HElp with Z

[beebeecivic]

Im not sure if its possible to ask this but if it is against rules please delete!

I was wondering if anyone in the LA county can help me out with my car?

I am having electrical problems and I want someone who has more knowledge to give me a helping hand

again if this is against rules please delete!

have a good day

[TomoHawk]

There's nothing wrong with asking for help, even though most people here do the repairs themselves after getting advice online. I think there are a number of people in your area. Make some friends and maybe you'll get a visit from one...

It might help if you post some details about your Z and your problems.

[260zCaliCar]

LA county is a really large area, you may want to give a little more detail about where in LA county you are. Ditto on a description of the problems your having. If nobody has ever messed with your electrical system you may have nothing more that bad grounding and or corroded/bad fuses.

[beebeecivic]

Sweet thanks for the replies!

Alright heres the Story of my Z

Before it was given to me the car had a broken Ignition Module, bad coil ballast and a half broken igntion relay (ground was ripped off the casing). The previous owners son who was a drug addict tried ripping parts of the car due to the expense of his drugs. So what he tried doing instead of ripping piece by piece he tried stealing the car. Upon attempting to steal the car he cut the pig tails off of the ignition switch and tried hot wiring; but he failed! so what i did was this

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34942

thanks again!

btw 626 area in LA County dont wanna give away my addy

[ChrisZ]

Here is a FSM and in that is a wiring diagram, it will help you a lot FSM 1978 280z

Chris

[beebeecivic]

Thanks Chris!

[beebeecivic]

So i was tracing wires yesterday and i it lead to the fusebox. My question is do Fusebox pop fusible links?I have looked at all the wires that are connected to that fusible link and also looked at all wires and connections. I have read the schematics and that particular link leads to the fusebox.

[70 Cam Guy]

Fuses blow when the circuit is shorted to ground. This is essentially not much different than shorting terminals on the battery so the current goes through the roof and fries the link.

The fuse panel in a car works the same as a breaker does in your home. When the appliance, or say your welder or air compressor tries to pull too much power through the circuit, the breaker pops. In this case you have a replaceable fuse. A short circuit in your fuse panel may cause the link to blow but not necessarily the fuse box itself

One trick that some techs do when chasing down ignition off draws (battery drains) is they will pull fuses one at a time until the draw goes away. They have effectively isolated the circuit to inspect using the method. You could theoretically do this in an opposite manner to see which circuit is popping the link (ie remove fuses keeping track of location and replace until the link starts to sizzle). The problem is I don't know how expensive your link is. That is not an ideal method, perhaps a last resort.

If you have an inexpensive volt-ohm meter (multimeter) check continuity on the wires in your ignition circuit. It sounds like the link fries when you key on so it's probably not going to work checking voltage except on constant hot wires. Basically if you find 2 wires that have continuity when they should not, you know where to start looking for bad insulation or wrong connections. Analog and digital multimeters are inexpensive at Radio Shack and Fry's.

[beebeecivic]

thanks 70 cam guy! i have a multimeter ; i will try that method out tomorrow

[beebeecivic]

I went to check the fuses everything looked fine except one.. it was a 30amp..

could this 30amp be messing me up since the beginning? I am going to buy a 20amp fuse later and gamble with my fusible link ::cross fingers:: and hope it wont blow

[70 Cam Guy]

The 30 amp fuse was blown? Look at that circuit for the short and wrong connections... What system does that fuse protect?

[beebeecivic]

The 30 amp fuse was blown? Look at that circuit for the short and wrong connections... What system does that fuse protect?

Sorry, I meant that there was a 30amp in place of a 20amp! i think this is causing the problem. as soon as i check a few more connections and test a few more things i am going to fire it

Edited June 26, 2009 by beebeecivic