as stated above. i solved the problem by swapping out the headlight switch on the cluster.. but the question is what do these 2 have in common? if i pull the headlight switch under the hood the power stops as well. so somewhere in here theres a possible wire occasionally rubbing and caused my headlight switch to overload?

could this be related to my headlights going up and down while the key is in the run position? anyone know where i can look at the diagram?

 

Actually, looking for a chaffing wire(s) is fairly easy- just follow the bundle, and look closely at every spot that could be suspect. Very, very, VERY rarely do wires inside of a bundle chaff against each other (I've never seen it), so any chaffing will be on the external wiring in the bundle, and be readily visible upon inspection.

You could also turn the key on, laugh a bit at your haunted headlights, then proceed to move different areas of the wiring harness to see if anything is affected...

BTW- have you done any alternator work lately?

 

heres what its lookin like. the old switch no works again so a wire is the suspect. i believe that the "up" wire for the retractors is somehow getting a 12v feed that is only live when the ignition is present. the switch tells it to go down so it tries going down but the up is saying go up again. so it repeats process over and over. and now with my new problem i think more than 1 wire may be chaffed or touching. 1 wire before the fuse box but after the fuse block (underhood) because when i would unplug the headlight fuse it would shut off with the key off. so im thinking somewhere between the ignition bundle and headlight bundle theres a wire or a few that are missing their rubber coating and occasoinally touching. anyone else follow this logic?

 

OK, so your major malfunction seems to be that the headlight circuit is feeding into the retractor circuit. BUT, you said earlier that when the retractor fuse was pulled, everything came to a screeching halt, right?

Do you know how to read a schematic? The retractor circuit is easy; the headlight circuit (including the cluster switch) somewhat more difficult (I don't know why Mazda designed it like that, they could have made it a hell of a lot simpler to get the same results).

You're going to have to troubleshoot, by breaking the circuits down (usually at the plugs or components) and making sure each section is doing what it's supposed to do by taking voltage readings.

There are a LOT of diodes in this system, and when diodes short out, lots of funky things happen. Do you know how to troubleshoot a diode?

 

no idea on the diode, and no its not a screeching halt. it finishes its movement (either up or down)

 

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...chmentid=89313

There's a schematic of the headlight circuit in the ONLINE 89 FSM. It's in the BODY ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

A larger schematic of a series four in this post: https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...light=attached

 

I did alternator work this morning, and now my car wont stop.
What is wrong?

 

just found it!
small wire at the back of the ALT was mixed.

 

lol when i saw alt work i said he crossed the wire but hey you figured it out =)
TwEaK