Sir Rupert Hobo

i've searched, but nobody seemed to have the problem of not being able to find the actual female part of the connector. i know it goes to the ignition, right?

what color wire under the ignition does that black connector lead to? i'm looking at the power section in the FSM now. i can't seem to find the friggin wire.

thanks for any help.

WAYNE88N/A

Lol, you actually playing by the rules? Nobody does that

All right, Logan, I'll go grab the schematics. IIRC, the wiring at the ignition switch is on two or more different schizmos, and you have to look at all of them to get an idea of what's going on.

So you need to know what color wire the main black power lead to the ignition switch goes to?

Sir Rupert Hobo

correct, i remember hailers said that the single spade connector under the fuse box goes directly to the ignition. but there was no mention of which wire that was. also, i think it was a solid colored wire since it's an S4 harness.

HAILERS

The ignition switch has I think three connectors about a foot below and fwd of the switch itself. One connector that mates with the ignition plugs is a two wire connector. One wire BLACK and the other BLACK/WHITE. The BLACK wire is the one your looking for.

I hope your not confusing the air conditioning black wire for the wire that comes out of the fuse box.

WAYNE88N/A

According to the schematics, that black wire splices into three between the fuse box and the ignition switch- one branch to the ignition switch, one to the 30A breaker for the HVAC blower, and one to the 30A breaker for the rear defroster element. Trivial information, I know.

But yeah, Hailers is right for once- the 2-pin plug should have the B/W and B wires side-by-side...

Sir Rupert Hobo

i don't think so, this one is RIGHT under the fuse box and is a pretty thick wire... 10-12awg?

you know i think it's because of that damn aftermarket alarm wiring that is getting in the way. i can't seem to find that 2 pin plug any where.

ok, so once i find a black wire next to a B/W wire, i take the black wire and splice it to the fuse box wire.

thanks for the help guys.

HAILERS

Three jpg's attached. The first shows the run of wiring from the engine fuse box to the ignition switch. The item called X-23 is the single connector in the engine bay near the fuse box. Note now things are not to scale in this diagram.

The second jpg shows the ignition switch connectors. All the ignition switch plugs together are called X-02

The third the X-23.

Things are color coded in this diagram. Blue is the ENGINE harness. Red is the FRONT harness, which is mostly in the car but a lot of it in the engine bay,.

So I forgot what your problem is, but you should have a run of wire b/t that X-23 single blade connector in the engine bay and it should run to the X-02 ignition switch plug that has the black/white wire and the black wire in that two socket connector.

Be sure to look to the far right when looking at the first jpg.

jhammons01

Where did you have to look for those schematics??? Waded up in a sock on the floor of you closet?? Ha

HAILERS

Some people use their schematics for trouble shooting......others just swap out parts and hope and pray that they change the right item out. Ha!

Sir Rupert Hobo

ok, i'm absolutely lost. i did what you showed hailers and this still didn't solve my problem. i have all the other ignition connectors intact.

here's a little background..
i took this body harness out of my 88 GXL. it is now into my 88SE. when i had the GXL, i had an aftermarket alarm installed. after i swapped the harness into the SE, i relocated the battery to the pass. side bin. it a new optima, i tested it, twice. i ran the wire like this:

power
bat.>starter>fusebox>alt.

ground
bat.> chassis(8 inches)
starter>block

every wire is 2awg

every ignition wire is connected. the other night BEFORE that black wire under the fusebox was connected, i turned the key and the gauges for my lights came on. but when i turned the key off and turned it back on, they wouldn't come back on. my fuel pump is getting no power, my microtech hand controller is getting no power. i'm running a complete emissions free setup, my idiot panel is totally disconected. no AC, no heater, no PS.

every fuse is new and in good shape.

WAYNE88N/A

On the ground wire run, you only have a cable from the batt to the chassis, and one from the starter to the engine block? How does the engine ground to the chassis???

Sir Rupert Hobo

yes.. is this how it is suppose to be? should i run another ground wire somewhere?

i do have a couple chassis to engine grounds.

HAILERS

Does your starter ever turn over?

I wish I had not deleted my picture of the grounds that only maybe Icemark and two or three other people know about. They are sort of what I call grounding blocks. One is under the trail coil assy. Another is in back of the dash (I've never seen that one.).

This ground block has maybe six to nine prongs on it. It bolts to the chassis under the trail coil assy. Have you seen something like what I'm trying to describe??????????????? They matter much more than a whole group of people know. I'll post a jpg tomorrow if not too busy.

It would help if we knew that you had a real digital meter.

You know the fuel pump only works if the key is HELD to start or the fuel pump check connector near the afm is jumpered and the key is to ON. Another way is to turn the key to ON and push the flap in the afm aft just a millimeter or all the way aft.

Tell me this, if you turn the headlights to ON, do they come on????/ It matters because their power takes a different route than the power to the ignition switch. Need to know that.

WAYNE88N/A

Ahh, then you should be OK- as long as they're fairly beefy, and as long as the alt isn't having to constantly "choose" which ground to use to supply the chassis current. She'll run like crap if that's the case...

Right up there with the great Hailer's wisdom about the ground blocks (the one he's talking about below the trailing coil is THE ground for the headlight circuit, BTW), not a lot of people realize that once the car is started and the alt starts pushing power, IT is the de-facto main ground on the car, not the negative battery post. This is why the engine housing-to-housing contact and the engine-to-chassis bonding (ground) wires are so important

Sir Rupert Hobo

good point about the headlights. nothing happens when i turn them on. i believe i bolted that block down. there are i think 2-3 connectors that bolt to the chassis under the trailing coil right?

also, i have no afm.(microtech) and i do have a digital meter.

WAYNE88N/A

That ground isn't a block per se (like the capacitors), but a single spade that bolts to the fender well metal and has a 6 (or so) pin electrical connector that then mates to the spade...A "gang ground", if you will...

Sir Rupert Hobo

i'm gonna try and get a pic of it right now... gimme a few..

Sir Rupert Hobo

is it this little gizmo?

HAILERS

Ground block. As in a block of grounds, Mr Wayne (dig). Commonly used on airplanes. In the case of the RX-7 it's called a JC or joint connector.

The one under the trail coil assy grounds ground wires 2 thru 7. One of those is the ground for the Main Relay (3). Headlights are (5). Wipers (6). Over the top sw (7) and more (examples, not all inclusive).

Anyway, there's something wrong if the headlights won't come on. They are independent of the ignition switch.

I'd go to the engine fuse box. I'd pull the headlight fuse out and make sure there is 12v on one leg of that fuse's base. It's probably there. If it is then I'd go to the fuse box in the cabin and pull the 15a ILLUMINATION fuse, and see if you have 12v on one leg of that fuse. I'm just trying to see if your fuse box is getting anything at all, not so much as seeing if the lights work etc.

Gotta meter. Yeah. So let's go back to the black wire at the ignition switch. There should be 12v all day long at that wire (the side coming from the direction of the engine bay). So that is the question. Is it there?

It's a lot like your not getting any power to the engine fuse box from the battery. On a regular car there is a wire from the positive post that feeds the engine bay fuse box. A wire quite a bit smaller than the large wire that goes to the starter.

HAILERS

Your car has some of the symptoms of a plug called X-17 (Front to Cluster switch harness) not being connected. It's a seventeen pin connector I THINK under the dash more or less in line with the steeing wheel shaft. I'm not real sure of that. 90 percent sure.

HAILERS

No. That looks more like a starter cut relay for car with theft protection.

I'm attaching the picture of the Junction Connector, WITHOUT the electrical plug that attaches to it. The electrical plug has about six BLACK wires going to it.

It attaches to the back of the left strut tower with a single 10mm size bolt. In the general location your picture is showing. Except fwd from there.

Sir Rupert Hobo

i remember seeing that, but i don't think i have it connected. i'll check all these things after work today.

HAILERS

With the electrical connector on it, it does not look like the jpg I attached. But then again, if you removed the harness and reinstalled another harness, I would have thought you would have seen it for sure. It's so different than anything else on the car. Stands out. Like I said, it supplies the ground for several things, on of which is the Main Relay. Sorta important. T

There is another one of these devices in the interior. Somewhere behind the dash. I've never seen it my self. Don't ever want to see it either. Later

Sir Rupert Hobo

ok.. i DO have that ground block.

i looked under the dash and there is an off white 17 pin female connector. i can't find the male connector for it though. the reason why i left it unhooked was because i thought it was for my PS unit in my GXL.(have a manual rack now)

WAYNE88N/A

If it's small (2X9 pins or whatever), and hanging down around the steering column, it just might be the power steering connector...

We don't have "ground blocks" on MY planes, Hailers- since the whole damn airframe is a ground (and a very well bonded one, at that), any ground wire just terminates to the nearest stringer or frame next to the component. Every now & then a couple of ground terminals might run to the same spot, but they're just stacked on top of each other under the bolt head...

If our cars' wiring was grounded like the airplanes, we'd never have the problems we're having with grounds...