The start to a PERFECT day begins with your car not wanting to turn on, going to the mechanic and having them want to charge you $45 for an 4-5 min answer you already guessed, going back home and getting your tools from the house to remove the starter, and coming out just in time to see your neighbor scrape the side of your 1990 n/a GTU and completely take off the driver side mirror.

Yep. doesnt get better than that. and on top of that, instead of fixing the car i should be studying for finals. anyway, long story short i ended up replacing the starter with one that works. i connect it and it turns on. i let it run for 5 min and then decide to test it out again. NOTHING happens. i hear the starter whirring but thats it. i obviously connected it correctly or else it wouldnt have started in the first place.

i dont know why it keeps doing that. its been happening on and off for a year but now im barely getting around to it bc its bugging the hell out of me and also when im driving the rpm slowly falls down to zero after 3 min. that barelyl started happening on tuesday after i put in a new catback with two wicked flow mufflers and a new bosch o2 sensor. i thought it might be something electrical. someone. please. help. im two seconds away from just selling my baby...

 

Check your starter wiring. Also, how's your battery?

 

Idle problem could be vacum leak. Did you have to remove anything else to replace starter. Also check all hose and vacum connection if it's been an on going problem --- RARE IS 90 RX7 ---SALE YOU SHOULD NOT.

 

Starting wire is fine. i checked to see if it was to thinly connected to the end piece but it looked and felt fine. Battery is fine i just went to go recharge it a couple of days ago. and no i didnt have to remove anything else i just removed the two wires that connect to the starter. vacuum connection? me not know what you speak of...im sure i can find out but as i said before im also studying for my econ final....
and i didnt think they were rare. i thought they were umcommon but not rare...

 

Wiire looking fine does not indicate wire is fine. Sometimes the wire to connector crimp is bad, although looking good. You need a voltmeter to measure the voltage drop across the cable while cranking the starter. To measure the voltage across the cable place the posative probe of a voltmeter on the cable end that attaches to the battery. The neg probe to the cable connector at the starter end.
Use a voltmeter scale of >15 Volts. You will measure zero or the battery voltage depending how the starter solenoid is in the circuit. Have someone try to crank the engine. The voltage reading should be greater than zero, and less than one volt. If over one volt replace the cable.

 

If he can hear it whirring that probably isn't the problem.

If it's happened on more than one starter, perhaps your flywheel has a damaged ring gear? Maybe you should have the one starter you took out professionally rebuilt, as it seems as though you're saying the one you replaced it with is used as well?

 

Listen Yoda, 90 RX7's aren't rare.. WTF.




Dude.. sounds like you need to bitch slap your neighbor.. make him PAY!! Insurance taking care of that though right?

 

Check all your major ground wires, the last time I had that problem I had a major ground wire that was half bad and half loose. Most of the time it would start just fine, often it would be hard to crank, and sometimes all I would get is a whrrrr or a click, replaced the starter and it did good for about a month. Then it died completly, checked battery, checked starter, checked alternator, and a bunch of other stuff. Later that night I grabbed the ground wire and it broke right off. Made a new one, cleaned everything up and installed and she never started up so fast since I owned her.

It also had an associated rough idle when it hard started leading me to think it was something else. Rule of thumb #1 always check the vehicles charging / battery system before checking anything else.

 

- i meant that i checked the wire to connector crimp and it looked fine. im sure i can make a new connection though.
- the started i bought was a remanufactured one. actually i didnt even buy it, i had a lifetime guarantee on the one i had before and went to go make the switch. i disconnnected the starter, hooked up jumper cables to the battery and the clutch, and the used my screwdriver to make the contact between the starting wire connection and the cable that leads from the battery to the starter and it just clicked and whirred freely so it cant be the starter. as for the flywheel being damaged, i recently (4-5 months ago) but in a stage 1 ACT clutch and the flywheel teeth didnt look damaged at all. in fact the flywheel didnt look bad overall.
- i went to go talk to my neighbor afterwards and he said he'll pay me for the damages. i took pics of my car and his van. they were both moderately damaged. but i dont want to be an *** and just get it fixed anywhere. i want it to be at a decent price. they're as poor as i am. ha.
- i will definitely check the ground wires first because its the easiest and it sounds like a really good reason why its acting up.

Thanks alot guys.

 

check your main fuse in the box under the hood

 

which one is the main fuse? there are like 8 of them and i couldnt figure which one was which but either way none of them looked burned out.

 

okay some good news. My car starts once again!!! at first i thought it was the starter. Then i moved on to the alternator. My cousin came by and told me it was the ground that goes to the starter just like some of you said, so we just did a "quick fix" and connected a wire from the ground to the alternator and it starts better than it ever did. And the rpm doesnt fall to zero anymore. We are going to fix it right tomorrow but i want to thank all of you who helped. THANKS! i almost made a big mistake and gave up on my baby...im ashamed....

 

okay some good news. My car starts once again!!! at first i thought it was the starter. Then i moved on to the alternator. My cousin came by and told me it was the ground that goes to the starter just like some of you said, so we just did a "quick fix" and connected a wire from the ground to the alternator and it starts better than it ever did. And the rpm doesnt fall to zero anymore. We are going to fix it right tomorrow but i want to thank all of you who helped. THANKS! i almost made a big mistake and gave up on my baby...im ashamed....

 

Well... GRATZ!

 

I'Ll bet you that when you took the Bolt out of the Top of the Starter,When you went to replace it,You "dropped' the Ground off where the Bellhousing and engine Meet.Just to make Sure,Go to your car.and Look Down past the Oil Line at the Rear of the Engine,on the Driver's side.there is a Bracket there that holds some wires up,and it Also holds the BIG Ground for the Engine(it is Held on by the Longest Starter Bolt,on the engine side of the bolt).if that had Slipped off then you would have NO Power to the Starter.Doing what you did to "fix" the Car,is just Adding Ground,To where it was Supposed to be supplied in the first Place.That would have been through the Negative wire that I am Speaking of.