SAH-RX7

Hey All.. Have a strange problem to troubleshoot. 1983 RX, 12A stock motor. I got in this morning and drove about 20 miles no problem. Stopped for about 45 minutes and when I got back in, turned the key to the on position, the lights on the dash, the radio, etc came on. Turned the key to the start position and "click" and EVERYTHING electrical turned off. I thought maybe the ignition switch was the issue, but headlights, outside the ignition circuit would not come on either. So, now I am thinking fuse/fuseable link. OK. I disconnect the battery for a while (5 mins) and hook it back up and everything comes back to life....until i try and start it.. same symptoms. Is there a relay or something that is acting up? Any ideas where to start? I did do a search here, but came up empty.

Thanks!!

-Steve

tmking66

Check your battery cables very closely. I had a similar problem with an 85 and it turned out to be a bad battery cable connection. Look at the terminals and give them a good cleaning. Check out the connectors on the cables. You may want to take them off the cables and clean or get new ones. Especially check the neg. cable where it attaches to the engine at the starter. That is the grounding point for the entire car. You may also want to run some additional grounds to the engine and body. I doubt it is a fuse problem since it got partially better after you removed the battery cable. If this does not work it still could be your ignition switch since most all electrical system get there power from the ignition switch.

Good Luck!

LongDuck

This is definitely your battery cable connection where it attaches to the battery. I would even go so far as to say that it's your NEGATIVE battery cable, but this is mostly an assumption.

If your charging system (Alt) is in good shape, the battery is holding a charge well, and the car behaves as you describe, try scrubbing the terminals (inside the clamps and outside of the posts on the battery) with baking soda and water mixed, and then re-attach using some good quality wheel bearing grease between the terminal and clamp. This grease won't impact current carrying capacity, but will help to keep O2 out of the airgaps in the joint and reduce corrosion.

This is a very common problem when corrosion causes a high resistance connection. HTH,

Aaron_M

ok i have the exact same problem.I just replaced the battery and it seems to be fine but i want to go ahead and change the bettery cable connectors.My problem is i dont know how you get the connectors off the cable.I think they are the original connectors.Also, What is the extra wire on the battery cable????

SAH-RX7

Hey. I replaced the connector and it worked great...for a couple of months.. then the exact same problem AGAIN!! This time I replaced the ENTIRE Cable. The heavy wire connects directly from the Battery to the starter the thinner wire connects to the electrical system to power the remaining car. The cable wasnt all that expensive, it was relatively easy to replace and the problem seems to be solved.

hope that helps

-Steve

Tanjo

Im having a sort of similar problem. I drove my car all day long, turned it off and started it about 10 times, and on the 11th time, when I turn the key, all my lights and everything go on, but there is NO noise from the starter. Its like my ignition just decided to come off the starter or something. It compression starts just fine, but the key wont turn the starter.