21 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

2) Bank of four emitters on the other side of the cube

One is aside the other on top of the cube.

 

To Rich,

Your welcome.

i want to say, get yourself (if you don't already have one) the Original service manual, it's the best guide to solve problems. But..

Parts like the Warning Module, are in a block diagram, parts inside are not specified..  

 

I remember that i made some pic's of the inside… 

 

of that amplifier..

 

or as they call it on the unit: warning module!!

 

Lot's of... eh.... Cmos 4000 series?  real late '70 electronics !!!!

 

Look at it!  You can't believe this electronic unit is almost 40 years old!!!  todays electronics are hopeless when you look at/compare to this gem.

Every part can easely be replaced.. try that with modern electronics.. pfoei!

 

 

For as far i can see you only need to replace 3 capacitors on the circuitboard..  (In pic 1)  on the right one cap (C3??) just right from the black tape round the 3 wires.  and 2 caps in the bottom of the pic each on 1/3 of the board..(marked C1 and C2!)

Maybe also the tantalum caps..(The blue droplets like parts) @Captain Obvious  I don't know really but i think they are as strong as the rest of the part on the board?

In the '70-80-90 when i repaired electronics you had lots of books, today with the internet.. you just type the number which is on the Integrated circuit (ic) and you get all the info on it you'll ever need !!! 

for example a 4011..

https://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/63585/HITACHI/HD14011B.html

More great pics.

Yeah, those blue blobs are tantalum caps and are probably fine.

As for the rest of it, it looks pretty straight forward  (easy for me to say, right?). Pair of analog multiplexers/demux, a counter to spin them through their paces, and a bunch of logic gates (AND/OR/NAND, etc), and a crystal to drive the whole thing. I'm guessing it's just a big ol state machine that cycles through eight states when the "start" button is pressed.

Some analog conditioning on the front end for each channel, input mux connected to those to funnel it down to one signal as the counter counts to eight, a bunch of logic for the decision making, and an mux on the output side to direct the result to one of eight output transistors to drive each of the bulbs. Block diagram is pretty simple.

So even though it's probably not that complicated, as long as replacements are available on ebay, I wouldn't get into component level troubleshooting.   

20 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

as long as replacements are available on ebay,

The problem is those replacements are also 40 years old and have or get the same problems..  no, for me i would restore the unit i've got already..  and let me ad, i've got the feeling, Ebay isn't anymore what is was.. lots of cheap junk for to high prices, and stuf that looks nice but is in fact almost junk.. as a friend aways says, "They (the buyers) all are like crows, if it shines they like it" !!  

Edited April 3, 20204 yr by dutchzcarguy

Good point. I would certainly take the opportunity to replace the electrolytic caps and hope for the best.

My statement about component level troubleshooting was beyond doing just that and going deeper into it. OP could probably pick up ten units off ebay, etc for the same cost as having someone troubleshoot and fix the old one.  Hopefully ONE of those ten units actually works!     

On 3/15/2020 at 8:50 AM, Captain Obvious said:

Can you post a pic of a working one and also post another pic of what yours does instead?

 

Hello @Captain Obvious! I took the 280ZX out for a ride today to see if I could get a photo of the problem. Great news. I was able to see the display. This time it wasn't just glowing but it showed the "STOP" icon. See the attached photo. This is the first time it actually did something more than just a "glow."

I had to mess around with the HVAC controls to get this to work. Strange. Maybe there is really a ground wire acting up! I'm pulling my manual up to see what more I can find. I'd really hate to pull the dash again to find the controller above the glove compartment.

On 3/28/2020 at 8:31 AM, Captain Obvious said:

Not exactly sure what the above means, but I took a couple seconds of looking on-line to come up with some examples of what it's supposed to look like maybe?

From  >>   http://xenonzcar.com/s130/warninglamps.html

Are those what it's supposed to look like if it's working? Is it really multi-color like that?

This "glow" is what I think I am getting. I visited the website you recommended and it's been very helpful!!

On 4/3/2020 at 5:01 AM, dutchzcarguy said:

The problem is those replacements are also 40 years old and have or get the same problems..  no, for me i would restore the unit i've got already..  and let me ad, i've got the feeling, Ebay isn't anymore what is was.. lots of cheap junk for to high prices, and stuf that looks nice but is in fact almost junk.. as a friend aways says, "They (the buyers) all are like crows, if it shines they like it" !!  

Yeah!! I've been having the same expreience. I ordered four wheel center hubs from someone in Bahrain. When I got them, they were too small. Now I'm stuck with four very nice shiny center hubs that don't fit. And I can't send them back.

Well that's progress! It shows it COULD work right. Sometimes? Maybe? That's good news, right?

So that full glow is "System Check Indicated". What does that mean? Does that mean "There has been an issue detected. Push the button to run a system check and we'll give you more information" ?

Edited April 5, 20204 yr by Captain Obvious
details were never my strong suit

On 8/21/2019 at 9:37 PM, hansmeister said:

I'm starting the restoration on my 280zx AE.  I have received some quotes on the process, and I have sticker shock.  May I ask what you spent.

Car54280zx, the restoration is absolutely fantastic, and has set the standard I will try to match.

Hello @hansmeister, I spent a boat load of USD's to get this back to original stock condition. North of $50,000. But my lovely wife encouraged me to get it restored, and so I did it with "my" money. Like others have posted, you can probably get an already restored one somewhere at a much lower price.

But I can tell you that there's no better feeling in the world than to see YOUR ZCar back to show-room condition!! Hard work pays off.

But my 280ZX is second love to my wife. I did what I had to do. I also restored the UNDERSIDE of the car. Sandblasted all of the parts and repainting. And replacing everything I could replace. I worked with the guy that did the restoration and I did a lot of research on my own. And I did not establish a budget going into it, because it will ALWAYS change. Time and Material.

If i had to do it all over again, I would still do time and material. Go with the flow. And stay in continuous contact with the guys working on your ride!

Thank you for your response.  I too have a wife, but not quite as much encouragement.  Also, I have a Piper Twin Comanche that occasionally needs attention, but is at least in good shape.