Nu2thgame

Hey guys I just bought an 86 rx7 for a cool grand. I bought when I went home for christmas and drove back here to Tennessee with no problems. I runs very well and the body is in good shape. All had to do when I picked it up was change out a siezed alternator. However, I still have a couple of problems.

1. My parklights won't come on. They only come on when I turn on the headlights. I did a search and read where it was possibly the switch. Any other ideas?

2. My blower motor will not work. I changed the relay with used ones and still no go. I hooked the motor up to a direct power source and it worked. I have a new a/c and heater control unit that goes in the dash. I did a search and I read it was possible the logicon. What is the logicon?

3. My shifter feels like crap. I think I know what's wrong with it but if you guys have any tips let me know. I 'm gonna take it apart today and see if all the are loose.

4. I get a whining sound from the transmission. The clutch engages fine but it seems to engage pretty low to the ground. I will have to adjust it.
Is it the throwout bearing?
Is it because it needs fluid?

The car sit for about a month so I had to blow it out on the highway. Is there any other things I should consider changing.


WES

vaughnc

bumpity...

Sounds like a switch to me. Do they come on if you "jiggle the handle" in the parkling light position?

Shifter is loose? Could be worn linkage or (in my case) the trans needed new syncros.

We're assuming you've already done the 60K mile service/tuneup right?

Hope this helps some

Evil Aviator

It's probably the switch. However, unless you drive on military installations, it doesn't matter if your parking lights will not come on without the headlights. I wouldn't bother with it, but if you really want to you can see the Factory Service Manual for testing procedures. The FSM is on this site under How To's / Manual.
http://fc3s.org/

The blower motor is located under the passenger side dash. It's probably just dirty. Take it apart, clean it out, lubricate it, and re-install it. If it still doesn't work, then it may be the logicon, which is a fancy name for the air conditioning control unit next to the stereo.

If it's just a sloppy shifter, note that this is not a big deal, and most of my racing friends don't even bother with the shift bushings. Personally, this drives me nuts, so I always keep them fresh.
http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/shiftbsh.htm

It the shifter moves back and forth a little when you are on and off the throttle, then you may have a bad transmission mount.

That's rather difficult to diagnose over the internet. Basically, a bad throwout bearing will usually only whine when the pedal is pressed in and released, while a transmission with low fluid may whine all the time. I think it's best just to replace the transmission fluid with a good synthetic gear oil and see what happens.

Unless you have the service records from the previous owner, I would change the engine oil, transmission oil, differential oil, fuel filter, brake fluid, spark plugs, coolant, and thermostat. Check all of the hoses, belts, air filter, brake lines, fuel lines, and spark plug wires, and replace anything that is in poor condition. Also note that the 86-88 pulsation dampers (located on the end of the fuel rail) tend to degrade with age, leaking fuel on the engine, causing a major engine fire. I would check the pulsation dampers at least every month, or just replace them now if you can afford it.

Recommendations:
Engine Oil - Castrol GTX 20w50 for warm climates, 10w30 for colder climates (See the Factory Service Manual for temperature ranges)
Transmission Oil - Red Line MT-90. Other synthetic oil will also work just fine, but I would avoid Mobil One, which has a bad reputation for eating the synchros in the transmission.
Differential Oil - Red Line 75w90
Spark Plugs - NGK from your local generic auto parts store which sells them for about 1/4 the price of the Mazda Dealership
Air Filter - K&N Drop-In Filter, or K&N Universal Filter (aka "Cone" filter) with the HKS Adapter required for 86-88 RX-7 models.
Thermostat - Only use a Mazda brand thermostat. The aftermarket thermostats are junk.
Coolant - Use anything except the "orange" extended life coolant, which will eat your seals. See the Factory Service Manual for the correct procedure for changing the coolant.
Gas - Your car is rated for a minimum octane of 87. Use a higher octane if your engine is knocking of if you think the knock sensor is detuning your engine. Otherwise, using a higher octane pump gas is a waste of money, and will offer NO performance increase, contrary to popular belief.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Might want to check out my "new owner info" page. See the bottom of my signature for links.

Nu2thgame

Thanks a lot guys. Here is a news flash.

Went to the carwash to wash the engine off so when I do go to replacing parts it would be fairly clean. This what I learned today.

Blower update: When I started the car after washing the engine bay the blower was blowing full blast. I was like "heelllo." It went off after about 30 seconds though and never came back on.


Shifter update: I took of the lever boot for a look and noticed that the 3 screws holding the shifter in were tight. However, the little ball part of the shifter was just moving all over the place inside that housing. What does that mean? New shifter? New Housing.


WES

Nu2thgame

Oh yea what fuse goes to the horn? I replaced most of them but no horn. I comes on when I redlined it though.

I haven't done a search on this yet but I was wondering if anyone had a fuse box diagram for the 86 base. I picked one up a the junkyard but I want to make sure it is the right one.


WES

Canadian Rotary Man

sounds like u just need new shifter bushings.
they're like 10 bux from mazda

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

The horn problem is most likley due to bad solder joints in the CPU. A search on "cold solder CPU" will turn up what you need.

Evil Aviator

Yeah, it sounds like a dirty blower motor. Does it come on if you give the blower motor a whack from below?

Sounds like blown bushings. See that link I posted earlier. There are probably some broken bushings down in there, and you can fish them out with needle nose pliers.

The redline horn is different than the steering wheel horn that you use to honk at other people. I'm not sure which horn you are talking about, but you will find everything in the Factory Service Manual. The fuse diagram is on page 50-12, but you will need to look up the individual systems separately. Also note that the main harness diagrams (Engine Harness, Front Harness, etc.) are the very last ones in the manual, but ironically I have found that it is easiest to look at these first.

Nu2thgame

Ok I just changed the logico and now it comes on but it's only on high.

What do you guys think now? Is this logicon bad to?


WES