I have a weird problem. Sometime while at idle all of my idiot lights come on like it's about to stall, but it never does. When I give it some gas (even though it's not stalling) the lights all go off, but come back on at 750 RPM.

I recently changed the alternator and battery, if that's beneficial information.

It's an '88 N/A base...


thanks for reading!

-ian

 

Is the engine speed falling as well? If so, then check the BAC valve. It is responsible for maintaining the idle under varying loads. If it is sticking or misbehaving the engine's idle will drop when something electrical is turned on.

If the engine speed stays steady but all the warning lights come on, check you grounds:
http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/grounding.htm

 

I will check the grounds after work; thank you Aaron!

Since it does this (currently) only once in a while I guess this is exactly my problem.

-ian

 

Just to update:

I regrounded the car as per Aaron Cake's writeup. It definately fixed my minor 3800 hesitation, but didn't fix the idiot light problem.

I re-read the FSM and found that my belts were out of spec. I replaced them and now the car runs strong with no other problems.

Lesson learned: When I changed the battery and alternator recently, I should have also changed the belts. Had it been summer I could have overheated the motor and a simple $17 fix could've cost me thousands more in a new motor.

Thanks for everybody's help!!

-ian