Problem with Electical System? Strange Problem!
Thread Starter
GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
Problem with Electical System? Strange Problem!
Hi guys
I'm experiencing some strange problems:
1. When the key is turned to position 2 (before ignition), the warning lights in the central clock warning panel SOMETIMES come up SOMETIMES don't - all lights (apart from handbrake) would go off once the engine is started, which is normal. In fact, most of the times when I turn the key to position 2, only handbrake light will come on, but other lights tend to come up in a hot day or in the afternoon (no kidding).
2. My power windows (both sides) will sometimes "die" for no reason - it would normally come back alive after 1 or 2 days, and it has not been working for the past 3 days. Whan I say "die", I mean there is simply no response what-so-ever when the switches are pressed - and the power window switch has been turned on at all times.
Can you guys help me interprate what's wrong? Thanks!
P.S. the radiator warning light (and buzz) is driving me nuts too - my car has been sent to Mazda twice now (and a total of NZD$400 spent), but the light still came on very briefly the other day. It seems to happy when it's hot or after intensive turbo usage. As far as I know, Mazda has flushed / bleed the system, tightened all the belts, checked all the radiator wiring and most importantly, replaced the water level sensor! WHAT IS GOING ON! GOD!
I'm experiencing some strange problems:
1. When the key is turned to position 2 (before ignition), the warning lights in the central clock warning panel SOMETIMES come up SOMETIMES don't - all lights (apart from handbrake) would go off once the engine is started, which is normal. In fact, most of the times when I turn the key to position 2, only handbrake light will come on, but other lights tend to come up in a hot day or in the afternoon (no kidding).
2. My power windows (both sides) will sometimes "die" for no reason - it would normally come back alive after 1 or 2 days, and it has not been working for the past 3 days. Whan I say "die", I mean there is simply no response what-so-ever when the switches are pressed - and the power window switch has been turned on at all times.
Can you guys help me interprate what's wrong? Thanks!
P.S. the radiator warning light (and buzz) is driving me nuts too - my car has been sent to Mazda twice now (and a total of NZD$400 spent), but the light still came on very briefly the other day. It seems to happy when it's hot or after intensive turbo usage. As far as I know, Mazda has flushed / bleed the system, tightened all the belts, checked all the radiator wiring and most importantly, replaced the water level sensor! WHAT IS GOING ON! GOD!
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,932
Likes: 6
From: Surrounded by Sebey parts, Rhode Island
Take apart your switches and clean the contacts with sandpaper. I found this thread while searching to figure out why my windows weren't working well, and figured I'd give you the answer that worked for me. My windows were working poorly or not at all, and after I took apart both switches and cleaned the contacts, they are both working great.
HAILERS
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 20,563
Likes: 27
From: FORT WORTH, TEXAS,USA
About the Warning lights.......it's most likely a cold solder joint on the Warning light assy that causes the lights to Not all come on with the key to ON/engine off.
You can prove this to yourself. Remove the screws that hold the warning light assy in place. Then pull the warning light assy out towards you but leave the electrical plug on it. You can't pull it out very far, but not to worry.
Now put the key to ON/engine off. IF the lights don't all come on, then wiggle the plug on the warning light assy and see if they will now come on. If they do, then there are cold solder joints on the jack of the warning light assy. There's a *how to* on this forum somewhere.
IF they do all light up, then STILL wiggle the elect plug/harness and see if they go out. The fix is still resoldering of the warning light assy's jack.
That is a VERY common problem on the RX-7.
The low coolant light/buzzer.......... they are triggered anytime the sensor in the radiator does not have coolant covering it for over 20seconds. Why you have no coolant over it is a problem that can't be determined from here. IF you have a coolant leak somewhere, then that is what is causing the low coolant that triggers the light/buzzer.
It's also possible the overflow tank has no water in it. That tank should have fluid in it up to the *mark* on the side of that tank.
What happens is the water in the engine gets hot when runniing and expands and ........coolant flows from the filler neck into the overflow tank. Then you turn the engine off and over a period of time as the coolant cools off in the engine, the coolant in the overflow tank gets *sucked* back into the engine. I'm saying that the small hose b/t the filler neck and the overflow tank has to be tight at both ends and cannot have a crack or loose fitting at either end or the fluid won't return back into the engine/radiator.
Someday unscrew the sensor in the radiator. Leave the single wire connector on it. Now fill the radiator til water is up to the hole where the sensor was. NOW turn the key to ON. Wait about twenty to thirty seconds or so, and the buzzer will go off. Now while the buzzer is going off, place the sensor in the hole where the water is. The buzzer will go off fairly quickly. Just showing you how the thing works, nothing else. Water has to cover the sensor for it to make the buzzer go off is all I'm saying.
Also, if the buzzer is going off, you can put a ground on that single wire going to the sensor and the buzzer will go off as long as that wire is put to ground. Like pull the wire of the sensor off it's bullet connector. Then put a ground to the bullet connector with a piece of spare wire you have.
You can prove this to yourself. Remove the screws that hold the warning light assy in place. Then pull the warning light assy out towards you but leave the electrical plug on it. You can't pull it out very far, but not to worry.
Now put the key to ON/engine off. IF the lights don't all come on, then wiggle the plug on the warning light assy and see if they will now come on. If they do, then there are cold solder joints on the jack of the warning light assy. There's a *how to* on this forum somewhere.
IF they do all light up, then STILL wiggle the elect plug/harness and see if they go out. The fix is still resoldering of the warning light assy's jack.
That is a VERY common problem on the RX-7.
The low coolant light/buzzer.......... they are triggered anytime the sensor in the radiator does not have coolant covering it for over 20seconds. Why you have no coolant over it is a problem that can't be determined from here. IF you have a coolant leak somewhere, then that is what is causing the low coolant that triggers the light/buzzer.
It's also possible the overflow tank has no water in it. That tank should have fluid in it up to the *mark* on the side of that tank.
What happens is the water in the engine gets hot when runniing and expands and ........coolant flows from the filler neck into the overflow tank. Then you turn the engine off and over a period of time as the coolant cools off in the engine, the coolant in the overflow tank gets *sucked* back into the engine. I'm saying that the small hose b/t the filler neck and the overflow tank has to be tight at both ends and cannot have a crack or loose fitting at either end or the fluid won't return back into the engine/radiator.
Someday unscrew the sensor in the radiator. Leave the single wire connector on it. Now fill the radiator til water is up to the hole where the sensor was. NOW turn the key to ON. Wait about twenty to thirty seconds or so, and the buzzer will go off. Now while the buzzer is going off, place the sensor in the hole where the water is. The buzzer will go off fairly quickly. Just showing you how the thing works, nothing else. Water has to cover the sensor for it to make the buzzer go off is all I'm saying.
Also, if the buzzer is going off, you can put a ground on that single wire going to the sensor and the buzzer will go off as long as that wire is put to ground. Like pull the wire of the sensor off it's bullet connector. Then put a ground to the bullet connector with a piece of spare wire you have.
Thread Starter
GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
Thanks guys, after a bit of searching and researching, which I should have done before posting, I realised that I'm probably facing some different issues here - please tell me wether you would agree:
1. Power window: it is probably a bad connection / harness somewhere inside the drives door, or a bad switch, like $100T2 has suggested. I'm going to take the door apart and look at them one by one till I find the problem.
2. Warning lights and other electrical issues: it is most likely to be a cold solder joints problem in the CPU - I know it could be a bad connector problem behind the warning unit itself, like HAILERS has said, however, I do have a few other little problems that I think might lead to the CPU. For example, when the engine is on and the passenger door is opened, there should be a buzz right? The buzz in my car sometimes comes on sometimes don't. Also, when I first bought my car, the horn didn't work - every time I press the horn all I hear is a "click" from somewhere, which I now know is probably a relay trying to work. The problem disappeared after a while and has never come back though. All in all, I think I'm going to take out the main board in the CPU box and see what is going on and may try re-solder some of the connections.
P.S. I have also had a aftermarket alarm installed, which I can see the guy has tapped some wires into the CPU from the alarm unit. I wonder what he has done there.
3. Coolent buzz and warning light - honestly I have given up the problem - I mean the mazda dealer here has looked into the issue for me twice and even replaced the water level sensor. I may look into the overflow tank and hose again though - a very good point made by HAILERS, but I would think that mazada guys has already checked that for me.
Please let me know what your thoughts are.
By the way, the car is a 85GT-R, its a japanese import so the driver is on the right hand side.
Thanks
Chris
1. Power window: it is probably a bad connection / harness somewhere inside the drives door, or a bad switch, like $100T2 has suggested. I'm going to take the door apart and look at them one by one till I find the problem.
2. Warning lights and other electrical issues: it is most likely to be a cold solder joints problem in the CPU - I know it could be a bad connector problem behind the warning unit itself, like HAILERS has said, however, I do have a few other little problems that I think might lead to the CPU. For example, when the engine is on and the passenger door is opened, there should be a buzz right? The buzz in my car sometimes comes on sometimes don't. Also, when I first bought my car, the horn didn't work - every time I press the horn all I hear is a "click" from somewhere, which I now know is probably a relay trying to work. The problem disappeared after a while and has never come back though. All in all, I think I'm going to take out the main board in the CPU box and see what is going on and may try re-solder some of the connections.
P.S. I have also had a aftermarket alarm installed, which I can see the guy has tapped some wires into the CPU from the alarm unit. I wonder what he has done there.
3. Coolent buzz and warning light - honestly I have given up the problem - I mean the mazda dealer here has looked into the issue for me twice and even replaced the water level sensor. I may look into the overflow tank and hose again though - a very good point made by HAILERS, but I would think that mazada guys has already checked that for me.
Please let me know what your thoughts are.
By the way, the car is a 85GT-R, its a japanese import so the driver is on the right hand side.
Thanks
Chris
HAILERS
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 20,563
Likes: 27
From: FORT WORTH, TEXAS,USA
I still think it's the Warning light assy when it comes to the warning lights sometimes not all lighting up with the key to ON/engine OFF.
You can prove it's the warning light assy. You pull the top plug off the CPU. then put a ground to the Yellow wire with a Blue stripe on it (top row, fourth wire from the end). Then when you put the key to ON, all the lights should light up.
The act of all the warning lights coming on when the key is to ON, engine Off. is sort of a BIT (built in test) of the alternator itself and the lights in the warning light assy itself.
You put the key to ON.......if the wiring internal to the altenator field winding are good, then that field winding internal to the alternator will put a ground on the Alt relay inside the CPU. The alt relay will pull in because it already has power to its coil and when the contacts *make* on that relay, those contacts will in turn put a ground on the Yellow wire with a Blue stripe I mentioned earlier. That yellow/blue wire goes to the warning light assy and causes all the lamps internal to the warning light assy to come on because they already have power to them on one side of each bulb.
Then you start the engine and the alternator spins over. The field winding now has power on it, and that power will be equal to the other side of the alt relay coil which means the alt relay will NOT pull in (make) and the yellow/blue wire from it to the warning light assy no more will have a gnd on it. So the warning lights go out with the exception of if one of them is sensing a failure (like the hatch being open or the door open or?? whatever the case is).
Or just pull the warning unit out from its resting place and with the key ON/engine OFF, see if the lights all come on and if they do, wiggle the plug at the back of the warning light unit and see if they all come on intermittently. If that is the case, then it's cold solder joints on the warning unit.
They never should have replaced the sensor on the radiator. All they had to do to prove it's good/bad was to leave the wiring on the sensor and with the key ON, pull the sensor in and then out of the water in the radiator. With the sensor out the buzzer goes off after about 20seconds and reinstalling it in the water turns it off pretty fast. That would have been confirmation the sensor was good. They are a bunch of newbies in that area of their supposed expertise.
Hmm. 85GTR is a unknown to me. I'm just familiar with series four and series five RX-7's and I'll assume that that is indeed a series four car.
Key to ON and all the lights not coming on hurts nothing as long as you look at your volt gauge and see that it's putting out approx 14vdc with the engine running. But if you throw a alt belt while driving you might not notice the volt gauge at 12vdc.
IF the belt fell off while driving and the warning light worked right, you'd get all the lights on the warnging light assy giving you a heads up that something is amiss with the alternator.
If your car is a turbo car, then you have no volt gauge to look at. Also the jpgs are for a non turbo car but the turbo is virtually the same. No significant differences. Same color wiring as far as the alt goes.
You can prove it's the warning light assy. You pull the top plug off the CPU. then put a ground to the Yellow wire with a Blue stripe on it (top row, fourth wire from the end). Then when you put the key to ON, all the lights should light up.
The act of all the warning lights coming on when the key is to ON, engine Off. is sort of a BIT (built in test) of the alternator itself and the lights in the warning light assy itself.
You put the key to ON.......if the wiring internal to the altenator field winding are good, then that field winding internal to the alternator will put a ground on the Alt relay inside the CPU. The alt relay will pull in because it already has power to its coil and when the contacts *make* on that relay, those contacts will in turn put a ground on the Yellow wire with a Blue stripe I mentioned earlier. That yellow/blue wire goes to the warning light assy and causes all the lamps internal to the warning light assy to come on because they already have power to them on one side of each bulb.
Then you start the engine and the alternator spins over. The field winding now has power on it, and that power will be equal to the other side of the alt relay coil which means the alt relay will NOT pull in (make) and the yellow/blue wire from it to the warning light assy no more will have a gnd on it. So the warning lights go out with the exception of if one of them is sensing a failure (like the hatch being open or the door open or?? whatever the case is).
Or just pull the warning unit out from its resting place and with the key ON/engine OFF, see if the lights all come on and if they do, wiggle the plug at the back of the warning light unit and see if they all come on intermittently. If that is the case, then it's cold solder joints on the warning unit.
They never should have replaced the sensor on the radiator. All they had to do to prove it's good/bad was to leave the wiring on the sensor and with the key ON, pull the sensor in and then out of the water in the radiator. With the sensor out the buzzer goes off after about 20seconds and reinstalling it in the water turns it off pretty fast. That would have been confirmation the sensor was good. They are a bunch of newbies in that area of their supposed expertise.
Hmm. 85GTR is a unknown to me. I'm just familiar with series four and series five RX-7's and I'll assume that that is indeed a series four car.
Key to ON and all the lights not coming on hurts nothing as long as you look at your volt gauge and see that it's putting out approx 14vdc with the engine running. But if you throw a alt belt while driving you might not notice the volt gauge at 12vdc.
IF the belt fell off while driving and the warning light worked right, you'd get all the lights on the warnging light assy giving you a heads up that something is amiss with the alternator.
If your car is a turbo car, then you have no volt gauge to look at. Also the jpgs are for a non turbo car but the turbo is virtually the same. No significant differences. Same color wiring as far as the alt goes.
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,932
Likes: 6
From: Surrounded by Sebey parts, Rhode Island
Thanks guys, after a bit of searching and researching, which I should have done before posting, I realised that I'm probably facing some different issues here - please tell me wether you would agree:
1. Power window: it is probably a bad connection / harness somewhere inside the drives door, or a bad switch, like $100T2 has suggested. I'm going to take the door apart and look at them one by one till I find the problem.
1. Power window: it is probably a bad connection / harness somewhere inside the drives door, or a bad switch, like $100T2 has suggested. I'm going to take the door apart and look at them one by one till I find the problem.
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Thread Starter
GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
HAILERS:
I'm confused about the year of my car too - it is definitely made in 1985 (as the road registration said so), but it's a 2nd gen RX7. I mean from what you guys are talking in this forum, 2nd gen starts from 86! I don't know.
I think I'll try your way first - after all it is much easier to take out warning lights unit than fiddling with CPU. But how do I explain what happened to the horn and the door ajar buzz? They've got nothing to do with the warning lights unit right? God there are sooooo many LITTLE problems with the car that I don't even know where to start!
$100T2:
I'll pull the drives door apart this weekend and try what you have suggested.
I'm confused about the year of my car too - it is definitely made in 1985 (as the road registration said so), but it's a 2nd gen RX7. I mean from what you guys are talking in this forum, 2nd gen starts from 86! I don't know.
I think I'll try your way first - after all it is much easier to take out warning lights unit than fiddling with CPU. But how do I explain what happened to the horn and the door ajar buzz? They've got nothing to do with the warning lights unit right? God there are sooooo many LITTLE problems with the car that I don't even know where to start!
$100T2:
I'll pull the drives door apart this weekend and try what you have suggested.
HAILERS
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 20,563
Likes: 27
From: FORT WORTH, TEXAS,USA
The horn relay is inside the CPU. That relay is controlled by you putting a ground on its coil when you press the horn button.
Get down near the CPU and listen carefully as you press the horn button. You should be able to hear a click of the relay as you press the horn button. IF so, then the button is indeed doing its job and the problem is from the horns themselves to the CPU output wire to the horn. I always assume you checked and made sure the elect plugs are on the horns.
You can prove the wiring from the CPU to the horns is good by pulling the top plug off the CPU. The with a spare piece of wire, jumper the green/white (power) wire to the green/red wire in the top plug. Horn should sound off if the wiring is good to the horns.
Or if you heard no click of the relay when pressing the horn button, leave the top plug of the CPU on and get a piece of spare wire. Put one end of that wire to gnd and the other end goes in the backside of the green/orange wire. Horn relay should pull in and cause the horn to sound off. See attached jpg of the horn circuit.
I assumed the fuse was good and was checked out being good. That would be the STOP fuse. If the brake lights work, then the fuse is good. Easy check.
Door ajar buzz????????? I didn't know you got a buzz with the door ajar. I thought just the warning light for it came on. I think if your talking about the door light not coming on in the warning light assy......that might just be the warning light assy having bad/cold solder joints.
Yeah, I've a 1986 non turbo that has a 1985 build date on it. You have a 85 build date and it's a Turbo car and second generation. I know what you have now. You mentioned Turbo in your first post. I missed that. I also have a couple of turbo cars from 1987.
Having a low oil in the pan can cause a buzz also. I still don't think a door ajar can cause buzz. Anybody know one way or the other?
Get down near the CPU and listen carefully as you press the horn button. You should be able to hear a click of the relay as you press the horn button. IF so, then the button is indeed doing its job and the problem is from the horns themselves to the CPU output wire to the horn. I always assume you checked and made sure the elect plugs are on the horns.
You can prove the wiring from the CPU to the horns is good by pulling the top plug off the CPU. The with a spare piece of wire, jumper the green/white (power) wire to the green/red wire in the top plug. Horn should sound off if the wiring is good to the horns.
Or if you heard no click of the relay when pressing the horn button, leave the top plug of the CPU on and get a piece of spare wire. Put one end of that wire to gnd and the other end goes in the backside of the green/orange wire. Horn relay should pull in and cause the horn to sound off. See attached jpg of the horn circuit.
I assumed the fuse was good and was checked out being good. That would be the STOP fuse. If the brake lights work, then the fuse is good. Easy check.
Door ajar buzz????????? I didn't know you got a buzz with the door ajar. I thought just the warning light for it came on. I think if your talking about the door light not coming on in the warning light assy......that might just be the warning light assy having bad/cold solder joints.
Yeah, I've a 1986 non turbo that has a 1985 build date on it. You have a 85 build date and it's a Turbo car and second generation. I know what you have now. You mentioned Turbo in your first post. I missed that. I also have a couple of turbo cars from 1987.
Having a low oil in the pan can cause a buzz also. I still don't think a door ajar can cause buzz. Anybody know one way or the other?
Listener
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 164
Likes: 0
From: Springfield, Missouri
There could be two possible reasons for your date of 85.
1. Does NZ have a different set of model years than the US? The dates used here are for US spec cars.
2. Cars manufactured in the later months of a year are sold as the next year's spec. My 91 was manufactured in (I believe) August of 1990.
1. Does NZ have a different set of model years than the US? The dates used here are for US spec cars.
2. Cars manufactured in the later months of a year are sold as the next year's spec. My 91 was manufactured in (I believe) August of 1990.
Thread Starter
GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
I have done it! I've solved warning light unit problem - after resoldering all the contacts of the three harness slots in the CPU, the warning light unit is finally behaving like it should:
key on / engine off - all lights on
key on / engine on - all lights off except hand brake and door ajar light - if doors are opened.
HAILERS: I did take out the warning light unit first and checked the harness as you've suggested, but since it feels pretty solid, I then moved on to CPU itself. The "door ajar" buzzer is now killed too, and I think you are absolutely right - it should not be there in the first place. Also, My horn is working at the moment, so I think I will pretend there is no problem with it, until someday....
another7driver: since my car is a Japan import, I don't think it has anything to do with the NZ systems, I don't know whether in Japan they started to ship out 2nd generation RX7s in 1985. It is not important anyway.
AND TO ICEMARK: I know you are not with us any more, but the clear explainations that you have left in a number of posts regarding CPU and warning light unit has really be the key to identify and finally solve my problem. I, like many other guys in this community would like to sincerely thank you for what you have done and the knowledge you have left with us, which will continue to benefit us for a long long time!
My next project is to open up the driver side door and see if I can find any problem with my power window system - if everything looks right then I'll clean the switches at least. My windows are working at the moment but only God knows when it will go into a strike again - maybe I should up their pays!
key on / engine off - all lights on
key on / engine on - all lights off except hand brake and door ajar light - if doors are opened.
HAILERS: I did take out the warning light unit first and checked the harness as you've suggested, but since it feels pretty solid, I then moved on to CPU itself. The "door ajar" buzzer is now killed too, and I think you are absolutely right - it should not be there in the first place. Also, My horn is working at the moment, so I think I will pretend there is no problem with it, until someday....
another7driver: since my car is a Japan import, I don't think it has anything to do with the NZ systems, I don't know whether in Japan they started to ship out 2nd generation RX7s in 1985. It is not important anyway.
AND TO ICEMARK: I know you are not with us any more, but the clear explainations that you have left in a number of posts regarding CPU and warning light unit has really be the key to identify and finally solve my problem. I, like many other guys in this community would like to sincerely thank you for what you have done and the knowledge you have left with us, which will continue to benefit us for a long long time!
My next project is to open up the driver side door and see if I can find any problem with my power window system - if everything looks right then I'll clean the switches at least. My windows are working at the moment but only God knows when it will go into a strike again - maybe I should up their pays!
Smoke moar
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,530
Likes: 1
From: The yay, California
I thought even in 86 the rx7s in jp wernt turbo? They just jipped us usa guys?? lol
Yes the low oil buzzer goes off easy, mines already going off and my fluid is only slightly lower then the L
and yeah you probably have some weird wiring goingon
Its the connections man
My dome light only goes on when its around a certain temp (too hot too cold it wont, same for other things on the car)
Yes the low oil buzzer goes off easy, mines already going off and my fluid is only slightly lower then the L
and yeah you probably have some weird wiring goingon
Its the connections man
My dome light only goes on when its around a certain temp (too hot too cold it wont, same for other things on the car)
Thread Starter
GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
DISASTER! Before I could finish celebrating my working warning unit, I woke up this morning only to find out that the car WOULD NOT START! It is not a battery issue since the motor will keep cranking when the key is turned. I have reason to believe that my engine is FLOODED! I have no idea how it happend, but it would be appreciated if some of you know what might have happened!
I tried the first two methods discribed in ICEMARK's 2nd Gen FAQ, but none of them worked. Because I'm a n00b to cars, I don't have the skill nor the tools to take out the spark plugs and put oil into the engine. If anyone out there that has done it before, could you please tell me how hard it is to do these things?
Also, when I took out the CPU, I had the negative side of the battery taken out as per the field service manual. After I put the CPU back, I re-connected the battery and started the engine to check whether I have done any damage - I don't trust myself enough I guess. As I found everything worked fine, I happily turned the engine off before I put the CPU back to its secure position. While doing so, I had to pull the top two plugs out because some cables are in the way - I did so without disconnecting the battery again as I was lazy. After I've finished everything I turned key to on / engine off position just to make sure everything still works before I went to bed.
Now, I know that I suppose to disconnect the battery before attempting any electrical work, so could this "lazyness" cause the engine to flood? I've also read somewhere else that rotary engine sometimes flood because it has been started cold and turned off before the temp got up, which the website stated:
"Some Mazda-made Wankel engines are notable for occasionally flooding themselves when turned off before reaching normal operating temperatures. When so flooded they are very hard to start and may require major shop work."
It sounds serious and I feel bad and extremely upset about what happened to my car. Now the mazda dealer is two blocks away but before I contact them, I'd like to hear what you guys think and if you think there is any chance that I can fix my car myself.
Thanks
Chris
I tried the first two methods discribed in ICEMARK's 2nd Gen FAQ, but none of them worked. Because I'm a n00b to cars, I don't have the skill nor the tools to take out the spark plugs and put oil into the engine. If anyone out there that has done it before, could you please tell me how hard it is to do these things?
Also, when I took out the CPU, I had the negative side of the battery taken out as per the field service manual. After I put the CPU back, I re-connected the battery and started the engine to check whether I have done any damage - I don't trust myself enough I guess. As I found everything worked fine, I happily turned the engine off before I put the CPU back to its secure position. While doing so, I had to pull the top two plugs out because some cables are in the way - I did so without disconnecting the battery again as I was lazy. After I've finished everything I turned key to on / engine off position just to make sure everything still works before I went to bed.
Now, I know that I suppose to disconnect the battery before attempting any electrical work, so could this "lazyness" cause the engine to flood? I've also read somewhere else that rotary engine sometimes flood because it has been started cold and turned off before the temp got up, which the website stated:
"Some Mazda-made Wankel engines are notable for occasionally flooding themselves when turned off before reaching normal operating temperatures. When so flooded they are very hard to start and may require major shop work."
It sounds serious and I feel bad and extremely upset about what happened to my car. Now the mazda dealer is two blocks away but before I contact them, I'd like to hear what you guys think and if you think there is any chance that I can fix my car myself.
Thanks
Chris
Smoke moar
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,530
Likes: 1
From: The yay, California
It takes less then 15 mins to remove the plugs if youre lazy 
Just note which wire went to which plug (its nice to have a label maker :P) if they are really soaked in gas... well clean em off, pull the engine fuse (yours is a s4 I cant say which it is) I think its the eng inj or so, if theres a fuse with inj thats probably the fuse you want, it'll cut gas supply then crank it with wide throttle, replace plugs
done
Just note which wire went to which plug (its nice to have a label maker :P) if they are really soaked in gas... well clean em off, pull the engine fuse (yours is a s4 I cant say which it is) I think its the eng inj or so, if theres a fuse with inj thats probably the fuse you want, it'll cut gas supply then crank it with wide throttle, replace plugs
done
HAILERS
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 20,563
Likes: 27
From: FORT WORTH, TEXAS,USA
Look at the tach needle while cranking the engine. IF it makes small bumps up/down, then the fuses are probably good.
It's wise to remove the batt cable when doing maint. It took me forever to learn how important that is........like not doing so and accidenlty grounding the alt B terminal to the intercooler while removing the intercooler etc. But in most cases it will make NO difference when doing maint like you were i.e. removing and reinstalling CPU plugs.
IF the tach does not make small bounces while cranking the engine over. look for the ENGINE fuse in the interior being blown or one of the two EGI fuses in the engine bay.
It's wise to remove the batt cable when doing maint. It took me forever to learn how important that is........like not doing so and accidenlty grounding the alt B terminal to the intercooler while removing the intercooler etc. But in most cases it will make NO difference when doing maint like you were i.e. removing and reinstalling CPU plugs.
IF the tach does not make small bounces while cranking the engine over. look for the ENGINE fuse in the interior being blown or one of the two EGI fuses in the engine bay.
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GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
cmanns: do you need special tools to take out the plugs?
Thanks guys!
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GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
Well...I've my car running again without taking out the plugs. It took a lot of cranking and battery charging. The final crank took about a minute and saw the engine roll faster and faster, only at the very end when I let go the key it coughed back into life with huge difficulty. The smoke was... my heart broke! 
I've also noticed a mixture of fuel and oil has drippled on to the floor. I do not see anything coming out the plug holes, and I wonder whether this is another bad sign? It would be impossible for me to get underneath the car to determine where the leak is acturally from, unless I take it to the garage. Any of you have ideas?
It is good see my 7 running again, a little worried though.
I've also noticed a mixture of fuel and oil has drippled on to the floor. I do not see anything coming out the plug holes, and I wonder whether this is another bad sign? It would be impossible for me to get underneath the car to determine where the leak is acturally from, unless I take it to the garage. Any of you have ideas?
It is good see my 7 running again, a little worried though.
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GTRRX7
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Christchurch
Any ideas about the leak? Is it normal?
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Jeff20B
1st Generation Specific (1979-1985)
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Sep 16, 2018 07:16 PM
