I had not intended to make my first post here a help post but I am completely stumped. The whole story is I recently bought a 1987 IROC-Z but as my wife and I cannot stand the automatic transmission they came with, this one fortunately had a Borg-Warner 5 speed installed in its place. No VAT. We put about 2-3,000 miles on it and last week as my wife was driving home late at night the car randomly cut out and died while she was driving down the road. As she was still moving she put it in gear and let out the clutch to get it started again and it just brought the whole car to a standstill on the road. The engine would not turn over even.

I believe that someone might have stolen gas out of the tank so I put an extra gallon of gas in and tried to give it a couple of roll starts but as it was 3AM I ended up calling AAA to get it back home.

As the starter was clicking I first made certain that there was 12.5 volts going from the battery to the posts on the starter. Next I took the starter off and had my local AutoZone test it. It passed with flying colors and spun right up every time. I put it back on the car partially since I had a hard time getting it back in and cranked it to make sure it would spin up just like at AutoZone, which it did. Once I finally got it back on all the way I turn the key and I get the same clicking after it turned over 1/4 of a crank a couple of times. I took the battery off and replaced it with a brand new one to be certain. Same issue. I took out both relays mounted next to the brake booster, both seem fine. However, one has a black wire that I think was connected to one of the wires of the relay that is no longer connected and I do not know what it goes to. I even tried working the tilt steering wheel around in case it was a short in the column. One day this week I randomly got the engine to turn over 4-5 cranks but have not been able to replicate it.

Currently the exact symptoms before I start trying to diagnose anything else but the not cranking issue, is I get into the car, turn the key, I hear the fuel pump start pushing fuel, the lights on the dash are illuminated, I try to crank it and it sounds like the solenoid clicks loudly but does nothing except turn off the dome lights if I leave the door open. I try again and it will not click at the solenoid but instead buzz/clicks at the relays next to the brake booster. I try it again and the dome lights/power stays off until I turn the key back to the off position. I turn the key back and try to start it again and it just turns off all power to the car until I turn it back to the off position again. I let it sit for a couple of hours and the same thing from the top.

Electrical is not my strongest ability when I have diagrams let alone when someone has changed it from Auto to Manual so I have no idea what to do at this point. Any thoughts? All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
~Spike~

 

See if you can get it to turn over by hand before you go much farther. A strong battery/starter should spin the engine over no problem, unless it was nearly siezed or hydrolocked. You can feel those when you turn it over by hand

 

as a first test pull all the spark plugs and have the wife try to start the engine while you see if it will spin , watching the engine compartment for crap squirting out of plug holes or sparks from bad electrical connections once the plugs are removed , ,removing the plugs significantly reduces the Resistance to rotation and if you blew a head gasket or damaged a piston with detonation theres a good chance youll see crap exit the open plug holes,if it spins easily and the plugs look good theres a good chance its a bad electrical connection and yeah! don,t panic its going to be a bit noisy

 

Given that it was running fine and then just suddenly started with the flat battery symptoms - start solenoid clicking but no crank, lights dimming etc, I would suspect something wrong with the main power electrics.

Given that you have verified starter ok and have a new battery, that leaves battery terminals, cables, and grounds. Sounds like it's trying to go, but can't muster the current required due to dirt, corrosion etc.

 

I like the idea of not spending any additional money so I will be taking out the spark plugs to see if the starter can turn the engine with less resistance, and I guess buy something to turn it over by hand if need be. As I have been worried about it possibly being seized.

I also like the idea of a bad ground since some of the symptoms fit but I cannot understand why it would spin the starter no problem before I finished putting it back in but then after I put it back in it fails to turn over (no resistance on the ground, have not checked positive for resistance yet). Which also makes me wonder why if the engine was seized, why it turned over a few times and sounded like it was close to starting that one time but now it won't turn over at all. I have never had a seized engine so I am not really clear on all the symptoms.

Thanks for the ideas,

~Spike~

 

a seized engine has 1 symptom, it doesnt turn over. by hand or starter or any other means. if it doesnt turn over by hand, then you have a rebuild in your future.

 

There's chance that the motor severely flooded and the cylinders have been washed with fuel. This is consistent with it dying without any catastrophic noises and failing to restart. Do not try to start it without ensuring it will turn over freely, either way.

You can check the dipstick for fuel smell and pull the plugs and have a look see. If you determine it's a flooding issue, after fixing the problem you can spray lubricant in the cylinders to free them up. Get it spinning then reconnect the plug wires and hopefully be alright. If there's a lot of fuel in the oil it needs to be changed before starting, too.

Hope it's that simple for you. Popping the clutch and coming to a standstill is troubling though, not for the possible diagnosis, but for the motor.

 

Here is the update after taking half the spark plugs out minus the ones that the headers made it impossible to take out I was able to get it to click just like it has been doing.


I guess it is not seized then if it was able to turn over that one day even if I cannot replicate it.


Owning two RX7's currently I am no stranger to flooding and even though it does not make a lot of sense why it would stop with no warning I am not ruling that out as to why it stopped. The plugs were dry though so I do not think that is the issue and I cannot troubleshoot why it stopped until I can determine why it will not turn over.

I got out the multi meter and confirmed no resistance on any of the leads etc. I even tried hooking jumper cables from the battery to engine ground and from the positive to the starter post, as well as attempted to hot wire it directly. Maybe I am not doing the hotwire right but the rest of it failed to work I just got the same click.


Thanks,


~Spike~

 

Spinning it up on the bench with no mechanical load needs a lot less current than when it's in the engine. If it won't spin fitted, then a differential diagnosis:

* The cabling or battery can't supply the high current required - dirty or corroded cables/termnals or bad battery.

* The mechanical load is too great - engine seized or too hard to turn for some reason.

* The starter is faulty.

 

Update?

 

I am interested to know if you found a solution to your problem, as I am having some similar issues right now.

 

Same problem here, just posted a new thread but need replys fast.

/bump