Hey guys. I'd like to say this just happened out of nowhere...but I'm afraid maybe I had it coming.

Anyway.

The car is an all-but unmoded '94 with somewhere in the neighborhood of 170k miles on the chasis. The motor is a rebuilt that I had installed two years ago after a housing seal problem toasted the first one. Call it 15k miles on the rebuilt.

Maintanance has been spotty. Thus I may have had this coming. Oil changes regular but not frequent. The battery and plugs are what were installed with the rebuild. The wiring is stock...and 15 years is quite a while for it to sit in the bay of a heat monster like an RX7. Fuel pump is stock, filter is in the neighborhood of 7 years old.

I've had problems recently with the lights dimming while the breaks were applied, the idle dropping at the same time. The power windows would get sluggish if a lot of juice was being used elsewhere (headlights, stereo, cockpit fan, multiple windows being lowered/raised). Weak battery-type stuff that I should have dealt with long ago....but didn't. Occasionally it'd take a couple tries to get the engine to turnover.

So this morning, I head out to go to work. Get in, turn the key, the ususal clicks and I head that whoosh-whoosh of what I assume is the starter turning the rotors...but it doesn't catch. Tried a bunch of times, but all I got was the clicking dropping in frequency and the whooshing going away completely. Dead battery, I figure. Call a friend. He comes over to give me a jump, but doesn't work. I should mention that the lights come on just fine, internal electronics are good, foglights, highbeams, all look ok. But all I'm getting is that clicking. We pushed the car a few feet while in gear, to see if we could shake something loose, but no joy. Even tried clutch starting it, which I was distinctly uncomfortable with, but that didn't get me anywhere, either (though we didn't get the car going very fast, I don't know a lot about the concept, but that might make a difference).

I got back in the car and gave the key one more try. Now, I'm not even getting that click-click sound anymore. I do, however, get a nice low buzzing noise that from inside sounded like it was coming from under the stearing column. I had my friend turn the key while I stood over the bay, and as near as I can tell, the sound is coming from the immediate area of the relay and fuse block that sits just fore of the left suspension tower. It seemed like it might be coming from the B1 fuse, but the systems that that fuse supports (rear whiper, dash indicator lights, etc) all work.

I know the battery is weak, and I know I need to swap out the plugs, and re-doing the main wiring wouldn't be a bad idea....but with all the "other" electronics seeming fine, I can't figure it. And this buzzing sound has me worried.

I'm stuck. I've only recently moved to this area, and don't know any of the mechanics enough to trust them to figure out a problem on a rotary engine. I'd like to take it in somewhere with as much insight as I can pull together, so any help anyone can offer will be GREATLY appreciated.

I'm in Richmond, VA, btw, incase someone knows anyone around here who wouldn't have to break out a road map when they pop the hood.

Thank you all

 

If anyone has a similar series of events, the problem was the battery.

New battery and things are back to normal.

 

FYI

Mechanics local to VA can be found in the Regional section:
https://www.rx7club.com/ne-rx-7-forum-30/

I think PFS is somewhere in VA and are known to be pretty good.

 

is it a buzzing noise or more of a hum