After driving the car 5 hours home yesterday and it not starting on me today I've already had a warm welcome to the world of RX7's I have numerous questions about little quirks I've already encountered, some worse than others. I've search for a few of these issues and some seem to be common.

- The tach has died on me twice, so far both times it has come back to life. I believe this is usually just an issue with the cluster? What's strange is the first time it went out the car seemed to have lost power for a moment, then I heard a relay/relays clicking from under the glovebox like crazy for about 10 seconds.
- My oil pressure gauge is pegged to max whenever the car is running.
- When I press the button for the HVAC to blow on both dash vents/foot vents the air is extremely hot, but when I select just dash vent it seems to be relatively cool.
- At night my cluster lights will periodically increase to max brightness; during this time the dimmer has no effect.
- Didn't the 10ae have power locks? If so, mine surely don't work!
- Steering is VERY heavy, even at highway speed. Is this normal or could something be wrong?

These are just some of the problems with my FC so far, any direction, comments, or information is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

tach issue could be a number of things, usually it is a trailing coil failing but the clicking noise could mean the main relay is shutting off intermittently due to poor wiring/connections.

does the oil pressure gauge peg with just the key on engine not running? if yes then the sender wire is shorted to ground, if not and only while running then your sender is likely crap.

the HVAC panel is a pile, try to find one in better condition. they always fail and give random symptoms.

no idea why the dimmer isn't working, that isn't a common issue.

10th AE's all had follow me door locks, the driver door doesn't have an auto lock but the passenger side should unlock with the driver's door. usually the issue is simply the micro switch in the driver's door is faulty or the rods need to be adjusted.

power steering on all the 2nd gens is very heavy when at speed. in fact the whole system rarely works properly and usually feels heavy at all speeds when the car is fully warmed up, usually due to poor wiring or faulty P/S pressure switch in the pump and/or faulty P/S controller under the dash.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my questions.

I will check on the oil pressure gauge in relation to key position tomorrow.

I see on Mazdatrix site they claim the air mix motor can go bad and also make the HVAC act funny. In your experience should I try the Logicon first?

The dimmer itself works, for some reason the brightness on my cluster just fluctuates and during a fluctuation the dimmer is inoperable.

Please forgive me, but what is a follow me lock? Does that mean the passenger size will lock/unlock with input from the key on the driver's door?

 

if you can find a logicon for a reasonable price it is easier to swap out than working with the electrical motors which are also very difficult to test induvidually without special equipment. i have had a few cases where the motors were stuck and i just forced them by hand and they started working properly again, sometimes the stepper motors get out of sync.

problem with the dimmer is probably the unit itself, i would swap the headlight switch with another one because i can't realistically think of anything else that would cause it aside from something else wired into the dimmer circuit feeding it battery voltage.

a follow me lock is just what it sounds like, the passenger door lock follows the operation of the driver's door. it's a single power door lock for the car that works the passenger door to unlock/lock it when the driver door is unlocked/locked.