Check for wires grounding out where they shouldn't be I guess...

 

I guess they build engines better than they diagnose electrical wiring and controls ...

*assuming* the current analysis is more accurate than the previous one there must be a short in the wiring somewhere ..

 

That's what i would think. I mean like I said my electrical ability on cars isn't amazing by any means (far from it), but I dont get why it would have been the resistor the first time and then now its blowing two egi fues...how would a 3 mile drive cause that. I never had a single electrical problem out of the car before.

Any recommendations on which harnesses to check?

 

When in doubt check everything.

 

Def de head gaskit mane. Dem apex seals, ya digz?

 

The resistor was never the problem. If changing the resistor fixed the problem temporarily then I'd look at the harness the resistor connects to. Check for rubbing, and animal damage a foot or so in either direction.

 

Sadly I know two people that have had animals do damage to their wiring harness. My dad's car had to get towed in three separate times, and my friends AP1 S2000 needed the EGI harness replaced, a nice few thousand dollars right there.

 

Hey guys. So long story short, car is still down there. The last time I heard from Cam at Pettit was last Thursday, 04/16, which I mentioned in my last post what he had said. Thursday and Friday pass by, then around rolls Monday. I call Pettit on Monday (4/20), and one of the employees answers, Cam isn't around so I leave a message.

Tuesday rolls around (04/21), by about mid day I haven't heard back yet, so I call once at lunch, and then a few hours later. Voice mail both times. I'm getting slightly upset by this point, seeing as how my car has been down there since 04/06, I was told it was done on 04/07, then when I get there to pick it up that Thursday, I pay, and it breaks down less than three miles away, wasted trip and wasted time/money. But I realize things happen.

So here it is, 04/21. As I said, I call twice on my cell phone throughout the day and I get voicemail. and I figure they could be busy, etc.. but right before I decide to call them one final time before the end of the day, my phone dies. great right? So I use my friends phone, after a few rings, Cam answers.

I asked Cam if he has any update for me on the status of my car, to which he said he had some time to spend with it and hasn't found the issue yet. (he told me the same thing last time, that it is blowing EGI fuses.) And that he has had this race car project he has been working on and has had some people call out.

Up until this point, I hadn't mentioned i was frustrated with how this has all played out, So I politely asked Cam if he had a time frame of when it would be done, and he didn't have one, and he mentioned that he has had people bring cars in that "even the dealer couldn't fix."

I mentioned that I understand things happen but its been frustrating not having my car. He mentioned I could always take it to someone else if I knew anyone. I asked him if he could just keep me updated periodically. At this point I'm not anticipating getting my car back soon, but we will see.

 

That really sucks, don't let them charge you any more than what you've paid.

 

Hopefully It won't be an issue. I'll post more updates as I hear back.

 

Called Pettit Monday and spoke to Cam. He told me he brought in a friend of his who is an expert on Rx8's and they worked on it over the weekend, no luck yet.

He made it sound like the car is still blowing the EGI2 fuse when there is no load on the circuit. Which, call me crazy, but doesnt a circuit have to have load going through it to ground out and blow the fuse?

Right before I got off the phone with him they were about to pull the intake manifold off to see if any wires under it were crimped and/or exposed.

Waiting to see what happens next. My cars been down there almost a month

 

Ask for a refund.

 

Typical shop BS. Sorry man.

 

 

Typically I don't take my car anywhere to get work done on it, but given the lack of tools and it being electrical, I went for it this time, given the fact that Pettit is within driving distance.

I don't think I should be paying much if anything to be honest, seeing as how I already paid when I went to pick it up the first time. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it though.

 

Which is why they're going to take their sweet *** time now. You're sunken cost... No shop time to apply.

 

Hopefully it doesn't end poorly. Pettit has a good reputation, thats why I took it there to begin with.

 

Ended up speaking with Cam again today (05/05). After a few unsuccessful calls yesterday and today, I managed to get him on my girlfriends phone before they closed.

He said the car has been running for a few days, and they don't know how they fixed it, but that its not blowing the EGI fuses anymore, and they've taken it on a road test and let it idle the past few days for a bit.

He mentioned he was waiting a few days to call me, to see if the problem came back, but he wasn't sure what they did, but it started running again like I said.

He also mentioned he'd give it a few more days to see if the problem itself came back, and I agreed. Seeing as how I don't want to make another trip all the way down there to just have the car leave me stranded at the drop of a hat, like it did the first time I picked it up. Rather not be out gas and money for yet another trip.

Anyone ever hear of that happening? EGI2 fuse blowing and then it just miraculously fixes itself? Maybe something with the Series I's that is intermittent? I figured someone might have had an issue similar to this that happened in the past. Searching EGI Comp 2 hasn't led me to anything really. And I'm insanely skeptical of picking the car up if its just not doing it 'right now.' Who's to say it won't come back and start the process all over again randomly.

 

AFAIK, that can only happen with a short or overcharge. I had an issue years ago with an alternator that was over charging and it did blow fuses and cause all kinds of damage, It was intermittent at first and then got worse to the tune of a couple grand and having to replace a fried ABS modulator.

But my car did cause a battery light and a bunch of other lights so it wasn't really hard to figure out, my issue just dragged out at the time because I was dealing with retarded dealer techs due to a warranty and they refused to blame the alternator and instead went thru two new batteries. It wasn't until I pulled the alternator myself and took it to an alternator rebuilder to get tested that they finally acknowledged it was the alternator. But by that time the issue had damaged the ABS modulator, two batteries, and a bunch of fuses and interior and tail lights.

If they don't know what they did then I would not be confident it was fixed. Electrical issues can be a bitch and that is why there are shops dedicated just to doing electrical work.

 

Thanks for the heads up 9k. Yeah, I agree with you, I'm not confident in the least that it's fixed. From what Cam told me, its just not doing it right now.... and given how long my car has been down there, I'm not okay with just picking it up under the mindset of "well pettit said the problem stopped so it must have fixed itself."

Although now that you mention the alternator...Tell me if this sounds like I might be onto something here...

at the beginning of march (when I originally took it to Pettit for a few minor things) Cam pointed out the pos battery terminal I had put on a few months back was COVERED in corrosion, I mean I have never seen a battery terminal so corroded before. And that terminal had only been on for a few months. It literally looked like multiple layers of corrosion. (think how thick mold looks if you leave something in the fridge too long)

That and the car would be really hard to start after sitting for a day or so, but typically wasnt hard to start after short trips. After that, I replaced the battery, then a month later, this stuff starts. Think I may be onto something here?

 

Well did they just replace the terminal? Did they strip back the wire sheathing to see how far down the corrosion went?

 

That i'm not sure, I didn't see cam actually do the replacement, but the metal piece that attaches to the cable was sanded down to copper, then connected to the fresh terminal he then put on.

Also worth mentioning, the positive terminal that was on the car when I bought it was pretty corroded as well.

Idk if battery terminal corrosion on the Positive could really have anything to do with this whatsoever, or even point to the alternator being the culprit like it was in your case. Would it be worth mentioning that to Pettit?

 

If it were me I would cut back the sheathing on both wires and see how far down the corrosion went. I have seen a few that were internally corroded for a foot or so.

 

I can mention that to Pettit today. Do you think that would cause the EGI2 fuse to blow? (and/or, do you think that could cause an alternator situation like yours?)

my girlfriend was driving the second time it broke down after we left pettit, I didnt get to see the gauge cluster, but I think she said the battery light was on when it up and just died without warning.

 

Corrosion can cause all sorts of weird electrical issues. I am not sure what caused my alternator issue but I do know Jedi, or I think Ngo I can't remember, had a similar issue but they caught it quick and so avoided the damage from the overcharge. It is not a common issue at all. But it is easy to diagnose, it literally took the alternator guy less than a minute to tell me it was overcharging. And we have a 100AMP alternator so you can imagine how damage can be done.

I had the alternator shop rebuild the alternator and the dealer covered the rest of the damage. The rebuilt alternator only lasted a year, I had the same place rebuild it again (warranty on rebuild), and it only lasted one more year and so the guy just gave me a refund because he said something was wrong that the rebuild was not fixing entirely. So then I just replaced it with a low mileage unit from a salvage yard and it has been good for many years now.