Okay, electric problems are not my forte, so any suggestions/help is much appreciated.

Just bought a 91 FC 'vert the other day, but it's needing quite a bit of work. One of the things I've discovered is some electrical problems.

I noticed the wipers weren't working except when I switch some weird blue switch on the bottom of the steering column. Looks like someone's "engineered" this little goodie. The best part is that it works w/ the key on, off, out, in, whatever. Also, the blower for the A/C/Heater wouldn't come on.

So I got under the dash and checked the fuses. There were a couple missing so put them all in. Here's the weird part. If I leave the "Air Bag" fuse in (15A), the car will try to start when I turn the key to the "ON" position -- regardless of whether I have the clutch pushed in or not. Also, the blower works when this fuse is in. If I take it out, blower won't work, but car won't start unless I turn the key to "START" and have the clutch pushed in (like it's supposed to). Also, under no conditions was I able to make the wipers work (outside of the wonderful "blue" switch that is).

Please tell me that someone has heard of this one before??

If nothing else, I got a good laugh out of it. :-) Anyway, any ideas are most helpful. I got a Haynes book today that I'm going to start looking through, so maybe that will give me some clues.

 

Whoa! Sounds like a couple of shorts in their somewhere for the starting issue and it's possible that the wiper switch is in need of repairing (http://fc3s-pro.com/TECH/HOWTO/WIPER/wiper.html). I highly recommend the FSM over the Haynes.

 

Sounds like someone saw too many james bond movies.... there isn't a switch for a smoke screen anywhere is there?

 

Yeah, the blue switch sounds like the previous owner had the wiper switch fail, and had a heart attack at the price of a new one (about $300). It was only a few years ago we learned how to rebuild wiper switches - thank goodness for that!

Anyhow, the fuse panel normally has some blank spots for things that aren't on the car - if your car doesn't have an airbag (only the '89-91 convertibles have 'em), leave out the airbag fuse. Same goes for any other missing fuses there.

You can download a copy of the shop manual from fc3s.org to start with, but a hard copy is the best way to go - wiring diagrams are a pain on a computer screen .

Might take some time to totally sort out what the old owner did to the car - those are some of the hardest problems to fix, especially if you're new to RX-7's and can't see what's stock and what's not. But, I don't think it should be too bad - something to keep you busy .

Good luck!
Dale

 

actually only the 90-91 FC3C models had them.

This might help Trav as well:

 

Yeah, I've seen a few documents on the wiper switch stuff, so probably going to start there as it seems simpler at this point than trying to track down this other thing.

Unfortunately I haven't found the switch for the smoke screen yet, but I bet it's there somewhere!

This is a 91 convertible, so it does have the airbag. Although I'm not too concerned w/ the airbag for now, it would be nice to have it hooked up. The thing that bugs me most right now though is the lack of A/C at the same time. So I'll start w/ the few FAQs and docs I've found on the logicon and see if that helps. Otherwise, I will be searching for a short. (oh joy).

Thanks for your help thus far. If you have any other ideas on the fuse panel stuff, I would certainly love to hear!

 

well as far as the airbag fuse, you can see in the diagram that it only powers the airbag control unit, the ABS Hydralic unit (if equipped), the sunroof (again not applicable for a vert), and the AAS control unit (again if equipped). So if it is not starting with that fuse in, it suggests that the wiring was perhaps modified for a aftermarket security system or the like.

The factory starter kill is powered off of the Antenna fuse for the power antenna.

The blower itself is actually powered by the wiper fuse, and conrtolled by the meter fuse, so perhaps you have mistaken the location, since you are having problems with the wiper as well???

 

Icemark, actually you mentioned something that made me wonder. This car does have a Clifford alarm in it -- I wonder if something was done there that screwed this whole thing up... I might start with removing everything related to that and see. Also, it's always possible I'm mistaken (it happens occasionally), but I'm pretty certain that this fuse is the airbag fuse that is causing the problem -- I thought it strange enough to try it a couple of times with the fuse in and out, so I'm pretty sure of that.

Also, something I'm certain is stock is there is a switch inside the glove box. Over on the right side -- it is sort of like a toggle switch -- I didn't think it was stock, but considering this is my first FC I wasn't sure. It didn't appear to do anything though -- of course maybe that was the smokescreen switch afterall!

 

Last post should have read "... something I'm NOT certain is stock ..."