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So I have had my 1996 RX-7 for a little over a year with minor issues, but the first major one came in hard. One day when I went to start to car, nothing happened, so I went to investigate. With the getting the car started and sitting in idle, almost every dash warning light came in and shortly later, the car died. I ended up replacing the battery with one I am sure that works with the car three days later to find the same issues still plaguing me. Here's a list of the symptoms I've been able to find:
-Almost all dash warning lights come in (notably not the check alternator light)
-Car will not idle due to battery voltage slowly dropping until it dies at around 6.75VDC off the battery.
-With a new battery, same thing happens.
-Even with the car off, battery voltage is still below that 12.4-12.6VDC range (sits at 11.4VDC give or take)
-Alternator terminal points that the FSM points out with the car in idle are below the voltages given. (They fluctuate, but do not go above 13V at all).
-Car cranks and starts fine if the battery is fully charged from a trickle charger or via a jump.
-Car is functional above an idle RPM value and is self sustaining.
-No indications of mechanical trouble.
-Two leads near the battery we found to not be connected (more down below).
Obviously to me, this points to an alternator issue, however the car only has 44k miles on it, which far below the value I expect to see alternator trouble. Wanted to confer with the experience of others on this forum before buying a new alternator when it may possibly be a false positive or an unnecessary burden if it's something as simple as a component fix on the alternator.
Now about those leads, I found a black and red one (positive and negative??) Near the battery by the right headlight from looking into the engine bay. They are connected to a 40 Amp fuse (the black box) and seemingly come from that headlight area below the engine bay upper frame. I have scavenged through the 1995 USDM and 1996 JDM manuals for a clue as to what these leads are for, but I have no idea honestly. They were found completely disconnected from anything when I was in the process of checking the battery bay area on the car. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.
Low mileage doesn't mean it's not broken. Time will break all things and you don't know what people have done to the car over the past 30 years.
No idea what that doo dad in the picture is, it's not stock for sure.
Car should have 12.4v or so at the battery with the car off. Start the car and battery should show around 14v. If it's still the initial battery voltage alternator is bad. Bad alternator typically shows as all the idiot lights turning on. It's possible someone hooked up something backwards and fried the alternator or something. Also check the connectors at the alternator.
Do you have HID's or other lights on the car that aren't factory? Those look like the wiring that come with many HID and foglight Ebay kits I've seen installed on lots of vehicles. Could even be to an aftermarket horn.
Unfortunately, as I bought this car as an import, I wasn't able to get my hands on a vehicle history and the Japanese auction documents do not specify specific modifications, just that the car was minimally modified. I was able to repair the alternator and the car runs well again, but I lack the tools necessary to keep pulling wires in that area of the car to find out what they are for. Thanks for the advice guys. Will update on what I find.
Do you have HID's or other lights on the car that aren't factory? Those look like the wiring that come with many HID and foglight Ebay kits I've seen installed on lots of vehicles. Could even be to an aftermarket horn.
I'll take a look to see, I haven't actually looked at the front end of the vehicle while running in a bit so I can check to see what lights are working.
08-21-22, 12:58 PM
