I have an 88 rx7 with multiple problems... The one I am discussing now is it wont turn off!

I start my car..... I try to turn it off and.. nope.... it still runs.

I tried a brand new ignitions switch... and damn... I dont know wth would cause this!?

and no I still have a oem fan, not electric.

 

One possible cause is the two wires feeding the rear of the alternator are reversed. The Black/White wire goes on top and the White/Black wire is on the bottom of this plug.

If the alternator wiring is not the problem, you also might want to try pulling the IG1 fuses one by one to see if you can find the cause of the backfeeding to this fuse bank which would cause the car to continue to run w/key to off. Engine guse, Meter fuse, Steering fuse, Window fuse and the Turn fuse are the IG1 fuses and pulling the Engine fuse would be the first fuse to pull.

 

Thanks Ill try that first and let you know.

 

did you just install the new switch and it started doing this?

 

No, I bought a new switch in hoping that this would fix the issue....
Alt wires are the way they're supposed to be. black on top, white on bottom.
I have not checked any fuses yet...

 

+1 to satch

Also be sure to check the your wiring that goes from the ignition switch is properly connected to the right relays etc. Page 50-16 in the FSM btw.
Funny, whenever I turn the key in my RX-7, it won't turn on!

 

So it started doing this all by itself? Really?

Are you absolutely, positively sure you dit NOT do ANY electrical work on the car at all for the last couple of weeks?

How many times i've seen people screw up things themselves and not realizing it afterwards..
NOOO i didn't do anything... OW... WAIT... i forgot about something...

 

HEHE, I bought the car this way...

 

why?

 

When I see a running rx7 for $500 and a straight body.... I got to have it!

 

Before pulling any of the IG1 fuses you might want to pull the BTN fuse in the Engine fuse box first, and if the car continues to run then proceed in pulling the IG1 fuses.

 

That is excellent advice, Ill check that when I get home.
And what if the car does turn off without the BTN fuse?

 

The BTN fuse receives voltage 24/7 w/o the key in the ignition so if pulling the BTN fuse turns a running engine off then somewhere at the interior fuse box or wiring harnesses the voltage from a wire powered by the BTN fuse is passing voltage onto another wire or fuse circuit that is responsible for keeping the car running.

 

^this. lol, people are too scared to do a little work. $500 and a little headache and a couple more dollars? I'll take that over paying $1500 for a less then perfect na. specially if it has a straight body. (I replaced a whole outer rocker panel on my 86 sport with nicks all over it and sun faded and peeling clear. I store it for winter so plenty of down time to get it up to snuff.) Do work, save $$$.

 

LOL, that and I get to make everything to the specs that I like.

 

Ive unplugged the connector in back the the alternator entirely.... still would not turn off on its own when I tried. I'm seriously thinking about running an alternate switch to my cars computer or something.

 

has a thermofan been added without the necessary relay?

 

no im still using the stock fan..... I dont think I could be any more confused about this problem

 

Did you try pulling the BTN fuse?

 

I gotta ask... is there a turbo timer on the car?

 

its an NA

 

No need to be confused. There are several threads just like yours over the last four or five years on this forum.

Most are caused by the battery buss backfeeding the IG1 buss.

Some are caused by the two wires on the alternator being installed *** backwards at some time in the past. NOT your problem since you pulled the plug off the alt.

Go to the interior fuse box and pull one fuse at a time til the car dies and write back which fuse it was that caused the car to die.

A stuck Main Relay in the engine compartment could cause this problem also. Do not relpace that item til you prove it's sticking. I've never had one of those stick myself. You might pull apart the Main Relays two wire plug and see if that kills the car (key OFF of course). If it dies then the Main Relay is good and something is backfeeding the black/white wire on that two wire plug you just removed. IF that's the case go back to my first recommendation and pull one interior box fuse at a time.

Did you ever take the two minutes and pull the BTN fuse in the engine bay fuse box and see if the car dies? LIke Satch suggested many posts ago??? That idea is to give us A CLUE as to what is backfeeding what.

Interior fuse box........................top row is fed by the BATTERY. Lower rows are fed by the ignition switch. Third row up from the bottom of the box is the IG1 row of fuses that control whether the engine runs or not. This row is fed by the ignition switch as I just mentioned.

IF someone has coupled two electrical plugs together that were NOT meant to mate together, this can cause backfeeding of the BATTERY row of fuse to the IG1 row of fuses and therefore cause the engine to keep running even if the key is to OFF.

After you kill the car by say dumping the clutch while in gear..................do the lights on combination meter stay lit up or not? Looking for a CLUE. We ain't thar to see whats happening.

At least two cases that caused this problem in the past were caused by mating of two plugs near the brake/clutch pedals that were never meant to be coupled together. That caused backfeeding from the BATT buss in the interior to the IG1 row of fuses causing power to go to the ECU/INJECTOR/MAIN RELAY etc all the time.

 

So I took the time to pull the BTN fuse... while the key was off (my mistake last time leaving it on) and this turned the car off. So Im getting closer.

 

Good. So here's the deal. The BTN fuse FEEDS the battery buss in the interior fuse box.

The battery buss is seperate from the IG1 buss and the IG2 and ACC busses in the interior fuse box. They are not all connected together is what I'm saying.

So you know the IG1 buss in the interior controls the igniton/ECU of the car and you know that buss only gets fed by the ignitoin switch when the key is put to ON............'cause I mentioned this in a prior post of mine above.

So you should now know that the batt buss in incorrectly tied to the IG1 buss and is causing your problem (you pulled BTN and car turns off told you that, remember?}.

So. With the engine running and key OFF, go pull each fuse one at a time on the top row til the car dies (BTN reinstalled prior to doing this). BATT buss is the one with STOP, HAZARD, ROOM, ANTENNA, ILLUM.

I'd guesss the Illum is probably the one that will kill the car. Just a guess. Any of those fuses should NOT be tied into the row of fuses with ENGINE, TURN, METER, POWER WINDOWS. That row is called the IG1 buss.

Say thank you Satch for the BTN fuse pull idea. He did that to give us a HINT as to what is wrong. Need hints to fix.

 

The main fuel injection relay is probably sticking, or it failed and someone jumped it.