It's an '87 Base with S4/S5 TII swap. My car has always had a minor issue. I could turn the key and it would click. Turn it again, and it would click. Then it would start right up. And sometimes it would start first try... Well after I installed my new Superchips ECU, it went through the normal routine of "click click start"... So I let it idle for about 30 minutes (hasn't ran in a few months), and then I shut it down for the night. Next day I go outside and it just clicks every time I turn the key. All my lights work fine and everything, but for some reason it won't turn the car over... Could it be my ignition switch? I know my starter is good because it turned over strong as hell when it would actually work... Any ideas are welcome, because this thing needs to RUN!!!

 

click click click usually means battery.... check your battery terminals for corosion, you can also do a voltage drop test to your starter... if you don't have a multimeter, go buy one... it should already be in an rx7 owners tool box though.. haha

 

When our starter used to do that, it was a flat spot in the starter, try pushing the car a few feet fowards, i guess backwords might work too, but fowards.

 

Yea I know, but I'm an idiot when it comes to electrical ****, so I don't even know how to read a multimeter to be honest with you... I'm just hoping someone comes along and tells me to buy an ignition switch or something... lol

 

I'll try that...

 

Try another starter solenoid before a new starter. About thirty bucks item. Do all the stuff above first.

 

buy a flux capacitor, turn around 3 times, do a cartwheel, sit in your drivers seat and pray... it might work..... j/k do you have any friends that are mechanically/electrically inclinded.... if you aren't gonna take it to a shop you need to use your resources... or learn to read a multimeter.. it's really not that hard.. there's number on the screen, prolly around 12 volts... across the battery terminals.. you check the voltage at the battery first, then check the voltage getting to the starter, the difference is the voltage drop... there shouldn't be more than a 1volt drop.... also you should be getting over 9 volts at the starter AT LEAST for the car to start...

 

Ok I pushed the car forward and still nothing... I can hear the either a relay or the solenoid click whenever I turn the key... The click comes from the ECU area... I believe the starter is good because I was letting my friend use it in his 10AE for a little while, and he never once had a problem starting his car with it... He just blew his engine last week though, and gave the starter back to me... I installed it and it started up, but now it's doing nothing...

 

so did you check your battery terminals yet?

 

You broke me off with the old "flux capacitor" joke! BWAHAHA!!!

 

Battery terminals are fine... My battery is located behind me so they stay clean and dry... No corrosion or anything whatsoever, and has brand new locking terminals...

 

check the voltage... otherwise you might be buying stuff you don't need... like the flux capacitor..

 

True very true...

 

Check voltage at the battery, disconnect the negative terminal and reconnect it.

Happens to me once in a while, usually because of a battery with low voltage, somtimes the disconnect-reconnect helps. Or throw a charger on it and crank, or have someone give you a jump and crank.

Those always get me going.

Good luck,
James

 

Yea I've tried jumping and it still just gives me a single click... A bad solenoid will throw multiple clicks, and I'm sure it's not the battery... Guess I'll get under the car and make sure something isn't loose...

 

now you're talking like a mechanic... you're getting closer to getting this thing running!!

 

Ok I went outside and messed with the connections on the starter, and I noticed I'm missing a starter bolt, so I'll find that and replace it tomorrow... Think it may just have a poor ground due to the bolt missing?

 

Very possible.

 

can you take some pics? my starter does this stuff too

 

I got your problem solved with this one. Exact same thing happened to me a few weeks ago and it took me a day with a test light and muliti meter to find out the problem. BTW that click from the ECU area is actually up under the dashboard, if you take the right kick panel off and look up you'll see a little box with wires running out the back. Thats not the problem, and I dont know what it does . The connections in your ignition switch have gone bad, no need to buy a new one, its easy enough to get to and clean up. Just dont forget where all the little springs and copper peices go or you'll spend an hour trying all the combinations like I did

 

A word of caution. That short starter bolt has a different thread pitch than most bolts on the car. They are coarser. Frankly, I don't have the size written down. Do not cross thread the wrong bolt into the hole. Be patient til you find the right size.

 

I'm beginning to think it's the craphack battery relocation, where the new 4ga wires were spliced into the existing stock wiring, about a foot from the end... WTF were these people thinking?!?! Another $5 worth of cable and the job would have been done right! But yea the electrical tape they used to patch it is coming off so it's time to get some 4ga amp cable and do it right once and for all...

Good call man, I'll make sure I find the exact bolt...

 

Had the same problem recently, developed over a few months from just clicking onces, to a few times, sometimes not at all, then one day just stopped all together. Ended up being the starter, get a DMM and test your battery, and your voltage to and through the starter.

 

Just a reminder about battery voltages. They don't mean jack **** unless your battery is under load. I drained 2, 700 CCA batteries hooked up in parallel, shorting them across a resistor that drew 180Amps. I left it like this for 30 min. By the end of the test, voltage was at 4V with a 60Amp draw. As soon as I disconnected the load, the voltage recovered to about 12V in about 5 minutes. These batteries had nothing left, but if they were sitting in a car and you took your Voltmeter to them, they would have read over 12V, with no cranking power. If you put a load on them in this state, the voltage would drop to 4V, which cannot turn an engine over.

Redo your battery wiring, it sounds like from your last post that could be the culprit, also, give your battery a load test, They might do tests like that at Autozone or stores like that for close to free. (take your battery out and get a ride there).

Also, check out this thread I wrote up a while ago when i was rewiring my power wires.

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/fd-alt-new-wiring-install-s4-480242/

 

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not much into electricity, but I got a printer...