's more expensive, but worth not dealing with the pain of replacing alternators/batteries when they fail.

 

make sure all your grounds are good first..you'd go through every single alty you swap on if you have a bad or loose ground. Happened to me recently, turned out to be the ground that goes on the starter thru-bolt. I forgot to put it through and it was actually just making contact until it broke free one day but i found it and no problems since

 

Thanks for the advice... how many grounds are there? Where are they located? I know that there is one on the fire wall, but that it.

Thanks again!

 

you could also test the alternator with a multimeter, it should read somewhere around 14 volts

 

Hey guys, so I swapped out the clutch master and the slave, and all the lines.... still no go.

So I'm thinking its either a clutch fork.. or something.

Question is, can I swap in a Turbo II trans into my N/A vert? I found a trans on CL for $250, but I wanna be sure that this thing will bolt in without any problems.

Thanks guys!

 

Had the EXACT same symptoms when I killed my clutch disk and bearing.

 

T2 trans is not a direct swap.

You can find good used NA trannies for $100 all day long.