Hi, I've got an S5 N/A that I've recently put in a JDM TII motor in...
I've swapped the motor, and tranny, A/C compressor, power steering and have taken all the emissions stuff off. I did not swap the engine harness because I've read and done research where the N/A has little difference in a N/A-TII swap...

At first, when I got the front clip from Japan2LA(good guy) I sprayed starter fluid in the intake, cranked it right up, just didn't stay up without a gas tank and stuff, as you'd know...
I've now put the motor into my car, the main engine ground was put on the wrong prong on the starter's solenoid, so it fried the motor in the TII starter that was originally with it.... but it DID IN FACT, crank before.
I've tested 3 starters outside the car, they all work, and now I've installed them in my car simultaneously....

3 starters, now. none of them work...
it just clicks, and the voltage drops from the battery, like it's struggling to turn it over.... and hit the fly wheel or something...

I've hand cranked the motor moving the belts, and it's got great compression, there's not a problem, it sounds to me, great compression.....

What the **** am I doing wrong?

I've plugged everything up, (or so I thought) I unplugged everything plugged in, plugged it back in, put the main engine ground and put that to the starter.
I put 5qts of oil in it like Gonzz(good guy as well) said, transmission has fluid in it.
I have coolant(well, water for now, 'till it runs, then I'll get some 50/50 of course)
Lights come on, flashers work, all that, left blinker's some reason not registering on the dash, dunno if it works on the outside, though.

All the electrical shiet works, so I've seen, A/C blows, just no cranking

I push the clutch in, I turn the key, and it 'clicks' and then voltage drops and it drops fast...
Not skipping any teeth, just a 'click' maybe it's not catching? Maybe it's not powerful enough to crank it?

I can turn the motor over by the belts, and it's got compression... What's the ******* problem?! T_T

Can anyone help a fellow Rx7 owner out?

I started it in the front clip, drrdrdrdrddr it cranked over(starter fluid spray in the intake) and it did it at least 6 times...
now that it's in my car, it's not working for some reason.....

Anyone????

Thanks,
Malachi
Las Vegas, NV

 

Battery? Fuses? I'm thinking basically you gotta check all the other electrical parts and make sure there isn't a missing link. Maybe the batt got shorted as well. Good luck.

 

you fried the start motor. The first one did you remove it from the car, and test it outside the car. does it work? if you fried the starter did you fry the cables to. Check for a voltage drop along the cable. If you dont know how to do this... Hook up a voltmeter positive lead on positive battery post negative lead on power to starter. above .5v the cable got resistance

 

Battery's still got lots of juice in it....

alternator's good, dual pully...

I've not tested all the fuses, but I don't think that would make it impossible to 'start/crank' over the motor....

someone was telling me on a different forum, that maybe I have the wiring harness on the wrong prong on the solenoid, but I highly doubt that's the case.

the negative is on the upper prong, where the starter leads a wire to the prong on the solenoid, and the wiring harness is attached to the lower prong on the solenoid, that nothing else is touching

the way I blew the first starter, is hooking up the ground(negative) onto the harness prong(positive), and I'm pretty sure it's what blew the motor, no other way(also had it confirmed from Dave, an electrician(imo) genius

I just don't know what it could be...

Thank you for your input and help and wishes...... thanks!

 

Yes, I had the guy Dave(in the above post) come take a look, he re-wired a few things up and helped me get lights(lights weren't working from bad wiring, he helped on that)

we tried doing different mixes of swapping starter motors, solenoids, nothing's worked, and 3 starters have been used and none worked, so I douubbttt it's the 'starter' :/ I think it's something electrical, but I really can't tell, the wires all have good feed so it shows, and we've also tried straight by-passing the battery, we've also tried two cables, one from the battery straight to the starter, and the normal one it uses how it's supposed to, giving it lots more juice than normal...

Thanks for your help as well, phantom, any other input hearing this stuff?

Thanks.

 

it sounds like the starter isnt getting enough juice... the ground your talking about on the positive prong, are you referring to the starter solenoid or the starter motor. What ground are you referring to also i was under the impression the starter was grounded though the engine where it bolts up

 

when the starter's on the motor, it's like this:

there is a bolt on the tranny/motor, right behind the oil filter
The ground I'm referring to, comes from there, to the top prong on the starter solenoid. This same prong is the prong that the starter motor hooks onto the starter's solenoid.
The harness comes from the battery, and hooks onto the lower prong on the starter solenoid, the prong that has nothing on it.

Thanks for the extra input, Phantom... hope this helps you help me...

 

Starters connected up wrong. Could be because I don't follow you on your connections.

There is but ONE large wire on the starter solenoid. That is the positive cable from the battery. There is one SMALL wire to the solenoid which is the wire from the igniton key.

The ground wire from the battery attaches to the LONG bolt holding the starter on the transmission. It can be connected to any of the bolts holding the transmission to the engine, but origianlly it went to the long bolt on the starter.

A simple way to check a starter, is to jack the front of the car up. Transmission in jeutral. Take a screwdriver and jumper b/t the small blade on the solenoid to the LARGE positive wire on the solenoid. The starter should whip the engine over.

 

and hailers saves the day

 

Alright, Hailer, thanks for the tips!!

I think I am doing it wrong, so I'm supposed to attach the ground to the bolt/nut that holds the starter?

I just asked my boss, an ex 7 head, and now he's calling me an idiot. lol

So basically the negative on the solenoid is a bad thing?? I did not know that :/

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to try to get over to my house tomorrow, have my boss take a gander and help me out....

You're a huge help you guys, let's just hope this is what I'm doing wrong :/

Thanks, I'll keep you posted...(Mind if I PM you about this, Hailer?)
Malachi
Las Vegas, NV

 

I never look at pm's, ever. Not to be taken personal. I just don't and won't.

Yes. Negative cable from the battery gets attached to the long bolt/nut for the starter although if you attach it to any of the other transmission/engine bolts it'll do the same.

The positive cable attaches to the solenoind. Look at the solenod. It has two large terminals. One of those terminals should have a large gauge wire on it that comes from the starter it's self. Nothing else gets attached to that large terminal. It's the other large terminal that gets the positive cable from the battery.

Make sure it's the positive cable from the batt that gets attached to the solenoid. IN other words don't get confused about which of the large cables is pos and which is neg.

On the other hand it might be something alltogether wrong with the starter that is causing the problem. Let that other guy have a look see. Your not the first to have problems connecting up a starter.

 

Yeah, I know where the positive goes, I'm positive on that one. haha

I was just connecting the negative on the solenoid, now that I think back, that longer prong looked like the bolt was never taken off(the one where the starter had a wire leading to it)
I was wondering why no one ever moved THAT one... :P

I hope this works...

Thanks a lot, Hailers, don't really understand why you wouldn't do a PM, but I'm pretty sure we can handle it on here, who knows, maybe someone else will see this and not have to ask again? :P

 

Hey Hey! Thanks, Hailers!

Now all I gotta do, I guess is drop the tank

Does anyone know how I should go through draining it and cleaning it? I don't want to take it to a shop to do it, too $$$.....(I can take the fuel to my work and have a company pick it up to do whatever to it... so it's not just going in the gutter)