DOMINION

Thanks man I have learned a lot from reading all your post
Also I'm doing the T valves too. Just need to hit up homedepot

teknics

Mount that in-cabin and it'll be nice, otherwise you're stuck popping your hood. mount it in car and if it doesnt start fast turn on the squirters.

kevin.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

Already have that planned for the future
Been pricing 3-way fluid diverting relays and they are not cheap.
So the manual value method was just going to be temporary until I wanted to justify spending the cash on the relay.

DOMINION

Man screw all that. Dont want people to get in my car and be like lol wtf is that? then I have to tellem its there to gas them out when they start talking **** lol

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

Just tell them its your water/meth injection.... close enough

DOMINION

lol yeah right man, they hear the word "injection" they might try to get out of the Car well its moving. Might mess up my door.

said7

I cant find the double t valve anywhere. I tried home depot, advance, and 2 fish aquarium places. Anyone know where else i can get one?

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

I get most of my stuff from McMaster-Carr
http://www.mcmaster.com/

teknics

jon316: if you want to do it electronically all you'd need is one spare vac solenoid (like from the back of your intake manifold) When you open the solenoid the washer fluid would go that route as it is the least resistance.

If anything tho to be sure it only goes to the manifold you could take two of the solenoids one in the direction of the washer sprayers and one in the way of the manifold. (washer hose is same size as the ports on the solenoids)

Buy a three position, three pole switch (so no one messes with it most part stores have a barrel lock switch with three positions, a ghetto ignition switch that you could make work, or you could just get this simple switch, this should work for 2.50: http://www.westfloridacomponents.com...%20-%20On.html )

Now run a constant +12V (not key on, but constant battery) to one pin of each solenoid (you can even daisychain the two solenoids 12V pins). The Other pin of each solenoid you run to the switch, then run a strong ground to the last pole of the switch.

Leave the switch in the off position until you want to use washers or manifold spray. Switch to the position you want to use and then use the wiper switch to activate the washer pump and blam whichever option you wanted will work independently.

That's a safe way to do it, ground switched circuits are always better then power switched as you wont have random 12V wires running through the firewall and such (almost everything is now converted to ground switching in cars).

With the 3 position switch you wont have to worry about the solenoid draining the battery either since in the of position the circuit will be open and won't use any electricity with the car off until you flip the switch, but you'll be able to activate them before turning the key to help deflood.

Should be able to find an affordable vac solenoid, probably with a pigtail connector to make wiring even easier, just make sure it is a normally closed solenoid.

Thinking about it you could get more into it and get one normally open solenoid and one normally closed, get a 2 position switch and have the one pole open one valve and close the other at the same time...but i dont feel like describing it, its fairly similar tho.

You could definitely manage to hide all of this amazingly easily as well, valves could be mounted and bolted out of sight, switch would be plain and if put on the leftside of the steering column no one would ever see it to be able to ask what it is.

If you need i can draw up a diagram and find you the exact parts that would work, but im sure you can do that you seem handy with that stuff, plus you know mcmaster so you obviously know about this kind of stuff lol.

kevin.

edit: also this is just a "as the idea formed in my head" post...it is meant to be the easiest to understand. If I sat down and went parts hunting I could make it more simple with a relay, specific solenoid instead of using 2 solenoids etc.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the info Kevin.
I have a pretty good understanding on this stuff.
Hell, I work for Rockwell Automation and we build this stuff so I better have a basic understanding
I agree with you on the 3-position switch... never thought of that.

teknics

Where are you based? My father owns an engineering company who specializes in system automation and logic controls and such. I get my ability to interpret technical info from him, i just use it in a different field, cars are so much easier to work on when you understand the systems being used, when looked at in general the systems are fairly simple.

But I normally find the more ideas you look at the better overall solution you come up with, I know when I'm designing stuff I like to throw it out for conversation to see how other people would consider tackling the problem. Nothing beats having other people's perspectives to help find the best overall result.

so just figured I'd give you my idea, and luckily enough you found something you hadnt thought of (the 3 pos. switch) that's the point Glad i helped even a tiny bit lol.

cant wait to see your finished product!

kevin.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

Twinsburg, Oh
We mainly build control logic and various I/O boards in our plant.
Our plant also produces the PanelViews which are popular with a lot of manufacturing plants who use touch-panel monitors.
I'm a Manufacturing Engineering Technician, which doesn't design the boards.
I simply repair the surface mount machines when they don't behave

Couldn't agree more.
I sometimes overlook something or just over complicate the simplest things.
Never a bad idea to have a 2nd pair of eyes look over an idea.

I actually enjoy reading your posts and appreciate your input.
Keep it coming!

teknics

Yea my dad uses lots of touchscreen stuff, his biggest project was actually building an automation system for the local Nabisco factory/plant.

yea thats basically what i was trying to say lol, I over complicate stupid things sometimes, luckily I have friends that will point it out and explain a simpler setup and vice versa. Nice having a group of car friends who can carry on a r&d conversation.

Thanks for the compliment, most of the posts I've seen from you have been well thought out and on target as opposed to some people that are always out in leftfield.

kevin.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

Like my OBD-II Relocation mod where I didn't need to push out the pins

DOMINION

^Well you guys do all kinds of crazy stuff! lol but cool.

said7

So my car had been taking acting up a little. Took a little longer to crank then usual.

So the other night i pull it in to the garage without warming it up. Never flooded before. I usually never do this but i was about to get some so i had to get back upstairs fast. Anywho...

Next day wont start. I changed the plugs and put a little oil in the chamber with a turkey baster.
Didnt start up. So i tried this mod about 4 times still wont crank. I made sure that i was being jumped by my roomies car, cap was reading over 13 volts.

Anything else i can do before getting my tow on?

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

said7- Did you try Mazda's De-flood procedure before the washer fluid trick?
Mazda's procedure being the one where you hold down the accelerator pedal while cranking to remove excessive fluid.
I always try that first before the washer fluid trick.

In the past before I used the washer fluid de-flood, I would just do continuous cranks until it started (not cranking more than 10 sec per attempt).
I had to constantly charge the battery, but it worked after awhile.
And doing this continuously is not healthy for your starter, which leads me to this...

If you have the original starter, this can also create rougher starts and potentially lead to flooding.
There is a HUGE difference with the upgraded starters.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Save yourself the grief pulling plugs and frittering around...just tow start it...It will start in 100yards likely

said7

Thanks for the reply. I tried the mazda pedal hold several times.... But that didn't work. Im thinking the fact that it was slow to start before i even flooded might be the starter. What kind of starter you recommend?

Not sure how to do this. Never done it. Enlighten me?

teknics

Are you the original owner of your car? If so was your starter ever replaced at mazda under warranty?

If not, since you have an '04 you most likely have the old weak style starter. To be sure grab a mirror and a flashlight, use the mirror from udner the car to see the top of the starter if it says "N3H1" on the sticker then it's the old style. The new style will say "N3Z1" or "N3Z2".

They also updated the battery to higher cranking amps as well.

The new style starter makes a HUGE difference as does the battery.

Other then that all you can do is follow the deflood procedures described around here.

kevin.

said7

Ya im on the stock starter. 50k miles original owner. Imm take a look in the AM. Easy to swap out?

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

VERY easy.
Only two 14mm bolts holding the starter to the transmission and one 12mm nut holding on a ring terminal for the main power.
But you'll need both sockets to be deep.

And don't forget to disconnect the battery.
The voltage from the battery runs straight to the starter, so if you remove the power connector and it touches the body... you'll get a pretty big spark!

teknics

and generally a blown main fuse which is normally not the easiest to find, and sometimes isnt enough to save your pcm.

so defintitely make sure to pull the negative terminal off the battery first.

the starter however is fairly expensive.

kevin.

said7

I just read a post that some dude bought a starter from advance. Are these ones as good as the mazda replacement. Rather not wait for shipping.

madhatter1213

I just tried the washer fluid trick at my shop on my own RX 8 and it worked in less than twenty minutes from start to finish. I have been trying to un flood it for four days and one time with the washer fluid worked.