Water leakage problem

[76Datsun280z]

Well we got it back today and all looks good! The hole under the battery has been fixed, the remaining rust on the rear quarter panel was fixed and also had a weak spot in the floor board welded up, so it is pretty much rust free. I have yet to find out if it still leaks. The body man said he would paint the car for $2000, we will probably have him do that, but I'm not exactly sure when yet, but in the next few months hopefully. When he was working on it, something happened to the wiring because when you turn it on acc, non of the accessories come on ie; radio, dome lite nothing. When the car is running, then everything will work, but when you turn the heater on when the radio is on for example, the dash lights flash off and on and the radio blips on and off. We haven't figured out what happened, hopefully nothing serious. We've checked all of the fuses and they all look good, I guess we'll have to pull the battery out again and have another look.

[geezer]

Good to hear you have your water problem solved. This new problem could be atributed to welding being done on the car without the negative battery lead disconnected. A mistake that is pretty common. Just a thought that came to me when reading your post.

[280z1975]

snip ... I have yet to find out if it still leaks. .... snip

He hasn't resolved the problem 'yet' ... but I wish him luck.

Was there an electrical problem before hand? There are many threads out there about how bad the original alternators are in these cars. It could also be a bad connection in your key ignition. Mine was acting up a bit and I added a little silicon lube in there to help loosen things and make it turn a little smoother. It helped and so far things seem to be working out better. Still have a few electrical gremlins, but that will all be sorted out soon enough.

[76Datsun280z]

Thanks, I'll try doing some searches. Everything was working fine before we brought it there. Hey worked on repairing some rust on the firewall which part of the wire loom went through, and my dad is thinking he may have fried a wire.

[280z1975]

Thanks, I'll try doing some searches. Everything was working fine before we brought it there. Hey worked on repairing some rust on the firewall which part of the wire loom went through, and my dad is thinking he may have fried a wire.

When I restored my 75, 280z I made sure the car was running and all the "mechanical' things were taken care of, then started. Once I finished 4 months later I put it all back together and it didn't want to start, had no spark. In the end it turned out to be the wires which lead to the coil and the ignition module. They had conductivity, but were not good enough to carry a proper current. The only way the mechanic could tell was with a scope hooked up to the wires.

I also had the 12+V wire for the original stereo only able to carry 6V-7V of the needed 12V. These are old wires you are dealing with and they can go bad. One reason a complete engine bay re-wire and then later the dash are on my list of things to do in the future.

Aren't these cars so much fun to deal with :stupid: at times!

[DatsunZsRule]

Glad to here you got the rust fixed. Do a leak test and see if it's solved. Hopefully it is

About your new problem, they must have screwed something up if everything worked good prior to taking it to them for body work.

This is where the wire diagrams in your FSM becomes your best friend if you have one. Trace the wiring and figure out where they screwed it up and correct it. Thats all you can really do. If thats the way they put stuff back togeather, I'd think again about going back there :paranoid:

Best of luck,

[76Datsun280z]

When I restored my 75, 280z I made sure the car was running and all the "mechanical' things were taken care of, then started. Once I finished 4 months later I put it all back together and it didn't want to start, had no spark. In the end it turned out to be the wires which lead to the coil and the ignition module. They had conductivity, but were not good enough to carry a proper current. The only way the mechanic could tell was with a scope hooked up to the wires.

I also had the 12+V wire for the original stereo only able to carry 6V-7V of the needed 12V. These are old wires you are dealing with and they can go bad. One reason a complete engine bay re-wire and then later the dash are on my list of things to do in the future.

Aren't these cars so much fun to deal with at times!

Glad to here you got the rust fixed. Do a leak test and see if it's solved. Hopefully it is

About your new problem, they must have screwed something up if everything worked good prior to taking it to them for body work.

This is where the wire diagrams in your FSM becomes your best friend if you have one. Trace the wiring and figure out where they screwed it up and correct it. Thats all you can really do. If thats the way they put stuff back togeather, I'd think again about going back there

Best of luck,

Thanks for the advice guys I really appreciate it, we will have to take a closer look at this weekend when we take the battery out. I do have a Haynes manual for it that does have some wiring diagrams (not sure how detailed they are), so I will have to take a close look at it and start tracing wires. I'm going to do a leak test tomarrow on it and I'll let you know what happens.:nervous:

[280z1975]

Since you don't have the FSM go here:

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm

You an download your cars electrical diagram in PDF. It's a useful file to have. Just print it out enlarged, like 8 pages big I think is good, then go back to your kindergarten roots and do some cutting and pasting together. Makes following all those wires A LOT easier when you can follow things.

[76Datsun280z]

Well, it still seems to leak, were thinking about maybe buying some solution to maybe slosh around under the cowl area to try and seal up any cracks in the old sealer down there that might be letting water in.

[geezer]

Why don't you remove your cowl screen and use a short length of rubber hose to blow compressed air from the outside while someone listens/feels from the inside where the hole is? You should be able to pinpoint it. Sloshing sealer where you don't need it won't help.

[76Datsun280z]

Why don't you remove your cowl screen and use a short length of rubber hose to blow compressed air from the outside while someone listens/feels from the inside where the hole is?

We have done that with our air hose and tried to clean out as much crud as we could under there.

[EScanlon]

Austen;

You guys keep fighting the problem but never really identifying what you're fighting.

Take the time to remove the cowl, then go one step further and remove both fenders. Yeah, it's a bear of a job, but if your body man got in there and did a good job on the rust in the battery tray, he probably removed at least one of the fenders.

Once the fenders are off, take a look at the drain hose that protrudes out from the kick panel. Examine it as it exit the body AND on the inside where it does it's 90° bend. Have someone shine a flashlight INTO the tube. This way you'll see any cracks or holes via the light.

Next, take a moment and examine the cowl area using a mirror to look back into the crannies up by the ends of the windshield.

If this helps identify a hole, then have that fixed. But you may find that it's as simple as the putty gasket for the fresh air vent, or that the "mushroom" vent cap has a crack or a small rust through.

THEN address the dirt that may still be in the cowl and get it clean.

FWIW

Enrique