Watsup everybody,

Car: 1986 Mazda RX-7 Sport Manual 5sp w/ 1988 GXL Motor N/A

So I dropped in a used motor with a reman. starter in and the main wiring to the starter has been giving me a hard time. So far I've wired the solenoid correctly (thought the neagtive wire coming from the battery was seemed short) and I didn't get even a click or noise from the soleniod when I go to crank the car.

I search a bit on this topic and found that it wasn't my ignition switch, not the starter obviously, wasn't the clutch switch, so it must be faulty wiring or maybe a burnt relay for the starter???

I've attached a picture of the ground wire that I guess connects to the starter but seems to be short. When I did search I found people saying that it's suppose to connect to the long mounting bolt the starter uses.

Is this true?
If so what ground connects to the starter?

Thanks

-Jon

 

First remove your starter and follow the directions to test it in the Haynes manual. If the starter works for sure, go from there. I have experienced the same as well.

 

Yes that is true the ground wire goes to the bolt.
The starter then grounds to the engine and the ground wire via the bolt sorta like chassis ground.

 

Hey thanks compuskills, this would make sense why it would not start cuase the whole engine block would not have a direct ground from the battery.

Thanks

-Jon

 

A small bit of input. My starter recently "quit" on me. Checked and cleaned grounds, checked battery, checked alternator, one time cold, starts, next time, not. When hot, same thing. Ball peen hammer, even before the starter was struck, (it seemed) would fire right up. Jumper directly from battery to starter, every time. Problem-bolt on solenoid was loose, not a good connection all the time. Solution, either wire in a toggle switch to start it directly from the battery, or replace. New tires, new starter, TPS, AFM, water pump, and on and on. Got a 5000-vert, my son's mind you, and I'm looking for another one.

I LOVE THE ROTARY MASTERPIECE! I WILL I COULD OWN MORE OF THEM! Moral of the story, the dog has been drinking, but these cars parts, like every other make and model, wear out. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

PEACE THE DOG

 

Nice spelling ability while drunk! haha

Anyways I tried re-grounding my reman. starter like you said to do compuskills. But I took a multimeter to the starter lead, the smaller one of the bunch, and I got a reading of 1.9 volts so I think thats why the soleniod itsn't even triggering.

Any ideas why the starter lead isn't getting 12volts, or what whould cause it to have low voltage?

By the way the batt. is at 12.5volts so...

 

Trust me, I am no electronic person in any aspect of phrase, but is the voltage reading you are getting with, or without the ignition turned on? Have you tried to run a wire directly from the positive terminal on the battery, to the starter directly to see if it engages?
Is your reading while the starter is being engaged, or just sitting?

PEACE THE DOG

 

test for resistance for both the main power cable and the starter ground

 

Make sure you grounded the tranny to the firewall on the passenger side next to the wiper motor. If thats good look for missing grounds thats what it sounds like to me bud.

 

When you turn your car to Start, do you lose all power? If so, check your battery terminals. Put a multimeter on them (or the wiring that you bolt into them) and have someone turn your key to Start. Is there voltage going through them?

 

This ground has nothing to do with the starter.

 

OK so I got it figured out the other day. Somebody before I owned the car did a GM Goodwrench alarm on it and at one point I fried the alarm and so I was getting a constant 1.9volts at my starter lead wire. I fixed by yanking the whole system out, piece of crap...