So the other day I drove up to Beaverton to talk with Mark at FD3S Engineering about getting some body work done on my car great guy, we talked some and I'm set to go on that whenever I decide to pull the trigger on it.

The problem came up on my drive home. On the way up the car drove like normal, its been behaving pretty well since I got the new OMP in and did an experiment with the rats nest, and I'm pretty sure the issue I'm having is not related. Pretty much is what happened is about a half hour into my drive home I went to give the car some gas to pass someone in 5th, but all of a sudden I got this loud TICK TICK TICK noise coming from something either in the engine bay, or the Oil Pressure gauge, and the car lost power like it hit a boost or fuel cut. It will still accelerate, but very slowly and it will tick away and fight me the whole time. I have a 10 micron stainless steel mesh fuel filter I cleaned out after this, and I made sure it was full up on oil, and took it out again later so I can get a video of the problem and sound, and at first it was just fine, but after warming up it started to do it again. It only happens in 4th or 5th gear and only when I give it more than around 50% throttle suddenly, I can ease into higher speeds when cruising just fine, but if I need a sudden speed change I'd have to down-shift and go. I've got a video below, so if anyone can chime in with ideas it would help. I should probably add my entire suspension is...."tired" and I'm working on getting it replaced, and both of my engine mounts are FUBAR'd so that may be the case too, but I just thought I'd get some 3rd party info in case I need to add something else to the order sheet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02rT83hLh5w

Thanks All,
Andrew

 

Check your TPS voltages.

thewird

 

checked the TPS, voltages were out of spec by about ~.05 not much but I fixed it and took another test drive, no dice.

I should probably also add that 1st-3rd is fine, but 4th will do it above 5500ish RPM, and 5th does it whenever I floor it. Also when it makes that clicking noise, I feel a pulse in the shifter at the same time.

 

Did you check the full throttle voltage doesn't go out of spec when you put your foot down? (or at any point as you move through the throttle range)

thewird

 

What you have for mods?

 

the voltage remains linear from minimum to max for both wires.

Only mods are a factory downpipe and a modified rats nest for simplified seq. I did recently put a new OMP in, but the car was driving fine with that and just started this all of a sudden.

 

I would check for a short some where.

 

Generally though if it were a short to something engine critical enough it would kill power to the engine there should be a code that goes with it, but I've got nothing. CEL says clean bill of health, and even if its intermittent the ECU stored codes until it gets cleared, so something should show up.

I honestly wish it would have given me something like that so I'd have a place to start, and not this intermittent BS

 

dunno if your oil press gauge is mechanical but if it is, its normal for them to tick when the oil gets hot.

 

its the stock gauge....

 

bump for more ideas

 

Does your VTA1 ever go over 4.6 volts? I was tuning a car once that made exactly that sound and it was just the TPS going out of spec and some sort of ECU failsafe kicking in. Replaced the TPS, fixed the problem.

thewird

 

maybe a solenoid is makeing the ticking sound. Are there any left with the simpliyifed seq???

 

I've got the stock ECU but IIRC VTA1 is the B/G wire, I cant really be sure how it behaves at speed, but during standard adjustment time it maxes at ~4.3-4.4 area, and if I adjust it down further VTA2 will be out of spec which means ordering a new one maybe.

The simplified seq leaved the entire turbo control system intact and just removes the emissions equipment which means there are still around 8 solenoids of different types under the UIM. I tested the ones that are most prone to failure before I put them back in and they checked out just fine. I seriously doubt it would be one of the solenoids because the ticking is LOUD, like you can hear it over the wind if the windows are down kind of loud, and like I said before, you can actually feel it in the shifter pulsing at the same time.

Another possible symptom I noticed this morning was my oil pressure gauge just dropping, and spending a *lot* of time around the 0 mark, particularly when I let off the gas. I know the car is full up on oil and its done that before when it was just a bad connection with the sender, but this time its fine AFAIK. Could the sender just be dead and causing most of the issues?

I've got new Himni motor mounts coming in, but I'm not really sure that has anything to do with it, and I may just say screw it and get a TPS when I place my next order with Ray, so IDK. This car has been the epitome of wierd since I bought it.

 

"Ticking" makes me think you have a bad or loose plug wire, and it is shorting to ground (thus the ticking noise, which is the sound of the arcing) at high combustion pressures (wider throttle opening). That would fit with your symptoms.

 

well the SOB did shock the hell out of me when I had someone crank the engine so I could check for air leaks last time I replaced the plugs, but I thought that was because I had a little oil on my hand at the time... guess its time to source some new wires. Would it cause those inconsistencies with the oil pressure gauge though? that gauge was working fine about a week ago, and once I did an oil change it started freaking out.

 

That confirms the plug-wire as the likely cause.

The oil pressure/sender problem is, IMO, a completely separate issue. You will need to either clean out, or if that doesn't work, replace the sender unit. You probably already know this, but that is a common problem. There are many threads on that subject.

Dave

 

Just don't do what I did and ignored the oil pressure gauge when it read 0 because I assumed it had failed as it was a common problem lol.

The other thing you could check is your map sensor. The reason I think its a sensor is because it was doing exactly that you showed in your video. But I guess try wires first.

thewird

 

oof, that must have hurt. do you know off the top of your head how much a new Oil pressure sender will run me? It work fine usually, but can get really twitchy sometimes, and I assumed it was just normal.

I think the MAP sensor is in good working order. Car usually drives fine and has power to spare, although it does run a little rich, it isn't anything too severe. I'll check the FSM for map sensor testing procedures.

 

It's been a while since I got mine, so call Malloy Mazda.

From the stickies:
Malloy Mazda , Ray Crowe is the parts manager, gives great prices to RX-7 owners, quick shipping:
(888) 533-3400 , (703) 490-8170 , fax: (703) 490-3864 , hmkparts@aol.com

Dave