JIM82RX7

iTrader: (2)

hey guys i have serched through all threds and faq's but have had minimal sucsses. please help

i have an 82 rx7 stock, it would turn over fine and start no problem, i went to start it a couple days ago but nothing, lights all come on, i can hear fuel pump but when i turn key nothing, tried a few times and i hear a clicking sound under hood
and then a big pop. i check all the normal things fuses bat. cables also pulled starter and had it check out and it is good.

my question is what else can i check i am stuck. any advise i get would be great

thanks

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

A clicking sound is usually an indication of a low battery condition. Recommend you clean the posts on the battery, the cables and reverify there is no corrosion on the grounds. Have the battery tested at a auto parts store. If you try to jump start it make sure that the negative cable from the booster attaches to the alt bracket. Do not try to put it to the negative side of the battery.

JIM82RX7

iTrader: (2)

thanks man i'll give it a try

JIM82RX7

iTrader: (2)

I Feel Stupid , Not To Have Checked That First, That Was It
Thanks Doc

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Don't feel bad, many have made the same mistake.
For all that read this thread. A lesson learned on voltage and amperage needs.
Alot of people make the mistake that if there radio and headlamps come on that the battery is in good condition or there can't be a problem with the cable to post connections.
Anytime you have this and you are just hearing a clicking noise when you attempt to start.
The first thing that needs to be done is pull the cables from the battery and clean the posts on the battery and the insides of the cable connections. Then you should be looking at the conditon of the ground connections.
If all of those are good lean towards the battery either being bad or discharged. At that point you can attempt to jump start following the method I have outlined for the connection of the negative jumper cable. Or you can take a known good battery out of another car or take the battery to the local auto parts and have it tested.

Rogue_Wulff

What doc is saying, is everything EXCEPT the starter, is powered by the small wire on the positive cable. The large cable only powers the starter while it is engaged.
I know some of you may have a hard time believeing this, but it is true.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

I'm sorry Rogue, but you lost me. What does that have to do with my post?

I know that the small wire is what activates the solenoid and opens up the circuit to the starter to get it cranking. I'm not sure what that has to do with a battery with low voltage.

Rogue_Wulff

Lights, radio, and everything else is powered by the little wire. If the larger one has corrosion preventing good contact, those other things can still work fine, but not the starter, regardless of how well charged the battery is.
I meant to add "In addition to" at the beggining, but my mind works WAY faster than my finger.......

Kentetsu

Just to prove that what the Doc says is true: I pulled my 7 out of the snow bank yesterday to get here started after an extended hibernation. While deflooding it (typical for my spring startup routine) I just about had it running, then the starter stopped responding completely.

Tracked it down to a tiny bit of corrosion on the positive cable where it connects to the starter. After that it was all zoom zoom.

OnlyOnThurs

This is on topic with Starting problems BUT but i am gonna THREAD JACK real quick SORRY!!!!!!!

I had an interesting thing happen to me yesterday and i am definetly thinking its a bad ground problem i have somwhere. Well i was on the highyway yesterday during 5pm stop and go traffic in 1st gear when all of a sudden the car felt like it was starving for fuel BADLY! Then she died. I started her up...then she died again almost immediately. So i pushed to the highway shoulder. Anyways to make a long stary short the car started again after resting for a bit then it happend again about 20 mins later at a stop light. Well i was trying to crank her and she was cranking SLOWLY then i saw smoke coming from the positive battery terminal. Well she started again after a short rest and i was on my way.

So i went to the nearest auto parts store to have them check the battery but needless to say the battery was good accordin gto thier machine (but it did have alot of corrosion on her). So i am thinking that i may need to change my battery cables seeing taht they look liek they are original from 1982. My fuel pump is only a year old and so is my starter....so i highly doubt its those items. But what do you guys think? Can a bad ground make the car seem like its starving for fuel like that? Any other ideas?

Aviator 902S

No, but a clogged fuel filter would. The filter is located just ahead of the tank and just aft of the fuel pump. It's a small plastic in-line type filter, costs under five bucks and takes five minutes to swap out. Yours is probably restricting flow just enough to cause intermittent fuel-starvation issues.

On the other hand, correction: a bad ground could cause fuel-starvation symptoms--- if said bad ground (or bad connection) was located in the electric fuel pump circuitry. One problem area for this is in the connector located in the wiring harness under the drivers' side storage bin. (If you remove the storage bin you'll see it). If water gets into this area (usually via rust holes from the drivers' side rear wheel well) it can short out the connector--- intermittently at first, then permanently.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

I suppose it possible that the voltage/amperage was dropping on the fuel pump. What other electrical items were running at the time and did shutting them off make a difference? Smoking battery cable, yes, it's time for a replacement and connection cleaning.

OnlyOnThurs

I had my radio and i believe my day time running lights on at the moment it started happening...and shutting my radio off DID actaully make A little bit of difference but not that much...i will be replacing these cables asap!

Rogue_Wulff

Yes, low voltage can make the pump run slower. A bad ground can even cause it to quit, intermittantly.
As for the smoking cable, that could be related as well. Remember a few posts back, I said everything except the starter gets power from the small wire on the positive battery terminal. A bad connection on this small wire only allows X voltage/amperage to pass thru. The more stuff you have running, the less there is to go around.

kymber39845

This stuff is really helpful! I had to leave my baby beside the highway this morning and catch a ride to work. I was confused about the issue, but now have a route to take. See, her u-joints are going bad from sitting up. Today, she ran wonderfully until I got into the next county about 20 min from home. The u-joints seemed to be making the driveshaft buck a little. This has been going on for the second day (I'm putting new ones in today). I pulled off the road to let some cars pass and she died. Okay, I started her back up and decided to drive her a couple more miles to my dad's house and swap vehicles. She started back up, I put her in gear, she died. Now, I don't think this is related to the driveshaft issue, but my dad told me the neg cable felt a little loose when he tried to jump her for me. Is this coincidence or could the two somehow be related? I read another post where someone damaged the motor because of driveshaft vibration...scary...oh yeah, I had the neg booster cable on the neg terminal. Is there some reason why I shouldn't do that? I will hook it up per ya'll's suggestions next time.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

The suspected bad U-joints have nothing to do with the cable being loose.
The reason that you want the negative cable from the booster car to the boosted car on the alternator bracket is because of several reasons. 1). If the battery has a dead cell, you cannot make the positive to neagive connection thru the battery. 2). A very dead battery also is hard to make the ground connection thru the battery posts. And you cannot make a good ground with a loose terminal.

kymber39845

[QUOTE=rx7doctor]The suspected bad U-joints have nothing to do with the cable being loose.
QUOTE]

I reread my post and I'm sorry...I wasn't asking if the loose cable was related to the U-joint issue...I was referring to the dead car issue being related to the U-joint issue because of excessive vibration. LOL (I'm just a little 'ole southern girl...) I'm going to check all connections after work. Hopefully the two are absolutely unrelated and I can drive her home. BTW, I do not have the screen in the fuel tank. I do, however have a new fuel filter and the tank was recently removed and pressure washed out. It is, however possible that there may be a flake or two of rust still circulating. Would it be wise to insert an extra inline fuel filter? I bought one when we removed the screen but I haven't put it in yet. I managed to get the screen out of the leaking tank fully intact, but have no idea how to put it into the tank we put on the car...So many projects, so little time...thank you for being so patient with me. I read alot more than I post so I'll go back to researching some other stuff...Later!

Rogue_Wulff

If the car sat for a while, and had an excessive amount of rust in the tank, it's also possible that the metal fuel lines have some rust in them. In these cases, I usually advise people to add another fuel filter, right before the carb. This will prevent anything from the lines getting into the carb, and causing problems later.
This same type of issue could have already started to clog the new filter you installed, so it may need to be checked or replaced.
The dying problem could be related to the loose cable, or a fuel flow problem, along with a few other causes that are less common.

bliffle

A very small pressure drop can cause problems: my 85GSL wouldn't go over 30mph on the freeway one day and I tested the fuel pressure and found it to be only 10% below the lowest allowed FSM pressure. New filter and fuel pump fixed it. Even so, the pressure is just up into the allowable range, so I suspect that very little debris would be required to cause a problem.

bliffle

A very small pressure drop can cause problems: my 85GSL wouldn't go over 30mph on the freeway one day and I tested the fuel pressure and found it to be only 10% below the lowest allowed FSM pressure. New filter and fuel pump fixed it. Even so, the pressure is just up into the allowable range, so I suspect that very little debris would be required to cause a problem.

dblclutch

iTrader: (1)

FWIW
You should put the fuel filter between the tank and fuel pump.
The pump will last longer.

Aviator 902S

Uh, that's precisely where it's located. The filter is downstream of the tank and upstream of the fuel pump.

Bigmotoxer

Wolf you're right and this is why(pretty much what Doc said but worded differently),when a battery post is corroded,(that goes for + and - terminals...I've seen some people overlook the - terminal or cable thinking the + is the only one of importance..I've also seen a real quick terminal cleaning not do the job, take your time do it right the first time and you won't have to do it for a long while)there may be enough contact on terminals to conduct small amp loads(such as radio, interior lts, ect)but when a high amp load is drawn on a corroded battery post(like a starter)there is not enough surface conductivity/continuity to carry the ampere, you may only get the clicking sound, you may not even get that. Never forget the negative post though, I've totally seen that overlooked many times...uh electricity is my specialty, now if I could just learn to work on rotories I'll be all set!

Bigmotoxer

Are we on U-joints now? Ok I'm out.

Bigmotoxer

goodluck