Alternator, Condenser, Ideas?

[kyteler]

I'm having some odd probs with the 240K,

She seems to miss occaisionally, the tacho jumps above and below the actual revs. I checked the spark plugs they all seem fine, disconnected them one by one to note any difference, all plugs seemed to alter the idle similarly.

I disconnected, cleaned and reconnected all the wire contact points throught the engine bay, nothing.

I cleaned off the dizzy cap rotor arm and contact points a little and initially it seemed to help a little, but now.. not really.

And now rather than just seeming to miss slightly it's almost like the electrics die entirely for split seconds, the tacho drops right down to nothing, then of course jumps back into life.

Now what I think it might be is either the condenser, or perhaps the alternator is poked, if my indicators change rate higher and lower dependant on revs, would this be a sign of a dieing alternator?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[2ManyZs]

Could be just a loose wire cutting it out. Check all the connections from the distributor to the coil. Could be a wire is corroded and partially broken as well.... I've found many wires on a couple cars that were so hard that you couldn't bend them and then they just snap when you try to bend them.

If not there, since the tach is going dead, it could also be a problem in the ignition switch or wiring to or from it as well.....

[kyteler]

Thus far I've eradicated the indicator problem by switching alternators to one I had around, however I'll still have to get a different one as the one I removed had a 12V 50A rating and the one I put had a 12V 15A rating. so that will have to be fixed up anyway.

I bought a new condenser, tried it, it seems to be not quite as bad as before now it's not fully cutting out anymore however, there does feel like a slight miss still.

So now I'm thinking new spark plugs and perhaps leads, the plugs in there are the wrong ones anyway it seems, they're 5's and not 6's in the designation as is recommended. Could this be a major or minor contributor to the problem?

It's so frikkin frustrating, all the connections and wires themselves seem fine.

[kyteler]

OK, now I'm just peeved.

I took the distributor off to try and see what was going on, I found at the bottom of the dizzy the bolt that attaches to the internal side of the platic piece that the wire from the coil connects to, so I put that back on to where it was supposed to be.

Also at the bottom there's the two plate things that move out when spinning, one had a return spring and the other didnt have one, is that normal?

I've tried it with and without the spring but now she's turning over but not even firing.

There's still 12power getting to the coil but it seems to stop there, it's draining on crank I'm guessing to feed the dizzy but it's going no further than that, I put the timing light on to see whether it was getting any spark and it's not. GRR.

Esentially all I did was open up the dizzy and put it back together yet now the cars not even starting where as before it was starting but missing.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?! It's driving me looooooooney:stupid:

[Zedrally]

MY guess is that it's in the bolt you found.

In other words that conector to the plastic is/should be insulated from the dizzy body.

Somehow you've created a short and that explains why no activity at the coil side.

IMHO you may be better raiding another nissan for a replacement dizzy or send out yours for a re-build.

MOM

[kyteler]

OK, I retrieved my spark again WOOHOO!

I replaced my new condensor with another new condensor and wallah, however, the annoying miss is still there.

Now that my spark's back im going to try another coil and a few other bits and bobs to see what I can do.

Still though, anyone have any thoughts on the miss that they may want to share that they didnt want to share before? :classic:

Also, the ballast resistor, where are they situated on a Z (I'm assuming it's not too much different from the K), from a wiring diagram I found it seems they're between ignition and tach which would put them behind in the dash behind the instrument cluster somewhere. Surely not?

Any help appreciated.

[Daniel]

If the car runs when you let off the key from start the ballast resistor is good.Its just a strip of metal.The alternator just charges the battery.It won't cause a miss.The plug wires should not be touching together or just laying on the metal valve cover as they can leak current and cause a miss.There is a pattern they are suppose to be in on those clips that hold them.The coil is rarely the cause they work or not.You may wish to go with a new tune up points/cap/plugs/rotor etc. so you have a fresh reference.It can't hurt.Clean elec.connections with a wire brush or scrape them shiny to remove any oxidation.Do the same to the little ground wire in the in the dist.Also check for wobble on the dist.cam as in worn bushing.I have also seen weak or water in the fuel cause this.You can see this in your fuel filter.When was the last time you cleaned inside your carb tops?

[kyteler]

:D :D :D

Hey again guys,

To anyone who has been watching or interested or helped me out.

Firstly, thanks again.

Secondly, I've found the problem!!

After losing spark then opening distributor, screwing around with things, checking and changing point gap, changing plugs, pissing around for god knows how many hours, gaining spark back only to still have the problem, then losing it again and getting it back and losing it, I FOUND IT!

The little bit of hard plastic that the condensor wire and points wire attaches to must have a crack or leak in it somewhere because after moving it when I lost my spark again, I got my spark back, being it's such a tight fit, putting a bit of tape around it wasnt a good option, however, I did manage to put a bit of tap on the bottom and up the back of it and then clamp the top under the dizzy cap to keep it in place, it's now pretty much eliminated the slight miss, there's still a hint of it's existance but nothing worth worrying about, as an electronic dizzy isnt too far off anyway. At least I know now though and I can sleep soundly.

Again, thanks everyone.

WOOOHOO!! :D

[Daniel]

Great News!!! I'm glad you took the time to track the problem down instead of just throwing parts at it in search of a fix.I have seen more problems introduced by that method of repair and it just digs you a deeper hole. GOOD JOB!!