Electrical Issue: Need verification
 

Recently started having a interesting electrical issue I wanted to see if anyone else can verify for me. When I start the car, many times the Coolant Light, Oil Level Light, ABS Light and Charge Battery light will remain on, and randomly flicker, turn off, turn back on etc. Also had the battery die a few times. I just wanted to verify that this does seam like a dead alternator before I pulled it off and took it to the shop to have it rebuilt. Any info would be appreciated.

~CosmoRx

Yes, it's the alternator.

That happens to me ONLY in the colder months.

Ill start the car and my charge light, coolant light, oil light, abs light will stay on unless i rev it to exactly 2k rpm just for 2 seconds. Then all lights go off and my car is fine.

But if i dont rev to 2k rpm. The idle will stay at around 1400rpm but it will be a bit choppy and those lights will stay on.

Never really figured out what is wrong but it doesnt affect anything. So whenever those lights come on upon initial cold startup, i just rev it to 2k for like 2 seconds and car goes to normal.

This morning I was listening to it while it was idling, I noticed a clicking noise.. Perhaps the voltage regulator failed? Does the factory sell the regulators?

The clicking sound was the air pump clutch trying to engage and failing (not enough juice). Replace the alt!

Roger, thanks for the help! I dont even have a cat in my car, if I knew what size belt to get id just pull the airpump out, I got a greddy pulley kit but no belt.

http://rx7.com/store/rx7/fdengine_accessories.html
http://www.gothamracing.com/catalog/...oducts_id=1168

Just started experiencing these symptoms today... warning lights come on, but gradually fade when i pass 3000rpm. Now they come on and don't go off at all. I get some minor backfiring too.

I'll check the alternator out tomorrow and post the outcome F.Y.I. :Kill1:

Speaking of clutches amd alternators... very recently I've had a grinding issue with upshifting from 1st to 2nd. To fix this I give a minimum 2500rpm rev before the shift. I'm convinced that this is a tranny issue however...

Now that someone put the clutch in the equation I'd like to ask: Does anyone know whether a failing alternator that's affecting the clutch could ultimately affect your ability to throw the car in gear?

the air pump clutch

How in Hades would the alternator affect the clutch? :scratch:

On another note, you shift below 2500 rpm???

Air pump - for exhaust + emissions right? The alternator has nothing to do with a clutch as far as I know... but hey? This goes to show how little I know about engines.

And, yes, I change below 2500rpm since my FD is a daily driver for the most part.

You are going to suffer a blown motor from excessive carbon build-up driving it like that! I daily drove mine for 3 years, drove it NORMALLY, as in 3-4k shifts with usually a nice WOT blast to 6k+ rpm once a day (or more).

You don't have to beat on it, but the car was never meant to be driven as grandma-style as you are. You might as well buy a daily driver!

Got everything sorted, replaced the coolant temp sensor now I got this very iritating whine when I get on boost around 4k, Im wondering if I may have reversed the 2 vac lines that run over the coolant temp sensor. Noise only happens on boost. Also I noticed my fans dont seem to turn on unless im on throttle. Also noticed at one point my relays on the passenger side of the car were freaking out, the one to the front driver side of the car.

Edit: also noted the car is tossing a CEL after airpump removal *using m2 stage 3 ecu*

bump for any input

Did you check to see what code the ECU is storing? That's the FIRST thing you should ALWAYS do when you have the CEL come on.

These are the codes it threw.

5 Knock sensor
17 Feedback system for O2 sensor

Any ideas on the knock sensor? perhaps wires are loose?
I can understand the O2 Sensor going off, its been happening on and off for a while.

Usually if you have #5, the car doesn't run so well. Is the car running a little rough?

Check the connection on the Knock Sensor. The Knock Sensor is usually installed in the front rotor housing above the front trailing plug. The connector connects to the main harness behind the alternator near the Purge Control Solenoid.

Check that, then reset the ECU and start it up again.

Yeah, its running pretty rough.. Thanks much for the help Mahjik!

mine is showing a code 5, knock sensor as well but my car runs fine as far as i can tell. i will have my guy ck it. thanks

Try resetting the ECU; run the car for a bit and then check the codes again to see if it comes back. I may have be an intermittent or a 'one time thing'. However, the ECU doesn't clear codes on its own so it just may be an old code.

Ok, Removed the greddy elbow and sure enough the sensor plug was hanging.. but with the other end of it still attached! The wire broke. After some inspection and a few beers found the wire it was once apart of.. Bad news is it is about 1inch long, and attached to the block. Delima.. I can pull everything apart, rats nest out, uim, etc to try to get to it or for the time being "jump" it using a t-connector on the sensor side of the wire and hook it to the engine harness near firewall or inside the car *which seams ALOT less labor intensive and a temp fix until I can just buy a new harness cause all my wires and connectors seam VERY brittle* Any idea what color/stripe wire to look for or where the nearest easy access place to splice in would be?

knock sensor wire is White...probably dirty white now.

If I were you, I'd get a new harness...how many years? how many miles? how much heat?

Yeah, Its a money issue right now though. The entire harness is junk overall, but money is very tight right now, so gotta make a temp fix. Only problem im seeing is the actual wire the plastic connector was connected to was brown, but I do see a white wire on the ecu side of the harness. Does the wire color change somewhere?

doesn't appear too

Ok, then something must be different about this harness for some reason. Ive triple checked to ensure that this is the wire that the harness came from, I pulled the metal connector with the wire around it out of the plastic connector that hooks from engine harness to sensor and indeed, the wire is brown not white. Perhaps I will post a picture of it tomorrow of the color of the wire. Thanks for all the help dubulup