The "Questions for Spectre" thread

I actually drove one of those at the Phoenix auto show a couple years ago, along with the Equus. It had a good amount of grunt, but that was about it. I don't recall it feeling very sporty, although driving around down town Phoenix isn't the best test for such things. Both still nice cars though, would make a decent daily driver. Nice place to sit and enjoy traffic jams.
 
Last night, driving on the freeway, my Miata lost power and died. The oil pressure gauge flickered and faltered, and I coasted it into the right lane of the 10 Freeway. I stuck the key in and it wouldn't even crank over. Nothing.

The headlights worked, the radio, everything inside the car.

The alternator is brand new, with just 500 miles on it. The Bosch battery is about six months old.

What do you think could have happened? (And I will definitely have the shop fix this shit.)
 
Last night, driving on the freeway, my Miata lost power and died. The oil pressure gauge flickered and faltered, and I coasted it into the right lane of the 10 Freeway. I stuck the key in and it wouldn't even crank over. Nothing.

The headlights worked, the radio, everything inside the car.

The alternator is brand new, with just 500 miles on it. The Bosch battery is about six months old.

What do you think could have happened? (And I will definitely have the shop fix this shit.)

First thing to do is check to see if the ECU or anything else came unplugged or had a fuse blow.

Second thing is to check that the ignition switch is working properly. NAs and NBs are now old enough where the switch back can start falling apart; this is accelerated greatly if you or the prior owners carried pounds of keys on the key ring.
 
Last night, driving on the freeway, my Miata lost power and died. The oil pressure gauge flickered and faltered, and I coasted it into the right lane of the 10 Freeway. I stuck the key in and it wouldn't even crank over. Nothing.

The headlights worked, the radio, everything inside the car.

The alternator is brand new, with just 500 miles on it. The Bosch battery is about six months old.

What do you think could have happened? (And I will definitely have the shop fix this shit.)

Main ground wire kaaaput?
or a short somewhere causing one or more fuses to go out
 
As part of the blown fuse theory, have the fusible link(s) checked.
 
Are those the wires leading into the fuse box?

I was also told to check the crank/cam position sensors, and then the alternator and battery.
 
Are those the wires leading into the fuse box?

I was also told to check the crank/cam position sensors, and then the alternator and battery.

No they are inside the fuse box (usually) but they do look like massive wires. Crank is the more likely culprit, I had that issue with the Z, the cam wasn't a big deal but the crank made it not start up.
 
If it was a crank sensor, the engine should still crank but not start

they are ones on the battery to the fusebox - one big ass positive line goes to the starter

and the ground ones goto the starter / gearbox / engine / vehicle body

if you turn ignition ON - and move the key to START - do you hear anything click? when the key is in START position, do the lights in the speedo / cluster go off?

have you checked voltage of the battery?

have you checked the fuses?
 
Are those the wires leading into the fuse box?


Fusible links tend to be on the alternator or starter, but they can also be found elsewhere. But they are just a fuse that is inside a wire. They can often be found by how easy they are to move around, like somebody pulled the wire out of the insulation. If you have a manual on the car with a wiring diagram, it will show you.
 
In the case of the Mazdas, they have fusible links in the main fuse boxes that look like giant fuses:

4


Colors, exact appearance and numbers printed on them may vary. They can be removed and tested like a fuse with a multimeter. However, they're sometimes bolted to the fuse box so they may not come out with a tug.

I'd have the battery checked and load tested. Few things short of deliberately bridging the two terminals with a wrench will kill a battery dead faster than just sitting without a maintainer unit on it. It is possible to have a battery that can power lights, radio, etc., but not have enough power to turn the engine over.
 
If it was a crank sensor, the engine should still crank but not start

they are ones on the battery to the fusebox - one big ass positive line goes to the starter

and the ground ones goto the starter / gearbox / engine / vehicle body

if you turn ignition ON - and move the key to START - do you hear anything click? when the key is in START position, do the lights in the speedo / cluster go off?

have you checked voltage of the battery?

have you checked the fuses?

Haven't touched the car since Monday night, but tomorrow I'll start with the fuses first.

When I turn the ignition to on, and crank it, nothing clicks. The headlights go dim when I try to crank it, and operate fine when the key is left in ON. At one point when it first died, there was one click from the starter, but nothing since then.


In the case of the Mazdas, they have fusible links in the main fuse boxes that look like giant fuses:

4


Colors, exact appearance and numbers printed on them may vary. They can be removed and tested like a fuse with a multimeter. However, they're sometimes bolted to the fuse box so they may not come out with a tug.

I'd have the battery checked and load tested. Few things short of deliberately bridging the two terminals with a wrench will kill a battery dead faster than just sitting without a maintainer unit on it. It is possible to have a battery that can power lights, radio, etc., but not have enough power to turn the engine over.

There's an Autozone down the street from my house. I'll take the battery there and have them test it. It should still be under warranty.
 
Just checked the sensors, which are good and nicely secured, and the fusible links. They seem to still be in one piece:

IMG_5838.JPG

Haven't yet checked the fuses by the steering column, nor the battery, nor the OBDII engine code yet. Still won't crank. Obviously. Will check back tomorrow.
 
The "Questions for Spectre" thread

The "Questions for Spectre" thread

Yeah, battery would be my guess at this point, followed by dead alternator caused by weak battery.

However, I'd also be checking the thing over to see if any grounds have come adrift, a common problem with engine swaps.
 
Took the battery down to Autozone. They checked it and said it's still good, but needs a charge.

Will pick it up tonight or tomorrow morning.
 
Dear Mr Spectre, I have found this delightful little XJ6 for you to buy...


$_57.JPG

$_57.JPG

$_57.JPG



My question is this, how much do you not want this car in your life?


Jag
 
Dear Mr Spectre, I have found this delightful little XJ6 for you to buy...
My question is this, how much do you not want this car in your life?

Ah, British cottage engineering. Not only no, but hell no.

- - - Updated - - -

Took the battery down to Autozone. They checked it and said it's still good, but needs a charge.

Will pick it up tonight or tomorrow morning.

If the car restarts properly upon reinstalling the battery, immediately drive it back to the AutoZone and get them to load test the alternator.
 
Just got the battery back, fully charged. Installed it. Red to red, black to black, that whole thing. Started the car...

And nothing.

I'm gonna go grab my OBDII scanner and report back to you as the day goes by.
 
If it isn't cranking, either the starter is bad, or it isn't getting power somewhere along the chain. That is the switch, relay, and solenoid that needs to be checked, and all of the wiring.
 
If it isn't cranking, either the starter is bad, or it isn't getting power somewhere along the chain. That is the switch, relay, and solenoid that needs to be checked, and all of the wiring.

Dunno how a bad starter would cause the car to stop working on the freeway, however.
 
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