Hey guys,

Been chasing down an electrical / ignition issue for a couple weeks and can't figure out the problem so figured I'd post my issue here and see if anyone has any advice.

So about 2 weeks ago I installed a Pettit starter booster to my starter on a 93 mostly stock, new to me FD, and all was well at first, started up much better, no more click click, or sluggish starts. I was driving the car on the highway for the first time after installing the starter booster and the car just died. I pulled it over and popped the hood and couldn't find any issue but the car wouldn't turn over, the starter was getting juice but wouldn't start. I checked all the wiring to the starter and was moving the wiring harnesses around to see if anything was removed and tried to start again, and it started right up. I was worried about it dying again since I hadn't found the issue so I pulled off the highway and into a parking lot and right on cue, the car died again. I had the hood popped and was trying to start it and a puff of smoke came up from the driver side engine bay, so I disconnected the negative terminal and had the car towed home.

I believe the short / smoke to have been caused by a bad wiring starter harness, and by me installing the starter booster, may have either overloaded it or perhaps when I was installing it I inadvertently caused 2 exposed wires to touch inside one of the harnesses. It should be noted that I have a stock ECU, stock fuel system, stock ignition coils but I do have an HKS twinpower ignition amplifier installed. I wasn't able to figure out what smoked, I couldn't find anything that smelled or looked like it burned. I've since done the following to try to fix the issue:

1. Installed new starter harness
2. Installed a new starter
3. Installed new battery harness
4. Installed new ignition coil wiring harness
5. Installed new igniter
6. Installed new spark plugs
7. Installed new EGI relay (even tried bypassing it with jumpers)
8. Ran an additional ground from chassis to engine using pettit engine grounding kit

Now here's what's weird: after performing the above, I found that my HKS twinpower still does not get power when the key is turned on to ignition, the red light does not turn on, which it used to do. However when I remove the stock ignitor from it's grounding point on the driver side of the engine bay, the HKS twinpower will THEN get power and the red light turns on, which I only found out by accident. I am not quite sure why this would be happening, it's odd to me that the twinpower only gets power when the igniter is no longer grounded.

Anyone have any ideas why this might be happening?

Is it possible that I fried the HKS twinpower and perhaps this odd behavior is a symptom of that or does it sound like there's something else going on, perhaps I've not yet located the wiring harness or component that went up in smoke. Is it possible that the wiring from the ECU to the igniter is damaged and perhaps that is why it is only showing power on the HKS twinpower when I remove the ground to the igniter?

I can verify that the igniter is getting power when the key is turned to ignition as I've tested the power wire with successful results. I've inspected the wiring into the igniter and it seems OK and I can't detect anything that burnt or smells of smoke in that connector or harness.

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

 

It dosent explain your car dying but im going to say it again anyway.

As far as in concerned the starter booster is just a band aid for a worn out starter motor.

All it does is give the old worn out starter motor more power so it can turn even with the old worn out brushes. Fix the issue don't just throw more power at it.

 

Thanks and yea I forgot to mention I removed the starter booster after I replaced the starter.

 

oh, if you installed the starter booster with your old starter - and it still didnt have the power to turn over properly then that probably fried your wiring.

You can feel the thick wire to the starter solenoid heat up alot when trying to start it if it wont turn over. its because it will pull mega amps TRYING to turn the starter over, so it gets hot and kills stuff.

I can only image how much amps it could pull not turning over with a boosted starter amp.

 

Bullshit.

My car has an impeccable starting/charging system. NEW ignition switch, NEW starter, rebuilt the starting/charging harness with a low-mileage one with upgraded parts, you name it. I threw everything at the problem, STILL have click-click start problems. Built myself a starter booster, problem solved.

The "starter booster" isn't a hack, it fixes an issue with Mazda's design. A downpipe isn't a hack, viton check valves aren't hacks, this ain't a hack either.

To the original poster, if you have hot wires shorting out, that will cause all sorts of weird issues. The starting/charging harness is separate from the car and can relatively easily be removed. It runs from the battery terminals, to the alternator, to the two grey plugs by the battery, all down finally to the starter.

Remove it from the car, go over it with a fine tooth comb, and see if you have a short somewhere. You might want to get a lower mileage one if yours is chewed up or damaged.

Dale

 

If your getting full power to the starter motor - there's only one reason why I can comprehend why it wouldent turn...because the brushes inside are screwed. (edit: or the starter solenoid is no good)

Care to explain reasons reasons why a starter motor may not turn over if its getting full power?

 

Thanks for the input Dale, but I've already done that and I've already replaced it with a low mileage harness as my starter harness was really brittle and I picked up a battery harness, a starter harness, a coil harness and installed them all.

The issue is still happening with my igniter not powering the HKS twinpower or the coils when it is grounded.

 

Bad or inadequate battery ground may be the problem.

 

I was thinking that too. I purchased the car recently and it has a battery relocation kit on it and the negative terminal is grounded to the chassis in the rear spare tire area.

To eliminate factors, since my new battery / starter harness is not molested and cut up like the one on the car when I got it, I will move the battery up to the engine bay and ground it out like it is with stock location and harness and see if things improve. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I just changed mine from the exact same area. You need to run the ground from the battery derictly to the engine.

 

Thanks for the input, going to go try this out now.

 

No change when changing the battery to stock location and using the stock battery harness with negative terminal connected to battery harness / engine ground.

Anyone else have any ideas? I'm wondering if the ignition coils could have been fried as well

 

Sounds like it should work. That assuming we are dealing with a seasoned skilled tech. I'm not saying you are not up for the job but there are a lot of assumptions inside each statement and or part checked or replaced. I did auto electrical, computer controls etc for 30 years and know something basic is a skew. I would first check the battery voltage -- 12+ is likely OK. We are missing a visual, Take pictures of the battery, its connections pos and neg and the ground on the engine. A pic of the starter wiring would also be great. Sorry I know its a lot to ask ......

 

No problem, and thanks for the help! I'll take pics of all those items tomorrow