well, car died on me at the gas station, it had been acting funny earlier in the day (spuddering while cruising etc...)
then i go to the gas station, get out, leave my car idling, come back out and my cars not running (car was cold when this happened) so i go to restart it, nothing

i push it home, then i take the plugs out, they are black and caked with carbon, i crank the engine over with the plugs out to spit the gas out, put new plugs in, nothing.....

i take one of the leading plugs out to check for spark, really weak orange spark.

while im doing this some gas in the engine ignited and sounded like a 12 gauge blast under the hood, no biggie. put the plugs back in and the car wants to start but wont

i think ive pinned it to an iginition related problem, either the igniters or coils, not really sure,
all i know is i dont have a car today, batterys dead in it (from trying to get it started so much) and im getting really fed up with mazdas!

 

You're going to list it on craiglist today, right?

 

wtf.. its already listed. back on topic..

 

So you listed the RX-7 as well? Good luck getting top dollar on both. By the way, what ever became of Blake's bid on the RV?

 

not sure, guess he didnt want it.

 

I used to loose an ignitor about every six months, so i just started carrying spares in the glove box.. It should still fire up relatively easy on the trailing side only or the leading side only. So it probably isnt an ignitor, unless its both of them. Good luck

 

try new plug wires... if it's a weak spark, it might just be too much resistance.

 

Sucks, man. Just when it was running so well, too!

 

They are 20+ year old cars. If you can't deal with replacing stuff on a regular basis you need to stay away from the first gen.
Sorry somtimes I get tired of seeing you complain about every tiny problem you have with your cars.
I've had lots of stuff go wrong but I never come looking for sympathy. I just fix it and tell people how great my car is.

BTW Bummer bout breaking down at the gas station.
Don't take me too seriously.

 

ur 7 heard u say the H word...

 

LOL^

And i agree with metallic_rock...it sounds to me like your wires have gone bad if you are getting a weak spark...if it was a bum ignitor...you would most likely not have any spark...

Also...dont get so bummed about your rex...i know that you will regret it if you sell it...i think that its fine that you want to get another reliable, good gas mileage honda or whatever...but i really dont think you should sell your rx7...just think of all the time, effort, and money youve put into it...and you can pick up an older honda dirt cheap man...just my .02

I went without a rex for a whole summer after i sold my '82...i absolutely hated it...im so happy to have another rx7...

Nut up and fix that car!

 

yeah, I"m happy I got another -7, even though I haven't even been able to drive it yet!.

 

a coil can cause weak spark as well. try switching the coils around, if the trailing one is strong and you use it for the leading it should be able to start. Then at least you've diagnosed the problem.

 

I've had several things go wrong with my 85 rx7 since i've had it, i've had to replace the idler arm, new struts, new blower motor, new brakes, new tires, replaced an ignitor, replaced my ignition coils (i have my two old ones that should still be good (since it was the ignitor that was bad), I've had to rebuild my clutch release cylinder (worked for domino's pizza on superbowl sunday where if i left my car for 5 minutes i'd have no clutch pressure). And yes i understand the frustration when your car dies, lord knows i spent two hours pumping my cluth straight because i didn't wanna get my car towed. For me my car has 210k miles on the body, but an engine with 30k, i don't worry about the engine going bad, just everything else thats attached to the body. Lord knows i have to do list when it comes to my car.


Pinion Ring (Rear Diff) [add oil weekly] [$100 for aamco to fix]
Water Pump (Leaking from the weep hole) [add water weekly] [have part but havn't had time to replace it]
My cats have holes in them and need to go.

I've had to crawl underneath my car twice so far to replace gaskets between my manifold and my pre-cat. (Both times i seem to have lost bolts, my lock washers turned to regular washers, and the bolts would come undone, and so i burned up my exhaust gaskets)

The way i look at it, i've already invested in this car, and for the amount of wear and tear i put on it with my job, and the fact that i have a heavy foot doesn't help, i'll go through a set of front brake pads in 14k miles.

But my point is, i'm not going to give up on my rx7, because we have a sorta symbiotic bond, its my baby, its me and it till the wheels fall off!

Don't lose hope man.

 

doesn't matter what used car you have you're allways going to have problems. Once something brenks and you replace it with something new. Its going to cause a straign on something else old. When that breaks and is replaced something else sees the straign. Its a never ending cycle of used car ownership. By the time you replace everything the first thing you fixed isnowand and ready for replacement. Itnever stops. No matter what car you have.

 

hey i didnt post this for sympathy i was kinda hoping someone could help me get my carr running...

 

Well thats completely different.
Next time just say that.
ie I'm stumped. Anybody got some idea whats wrong? Damn rotarys got my head spinning in the shape of an epitrochoid.
Good luck.
Poke poke. lol

 

If you want my old ignition coils i'll give them to you for $5 each, beck/arnley from schucks go for about 42.99 before tax, i picked up my msd blaster 2 ignition coils for 44.99 before tax. So if your interested let me know. Remember your supposed to replace your plugs, & wires about every 15k miles. If you need an ignitor, the cheapest one at schucks is $160 aproximately, when my ignitor died, i picked up a used one from my mechanic for $75. The typical price on the ignitors is 220+

You can also try a pick and pull, and see if you can grab a few ignitors from them, if you think that is the problem. They are the two black boxes located on your distributer, the easiest way to access them is to remove the distributer, refer to your service manual. Also make sure to note the postion of your distributer, and the gear thingy coming off the distributer, or else it will throw your timing off.

Good luck

 

thx for the offer, but ive got about 4 spare coild and about 6 spare igniters

and the ahhole thing wasent meant to be taken seriously and im glad you didnt

 

Hehe its all good, just doing my best to help my fellow rotor head brothers out.

 

I'm just easygoin like that.
It's all in good fun.

 

I would come help you get it going, but damn it, Im too far away bro. I was thinking coils like someone else said, but youve swapped hella **** around and still have the same problem. I dunno what to say other than maybe its the power or ground wires somewhere, either for the coils or the ignitors. You swapped dizzys so its not the pickups, you swapped coils, you swapped ignitors, you swapped cap, rotor and plug wires too, right? Damn man... Im pretty stumped on this. Roll it off a cliff, preferably one that makes it land in my driveway unharmed

~T.J.

 

Did you check the battery's volts/amps and the alternator?

 

alternator is pumping out 14 volts consistantly on the voltmeter..

 

Sound's like your engine is flooded.Have you done the unflooding procedure?