need help, stranded 1700 miles form home in 87 T2
 

hey i just bought an 87 rx7 of a fellow rx7club member, and drove it 45 miles and, turned it off and it wouldnt start, still cranks fine just wont fire, when i was driving it the last 10 miles of its 45 mile trek, about 4 times it would just die and lose power but as soon as i pushed the clutch in it would start right back up and the cooling fan light came on twice for about a min or 2 and about 2 miles before it we made our final stop, all of the warning lights in the middle of the dash came on. car is completely stock except for full racing beat exhaust, any help would be greatly appreciated

my 87 n/a did something similar to this,
and it turned out the main engine GROUND wasn't snugly connected

throwing on another one couldn't hurt...

Where are you stranded... maybe a fellow rotorhead could help you out. I would if you're around mid MI, but 1700 miles puts you a bit farther than that.

The car wouldnt even crank if it were the main ground... potentially the ECU ground if its along those lines? Whats the state of charge of the battery? The alternator could have gone out, leaving the batt to try to power the coils while you were driving. Also, check between the battery clamps and terminals for corrosion.

+1 Sounds like the alternator went man.

alternator is the first thing to check definately

It does seem like a bad alt or other electrical problem but then why does it still crank ok? Check the gauge voltage. It should be 12V when you turn it on, 10+V when you crank, and 14V after it starts. Otherwise you probably have an alternator problem. Be sure to save the warranty info when you grab a new alt, since most remans are a gamble. Have the auto store test both your battery and old alt. They'll do it for free and both are easy to remove. You can probably borrow the tools at the store. You'll need wrenches, a hammer and something to pry on the alt to keep the belt tight when you bolt it back down.

ok thanx guys, you mean the world to me at this moment, ill try all of those first thing in the morning, cant stress how much i apprecitate this help, hopefully one of those suggestions works. once again, thank you very much, now that i owe a rotary fan, if somebody is every stranded within a few hundred miles from me dont hesitate to message me or call me!!! i cant stress how much i am thanking you people, and any other suggestions are completely welcome.

i just wanna get home,
josh

Oh yeah, if you're battery is still good then you can have someone with jumper cables recharge your battery. That'll give you about 30-60 minutes of juice so you can drive to an auto store. If that works then I'd say 99% you have a bad alt. If that fails you probably have a bad battery and a bad alt, or if that fails and your voltage is good then it's probably something else causing your problem.

Hmmmm..... but if the alternator went out then the thing wouldn't crank over either, it would just drain the battery till nothing happened. If it still turns over after it died, then def. NOT the alternator....... something else.

dash lights all coming on = bad alternator.... that's what happened when mine went out. BUT like I said above..... could it have flooded? I know that doesn't explain the way it started dying, but maybe the reason it won't start?

well what a wonderful time for the forum to have gone down, i stayed at a hotel that night, and couldnt figure it out in the morning and couldnt check this forum so i just put the car in storage and flew back home, i am having a auto transport company ship the car back to arkansas. oh and the car would turn over just fine, we even let it sit for a few hours and it would still not start, it would just turn over and over. does it still sound like the alt, or flooded?

Where were you stranded? What misfortune. I hope you get luck and it works out in the end, man!

i was stranded in boston, and it was raining the first half of the day, so it was pretty miserable. i really hope it gets here soon and i can get it working cuz those first 45 miles i drove were a blast, the racing beat exhaust sounds nice.

Forum search will help you if it's flooded. Pretty easy to fix.

if it was truley flooded, how long would it have to sit b4 it would unflood itself, would it be days or something, or would i just have to pull the plugs?

It can flood itself by sitting if it has leaking injectors. If you suspect flooding, pull the leading plugs and the EGI fuse, open the throttle all the way and crank the car over several times for 15 seconds or so each time. You will see and smell the fuel come out when it is turning over. Add a little oil to the leading spark plug holes on each rotor face to promote sealing. Put the plugs and EGI fuse back in and try to start the car. If it doesn't start have somebody pull you and engage the clutch in 2nd gear.

If that process doesn't work, I really doubt its flooded. It really sounds like you have an electrical issue to me. What it is, I'm not sure.

Josh

So your saying your car has a full RB system. That could lead to major problems. YOU need to port the wastegate! If you can get her running again. But straight through exhaust is a bad combo on a stock T2

well it still has mufflers and a presilencer so it isnt completely straight through, but it sounds like its flooded, but that doesnt explain why it would cut out for a sec when i was driving it, any sugestions?

Just had problems restarting my Rx7 Convertible - after new intake / exhaust and re-grounding ECU --- car acted like it was flooded ----- after two hours --- found the ECU was partrially unplugged - had not clicked it in --- check that.

Last time an alternator failed all the dash came on --- so be sure to check that.

Good Luck

Maybe you are not getting spark? Flooding didn't cause you to die or lose power while driving like you described, I just suggested that may be a reason that it does not start now.... Check the spark plug wires, the ignition coils, everything related to getting those pugs to fire up.

That would be an incredibly depressing feeling, for the 7 that you just bought to just decide not to start up....Id be so pissed off, sounds like your taking it pretty good though. :bigthumb:

ya im not too stressed cuz im sure its something dumb thats easy to fix, i was just a lil to far away from my tools and the internet when it broke, im sure it wont to hard to get it running once it get it to my shop

alt belt popped on my 88 all warning lights came on but had good batt. but wasnt so good after i turned it off when i got home and switch the belts out. but the sound of it the alts been bad and its been runnin off the batt for awhile and the batt was goin out and sparks and inj. werent firing. but thats just my 2 cents and you prb fixed it already

well its still in boston so i wont be able to fix it for about 2 weeks when it gets here. but ill try that too, thanx

Any chance it may jus be a ignition switch ?