So my yesterday started with me paying $1560 to get my car back from the shop, to find out that i could only boost up to 6pounds, after buying a 2nd brand new power fc ($600) and having a boost controller adaptor put in (for the third time). So that in itself was a little agrevated. i decided this morning that im just gonna rip the EVC V out and just use the Power FC boost controller, as best as it can.
I'm pretty sure my second turbo isnt kicking in, so it might be plumbing too.
So, i wake up bright and late with some time in my day to test fit my carbon fiber N1 hood. So i call up my friend to have him come over and give me a hand, and we get started. We take off the factory hood, easy. We get the N1 hood and put it on and i try to close it. it closes, but the latch doesnt lock all the way down. i look at the rain guards, and see if theyre removeable. Yup, so i take them off. Try it again, nothing. Hmmmmm....... HKS racing suction kit intakes. I unbolt the intake brace and twist it making it lower. Nope. i call Chuck at Rotary Extreme and he tells me to adjust the latch catch. So i adjust that down, and its still not latching. So i look under the vent and see that my Cusco strut tower bar is rubbing a little. So i remove my strut tower bar, and try latching it down....... Nothing, still no go. Finally i say to hell with it and put my factory hood back on. Im taking the latch off and just putting the hood pins on with the lock. hopefully that works.
The story of my day doesnt end there.
She was very dirty as well so i decided to take her through a touch free car wash. So i get a car wash consisting of wash, wax, wheels, and underspray. mid way through the wash my headlights start going up and down, not in sequence. it was like what happens when the factory alarm goes off. so i try flippin the lights, hitting the light up/light down switch (for lack of technical term) and its still going off. so i pull over at the end of the wash and i pop the hood. i disconnected the battery and reconnected it. It still started going haywire. I check the fuses and pull the headlight fuse. it stoped, so that temporarily fixed the problem. i manualy put the headlight d i drive to meet my friends and my friend comes up with the idea to unplug the headlight motor while its up so i can at least drive it home in the dark.
So that was my day. In case you thought your day was bad, this should be a great pick up.
so to recap, my brand new computer is perfect but my boost controller cant boost past 6psi and my secondary turbine possibly doesnt kick in. My goregous carbon fiber hood fits perfectly, but doesnt latch down. My headlights are crazy and i have to go Macgyver on them to get them to work or to put them down so i dont look like a tool driving my car in the middle of the day with my lights up.

i think this is life's way of teaching me patience so that when i have my first kid it'll be a piece of cake. thanks for listening to my sob story. i appreciate it and hope you guys have better luck and days then mine.

 

Man...

 

What shop is working on your car? they should never have let the car left (taking 1500 of your money in the process) with problems still not sorted out.....

 

^ Absolutely! This is crazy.....WHO the hell would let a car out of their business with it not running properly? And WHY didn't you IMMEDIATELY take it back and say, "This car is not running right, please check it out."

You've got some issues to sort thru there. It sounds like there is something fundamentally wrong with your ECU set-up to me. You need to change one thing at a time and see how that affects the car. I mean, there is SOME reason why you are on your SECOND PowerFC and THIRD boost controller!

 

Of all that you mentioned the only real mystery is the headlights. The rest can be easily fixed so keep your head up and find a better shop.

 

Yea who is working on the car? I wish you were closer because I'd gladly give you a hand.

 

i truly should have turned it around and brought it back til it was fixed, but i naivly thought i could tweak and tune the EVC V to make it work. I set it up to the tee according to the manual that comes with it. I peak boost at 6.9psi. The hoses are ran according to the manual from the evc boost controller with the extra hoses and clamps for twin turbos. My thoughts are that the secondary turbo doesnt kick in, and that it might be a pill problem. Im bringing it back tuesday and im just gonna have it unpluged so we can see if its the computer, the second turbo, a vaccuum leak, solenoid, or the EVC. Bajaman, i agree. the computer should have been put in, checked for boost to see if everything was right, then the evc controller should have been put in. this is why i need to learn how to work on it myself. if i had a garage and tools, i would. but at an apt. complex there's not much you can do.
as for the hood, like i said, thats an easy fix.
headlights? i have no clue. ill take it to a tweeter and have someone uninstall the factory alarm.
thanks a lot gentlemen for your advice and kind words. ill keep you updated, and anymore advice would be great. thanks again.
happy easter.

 

Did you try putting the key in the drivers door and locking then unlocking the door. Sounds to me like your factory alarm went off and all you had to do was reset it (which is done with the drivers door lock) if your factory alarm is disabled (may have been done improperly) then disregard this post. If you don't make atleast 8 to 10 psi on the primary turbo the secondary turbo won't (or isn't supposed to) come on line. I agree with the others that the car should have never left the shhop not working correctly. On your hood you may want to make sure the catch has enough room or clearance around the latch as that may be limiting your hood from going all the way down. Sometimes they don't leave enough room around the latch area, lok for marks around the fiberglass in the latch area and see if anything is hitting.

 

So have you verified all vacuum lines are routed and connected properly? If that step hasn't been done, you're not even close to being out of the deep end.

 

Would have been a worse day if you got up, decided to troubleshoot your turbo spool/boost controller issue, overboosted and blew your motor. Always helps to put things in perspective

 

thanks guys. i did try putting the key in the door and turning it to reset the factory alarm, and that didnt work, so i just went with unplugging the headlight motors. as for the catch, i think that since i have a fmic and the catch has a brace supporting the fmic, it wont go down enough to allow the latch to lock. im gonna have the body shop remove the latch, and just use the lock and hoodpins. i have checked all visible lines to make sure they are all connected and i tried to listen for leaks, which i found is hard to do without fully loading the motor, and i couldnt hear anything. im just gonna remove the boost controller, and run 10psi which is better then a 7-5-6 boost pattern that im getting now. i also have a coolant leak that i have to fix as well, cause that wasnt done at the shop when i picked it up.
the car shouldnt have left the shop. period. if its not 100%, and your work and reputation is wrapped up in the car, you should do your best to make sure everything comes out pefect, or else fix it until it is. thats just my thoughts on customer service and business ethics, i guess
im getting a little frustrated, so im gonna park it and recooperate from a weekend from hell. ill think about it in a week. thanks a lot gentlemen for listening to me rant again. your help is, as always, appreciated. enjoi, and i hope for better days for you and your 7's.

 

I just drove my car down 84 to Connecticut, paid $100, waited 2 hours, and my car is running PERFECT!! We uninstalled the EVC V boost controller, turned the boost on the Power FC up to 10psi on stage one and 13/14psi on stage 2. he fixed my air to fuel ratio guage, that turned out to be a disconnected ground wire, he fixed all the loose bolts on my downpipe and the one broken one, he reattached the fuse box in front of my radiator that was dangling which caused the headlights to go crazy in the car wash. it took three long years and $32,000plus dollars to get my car to where it is. I went through 2 mechanics, and i shouldve come to Jesse first. The guy is a Mazda Rotary Specialist, and has been since 1999, and hes been working on cars before that. He owns a crazy FD himself and he knows his way around the engine. It seriously took him less then 2 hours to get my car Perfect, a feat that a year and 3 months wasnt doable at the other shop.

I would highly reccommend anyone to this guy. He lives in Somers, CT right over the boarder of MA and off 84. Dave at KDR sometimes sends jobs to him if KDR's clients are near him. The guy has a wealth of knowledge, and watching him take care of every problem i told him about one after another, and fixing everything else 100% i am not going anywhere else. His phone number is (860)978-2687. He works at Mazda m-f and works out of his own garage on the weekends, so hes great for side jobs. when i went he was throwing a RX-7store motor in a FD and he was dialing in his car.

Either way, my car is perfect and i cannot be happier. its great to finally have a car that throws your head back in the seat. thanks for all your trouble shooting help.

 

glad to hear it worked out for you in the end.

 

No mystery there. It's not the alarm itself, as the alarm makes them go up and down in sequence, IIRC. Yours are going up and down OUT of sequence. It's from water buildup in the relay box: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/headlights-alarm-malfunction-300799/

~Ramy

 

Have to laugh at this. I still have the factory alarm and have been told that if the hood is open it won't arm.....mine must be special because it will arm even if you don't lock the doors (may not arm but deffinately goes off) any way I hapen to be standing in the garge, hood up car unlocked and the damn things starts beeping the horn and the headlights went up and down, at first in sequense but after a couple cycles they were deffinately going upa nd down at different times, my guess is that all the circuicts not being equal the motors etc. etc. that they will go up and down at differnt times wether it's the alarms or in his case water in the relays by the radiator. Not much information here but thought I'd mention it as it's not always water that will cause them to be out of sequense. Jack

 

Sorry, I know you're having car troubles and that sucks and I wish I could help you out, but wait until you spend a day washing and waxing your car and your 2 year old comes outside while you're bent down at the rear of the car drying it off and he's at the front of the car screaming "Daddy's Fast Car, Daddy's Fast Car!" and slapping his hands up and down on the hood with birthday cake icing all over his hands! Yeah, it's cute and nothing that can't be fixed but by George, going to war won't make raising kids "a piece of cake!"

Didn't mean to try and hack this thread but just wanted to throw that in there. I have one son that turned 2 yesterday and one son that is 3 months old. I am a proud but tired parent

Wish you luck with your FD.

 

I got the fix to this....

All you have to do is push the drivers side lock on the down then up.. I still dont' know why this happens on my car, But doing this stops the alarm.

I think it has something to do with unlocking the car door with the key, but not turning it hard enough to pull the lock all the way up to disengauge the alarm, but enough to open the door.