Hello my name is Sean. I purchased this car a month ago.

Car:

93 RX7 Touring
155,000 miles
Rebuilt 35,000 miles ago
Stock components / setup unless stated otherwise
Clifford Matrix RS3.5 Alarm
BOSE removed
Kenwood Deck
6.5" Pioneer Speakers
Cobra 9370 Radar Detector

Maintenance I recently completed:
New vacuum hoses
New purge valve solenoid
New L and R differential seals
New Diff mount bushings

Diagnostics Performed:
Smoke leak test = PASS
Battery load test = PASS

***PROBLEM***

After having the diff seals replaced I drove my car home from Ricks Performance in Pleasanton, CA, honestly one of the best and most professional shops I've ever seen, I started to have trouble starting the car.

Once I got home it seemed almost like the battery was dying when I would try to start car. I have had the click click start problem in the past as well if that is related but usually after a few tries it starts.

I get home and park in the driveway. This morning I replace the AST with a new stock AST (original lasted 20 years so why not I figure).

I try to start car and I hear a relay click once. No cranking, nothing.

I tried to jump the car, put the battery on a charger and finally had the battery load tested and it came out fine with a 100% charge.

I thought it might be a problem with the aftermarket alarm. I connected the starter wire back together and bypassed the alarms relay. I probed the wires and here are my readings.

Multimeter Readings:
12v wire - (12.4v)
ignition - (12.0v key to on position) (10.8v key to crank)
starter - (12.4v mommentarily) (10.2v key to crank)

Tomorrow I want to put 12v directly to the starter when I get it on jackstands to see if that might be the problem. The battery has been tested and I cleaned the terminals and checked with a multimeter for total volts and charging both which pass.

Is this just a matter of brass contacts causing resistance and I'm not getting 12v on the ignition and starter while cranking?

Any advice would be appreciated thanks!

 

*Update*

I used a multimeter to test the starter today and can confirm that the starter is the problem. The S terminal was getting 0 volts cranking and after applying a hotwire to the terminal directly it still refused to function.

Having starter rebuilt this Monday. When it comes to rebuilding a starter is that something an average joe mechanic can do?

I am thinking about doing some really basic video maintenance shorts for the rx7.

 

AutoZone had them for 69 $ . Last week I checked and hear in Indiana they had one on the shelf

 

I'm having a similar problem on my 2nd gen. Battery is 12.5v and with key on to crank the starter solenoid reads 9v...possibly not enough to crank it? But if I use a 12v battery hotwire to the terminal that's connected to the solenoid terminal it cranks fine... May just be a bad connection or voltage drop somewhere instead of a bad starter. My starter is brand new btw tested and works too...but I still get the click click start problem

 

To bypass the click click start problem you can eliminate the stock ignition kill relay. Search the forum for the click click start problem and you will find detailed instructions on how to do it with nothing but a paperclip. I can confirm it works. Also, pettit makes a 49 dollar starter booster that is supposed to eliminate this problem. I just got it in the mail and will be trying that instead of deleting the stock kill.

Sounds like you know whats your problem is. 9v to starter is nowhere near enough. I considered running a hotwire straight from the battery to the starter and throwing a push switch in between to use as my starter. There are detailed instructions here on how to do that as well. Lookup rx7 s2000 push start mod.

Good luck, I had my car towed 50 miles to mechanic only to have it unflood itself once it got there lol. I didn't want to mess with the engine and pull plugs since I don't have much experience with that or rotary engines in general.