Hi everyone, the scenario was driving along off boost, and the battery connector came off making everything cut out. reconnected the battery, tried starting it but nothing. i thought that it was just flooded from dumping fuel in and not being able to ignite it. I took it home, took the spark plugs out, egi fuse out. turned it over for 10-15 seconds, then repeated again a week after. New spark plugs back in along with a dollop of oil to seal, and will tick over but doesnt want to catch.
Please say this isnt an engine rebuild job!!? :-s
I appreciate your feed back and thank you in advance for your time
Ant
Is it modified in anyway, eg Apexi ECU?
Have you checked the all fuses? very much doubt its an engine problem
when i had mine rebuilt the battery had died, as it was a redtop thingummy (doesn\'t like going flat) it took a few days to get a replacement. for this time i actually ran the car without a battery - just jumped started it from a portapack connected to the dead battery and then ran like that so i don\'t think (with my VERY limited knowledge) that the battery connector coming off should cause your car to cut out - is it some other problem and the connector coming off was a symptom?
Si.
yeh its modified in pretty much every way! lol. single turbo, apexi FC commander, ported and polished, water injection etc etc. Its the FD3S by the way. can they be run without a batter as its electric fuel pump etc..? the connector came off while parked up and wouldnt start so just wedged it back on temporarily. dont think there was another problem causing it to come off :-s
Havent checked the fuses no. do you think by the battery being disconnected it could have blown any?
Cheers
I have similar mods and find if the car has been standing for a while I need a full strength battery for the engine to catch. I sometimes attach one of those starter packs to the battery for extra power. Usually does the trick.
easy way to tell, take the Egi fuse out and the front plug then crank it, re fit that plug and remove the rear and again crank it. The pssss noises should sound the same (same spacing and volume)
Side of the road apex seal test.
You dont have a old alarm sytem on it , ??
Quotethe connector came off while parked up
Or
Quotethe scenario was driving along off boost, and the battery connector came off making everything cut out
Tell the truth or we`ll beat ya !!!! :)
lol nah it did come off when parked. i wedged it back on again so it would start....then came off again while driving!! DOH!
yeh will try each rotor separarely 2morow and see if they are both putting out constant pressure :-s
I have got an alarm on it, but the immobiliser was off
check the the main rack of fuses espcially the 130 I think it is, When I had a terminal come off the battery it fused one of them and stopped the fuel pump from working
ah rite!! good one to start with! would that be the EGI fuse?
its the rack of fuses underneath a long black cover which is right by the Postive terminal that goes ontop the battery.
Exellent. Ive got on all my old clothes and going to take a second look. also going to check the rotors to see if they are putting out equal amounts of pressure - may as well double check :) i have every thing on my body crossed! lol
unfortunately no fuses have gone...but noticed that when i took the EGI out the first time (with a screw driver) i had broken the casing and had metal inside touching...may have been causing it to short...so bent that back out again but need to wait till i have a spare car to jump start it with as it has no battery life at the mo! doh
Have you checked the obvious stuff? (Is it getting fuel?? Does it have a spark?? etc) may give you more of a clue where to look.
its crap weather at the mo :-s will have to give it a good going over when it brightens up abit! it may have something to do with fuel as it doesnt want to tick at all. its just turning
Just follow the basics from the begining
Fuses (all)
check fuel pump primes and runs
check spark
disable alarm if poss
Check the Apexi for errors in the voltages,put a standard ECU in for now
If you get spark and fuel then thats good
Deflood it properely as per posts on this forum regardless, it really does work
clean or replace spark plugs
Just keep us imformed of your progress mate and hope its something simple.
fused looked to be OK, havent checked spark yet. Engine is fine (Thank god), tried fuel and it isnt putting any through. Some im replacing the EGI relay 2morow. hope it isnt the fuel pump!! least its squandered it down to one thing. sooooo relieved its not the engine tho!! hehe :)
Well then if its got no fuel its a proses of elimination, If you take the big cover off the top of the tank (on the boot floor, not the actual tank ;)) you can connect a multi meter up to the pump wiring, there won\'t be 12v but you should get a reading of about 8v on start up if memory serves. Whilst your there you should be able to hear the pump buzzing.
Tbh if it was a imobliser related problem the pump won\'t gave a feed, so this may give you a clue.
i love this forum :) hehe. i made a bit of a mess on the EGI fuse taking it out (using a screw driver for leverage) so gonna try and replace that 2morow if i can find one :-s aside from that, i cant think what else could be causing it. all the fuses in the engine bay look to be OK (unless fuses inside the cabin control fuel!?), and then only other two things are the actual fuel pump and that EGI relay :-s
ECU, pump relay, ignition switch, wiring, alarm, there are a lot of other areas to look at but its usually something simple. Sure on the FD there is a jumper connector which if you short the terminals it will prime and run the pump. This will eliminate the pump.
Circut open realay is also antoher one you want to check. to make the fuelpump work without starting the car bridge GND F/P
ive got a non standard 280lph fuel pump on it. so would shorting them (positive to negative) so any good? or would it just damage it?
Well doing the above via the diagnostic box i belive acts just as if your car is running (i did it with mine to test the fuel pump and prime the lines after i fitted the new fuel filter), so the power would be going via the circit open relay, and the fulepump relay and the resistor. :yes
If your new fuel pump is wired up using the existing wiring i cant really see a problem.
get a paperclip and short the terminals FP & GND in the little diagnostics box under the bonnet by the battery. This should bring the fuel pump to life. Dont forget to turn the ignition on once you have the paperclip in place. The markings are inside the lid on the box. Just make sure you 100% get the right terminals otherwise you will cause more damage than good
cool. does that reset it or something? Which ones are the FP and GND in the diagnostics box?
Ive just edited my post. Basically all your doing is grounding the fuel pump negative wire. Re-read my post mate
excellent :) i will try that 2morow and see what happens. hopefully will get the ball rolling again :) will that be a permanent fix?
its a diagnostic method not a fix, however i am not sure if it takes anything out of the loop such as the circuit open relay, fuelpump relay, resistor or it just runs the pump normaly.
hmmm, i so if this does fix it, where would i go from there? im just about to go and try that trick in a min :)
just tried it and sure enough, there was fuel :) so what has that eliminated? obviously the fuel pump works...relays? fuses look to be ok? its obviously getting power? im confused where to go now. what would happen if i just permanentle shorted out the FP and GND on the diagnostic box? :)
Quote from: antrossernoticed that when i took the EGI out the first time (with a screw driver) i had broken the casing and had metal inside touching
So have you bent the copper contacts inside the relay so they are constantly open circuit?
looking at it further i only bent the stopper part. when the electro magnet comes on, it should have still pulled the piece of metal to close the circuit. i did bend the stopper bit of metal back out again so it should be working freely (without being a constant circuit)
Mmm, sounds a bit dodgy tbh mate. Relays are fragile things, and dont like being bent with a big rusty screwdriver lol. At least the wiring is ok. You could try a stock ecu. If that fails, it\'s gotta be a relay, fuse or alarm
yea ok, ill try changing the ECU and see if that does anything. Ill be sooo ****ed off if my apexi ECU has gone up the duff :-s
Perminantly shorting the FP/GND is not a good idea, i don\'t know if this is running the fuel pump at the full voltage or at the lower via the resistor (if this was the case you would run lean!) You could try and remove the fuelpump relay and see if that was even used in this test by trying again, only takes 20 seconds.
Also do you have the Rx7 workshop manual it details exactly how the fuelpump works :) Rough outline would be Circuit open relay > Fuelpump relay > Fuel pump resistor(not always in play) > Fuelpump. (
Also when your trying to start it, keep the accelerator pedal to the floor. This will help it stop flooding, worked fine for me
cool. tried starting the car with the fuel pump bridged but still didnt start :-s maybe it did mess up the ECU?
unfortunately no dont have the manuals :-( any place i can get them?
Get them while you can. http://foxed.ca/foxed/index.php?page=rx7manual
well ive found the problem! put the stock ECU back in and started up first time!! Goodbye Apexi :( im going to write them an email and complain!! no RX7 for a while then!! :(
Bummer. Did you ever get it mapped? Might be worth doing a eeprom reset and trying it again
how do you do and eeprom reset? i got it partially mapped yea. needed to take it back after i did 1000miles on the rebuild. its done over that now so needed to go back....good job i didnt if all that is wasted!! :(
Im not 100% sure how you reset it. I cant give step by step details, but it\'s very easy to do. Just have a mess with the menu\'s. It should say "reset all init data" or something along those lines. You can only do this with the comander though.
its not even coming up with anything on the screen :-s the backlight for the keys lights up tho so there is power...just not functioning :(
It does sound like it\'s gone then mate. Is it a new unit or used? There has been a bad batch lately from apexi. http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45165
it was brand new. only done 1100 miles in the car! i cant seem to find any number for them either :-s if theres more cases like this, its worth complaining...power in numbers and all!! :)
I would send it back to the shop where you got it. By law, you have at least a 12 month warranty on all new goods anyway.
trouble is finding the receipt for it :-s - ebay history only goes back a few months so i cant retrack it that way. ebay is ****e for certain things!! lol
Paypal receipts go back a long way :Thumbs-up do you know if apexi has taken any water onboard? as they go dead if this happens and sometimes its saveable!
try your paypal history mate as this stays in for ages, gives you all the details as well. Glad you got it sorted.
You can still use the basic ECU just lay of that right foot pedal for a while.
it is running rough as nuts with the standard ECU on there :-s doesnt really like it with all the mods i have on there (mainly the huge injectors). Im glad i got to the bottom of the problem...but not glad of the outcome!! lol.
As for the water...it seemed dry...but then again there did seem to be some little droplets of water around the general vacinity...may have just been from having the door open in the rain. how can you save water damaged ECU? on top of a boiler overnight?
Im just about to re check over my paypal history :-s
woohoo, found the company through my paypal account....i actually bought it on 29th jan 2007...hopefully will have some comeback on it now!! how is that for close timing!!! lol
you may find that either 1) the terminal jumping off or 2) the using the screwdriver and possibly shorting somethin may of killed the ecu and shorted it out so after investigation of the ecu they may not pay out.
hmmm. gotta be worth a try. Nothing to lose. ill send it back to them and they can sort it out :-)
so hows things with you mate?
I do have a apexi and commander for the 92-95 FD\'s, its the later version.
Trouble is I would want £440 inc postage. You can buy them new now for about £500 all in so at least you have a few options. Drying your old one out might do the trick but at the very least try to get any info from it so that you can put that in a new one. Just go through every page, photo it or write down the various settings.
definately worth a try!
all is good, very very busy though, the latest creation was at the NEC the weekend just gone on show.
latest creation? i was at that show. was ok :-s alot of money for what it was tho. and not that many RX-7s which was disappointing :(