BHR Kit install issue
 

This is the message I sent Charles, havent heard from him yet, but multiple opinions dont hurt anyway.

"Just bought one of your kits and I am running into a slight but annoying issue. To my knowledge, I installed everything correctly. It appears that when I attempt to start it up, it has the effects of a dead battery. My battery clearly isn't dead due to all lights working and many other signs. The weird part about it, is it does eventually turn over and start up (when it feels I have earned it in some cases) I have also noticed it sometimes resets my ECU.

I could get my battery tested, but this happened directly after I installed this, so I am coming to believe I did something wrong, but the dreadful question of what that is haunts me. If you have any information from previous experiences let me know.

Sorry forgot to mention a possibly important note. Once the car finally turns over, could take 4-6 tries or so, once it's started and I shut it off, it will start right back up for about a 2 min window or something then it's random from there. Maybe this isn't at all related to the install, any info is helpful."

Again, any information is useful and helpful to me. Thanks guys

Which "kit?"

I assume you mean the ignition kit? vs one of their other products?

The single most common mistake that people make during the installation is not properly grounding the kit. Are you SURE you grounded it in the right spot and that it's securely grounded?

THe loom is sufficiently long enough to ground it at almost all of the driver side ground points, fender ground (Recommended) Crossmember ground and even directly to the battery if needed.

Did you mess up your wiring? Best way to check is to pull the wires off the trailing plugs completely and the car should still fire and idle fine. If it doesn't then it means your trailing plugs are doing to much to keep the engine alive and you have an ignition issue.

Yeah Ignition kit. And I grounded it where the battery is grounded on the driver side under the hood. That shouldnt be an issue should it?

Check you connector order and lead organization.

Confirm here
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...5/#post4518927

Im on campus so Im not exactly by it right now, will be a few hours. I am pretty sure I followed a similar model during installation and referred to his labeling of the wires, but doesnt hurt to re check. To confirm, its okay that I am using the same ground location for two different things? (kit and battery I think it is)

If your wiring is correct, pull the trailing wires off the plugs and try to fire it up and see what happens.

pulled trailing off, does exact same thing.

When you say acts like a dead battery...you mean it cranks slow?

Sounds like its time to check for spark....

either your battery or the battery connections, ignition coils have zero impact on how the engine turns over when cranking

Changed sparks recent enough to ideally not be an issue. It's still possible I'm messing up this ground, but I just re did it so I wanna say its not that, but I'm decently noob so I could just be making a noob mistake. And when I say acts like dead battery, I mean when I try and turn it over, it acts like its just barely trying to grasp enough power to turn over. Sometimes it does it first try, sometimes it takes 6 tries or so. If I try that much.

Clean and tighten your battery terminals.
Have you tried jump-starting your car?

No, my LEDs radar and everything work when I turn it to Acc so I found no need to even try.

Jump it....or change/charge the battery

Your accessories will run with little voltage...the starter needs a lot

will put it on my list of tests to do. Thanks for current help, will stay posted

Just because all lights and everything work doesn't mean battery is good enough to crank car.
At very least clean the connections, but I would have the battery fully checked.
I know you will have to chalk it up to coincidence, but it happens more than you'd think.

This is basically what happens during start up. You can see in the video it hesitates a bit, then after I attempt to give it gas and re try, it starts up fine.

BHR Kit Install issue - YouTube

upload quality was decently bad, but the idea is there


I grounded it to negative battery terminal.

I am pretty sure at this point it is a grounding issue, but I dont know exactly what to do.

Still have yet to test battery.

And let me add that this is much better than it use to be. I switched grounding up and it got better. Thats why I think its probably a grounding issue.

UPDATE:

Went to AutoZone to get battery tested (stock) he said it has good charge but came back as bad battery. Should I pick up a yellow top optima or red top for replacement? No subs or anything like that.

I would say red top, but I also think Optima batteries are over rated for street cars. I will probably end up putting one in my Jeep, but that's because of all the shaking that goes on when trail riding. Track cars may benefit from one too due to the g load placed when cornering.

For the money you really can't go wrong with getting a good grounding kit for out cars.

FINAL UPDATE***

For anyone who still cares, it was my battery. Seemingly a coincidence. I bought a red top and so far so good. Hopefully it stays this way.

I hope that the main lesson learned is that you start taking advice from people who offer it, instead of sounding like you're shrugging it off. At the end of the day, we're all here to help :)

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you're welcome