slobound76

It was a lose wire in the connector which had a little corrosion in it, removed the wire and did a quick scrape and re-installed it and good to go now

I appreciate all the help, found the problem and fixed, good to go now Always nice to have a support group for the best cars ever

OK did a further check and there was no power at either the green and white or the green and blue, did voltage checks on all of the fuses with the ignition on and had power on both sides of all fuses except for the bottom right which was the only fuse with no power but checked it and there is continuity through the fuse Brian

Oh, and my bad, the bottom lights (turn signals) are fine, meant the 2nd filiments in the top (tail lights) were all thats not working, just re-checked the combo switch and yep, its the green and white thats the only wire not getting any output... Brian

I did the check the switch and have no voltage coming out on the green ad white wire from the switch, however have voltage on the red and the white with red stripe on it...am hoping that its not the switch since its 155 for a new one and I am a little short on fundage at the moment, is there anything else that would cause no voltage on the green and white wire? or is the switch the end-all for voltage on the line? Brian

As an update, I did voltage checks and the only time the green and white wire gets any juice to light up is when the orange from the remote lock is touching it and the lock is set, the switch is putting no juice out to it...

OK, in the rear, the brake lights work, the reverse lights work, and the secondary lights (same bulb as the brake light, but 2nd filiment) work as parking lights when the remote lock is locked. The 2nd set of lights (bottom red lense covers) dont work at all...hope that covers it

negative, removed the rogue orange wire and made no difference...anything else I should be looking for?

Traced it and it goes to the remote locks, which I dont need the lights for piece of mind, so disconnecting the lights from the locks and fixing up the lights wire should do it?

OK found something, the green wire with white stripe coming off the column was cut into and some orange wire (shoddily) poked through and electrical taped up, not sure where the orange wire goes, but thoughts?

Yikes you just gave me a full day OK will go play electrical Sherlock Holmes and report my findings Brian

Oh and yes, I dont have any radio in the car anymore, so thus no antenna, but that shouldn't be affecting my lights I wouldn't think?

They are a kind of bluish-greenish, one with white stripe, one with red stripe on the top 2 slots and the bottom is black, there are also 2 short black wires sprouting out as the same point the connector wires branch off from the tail light bundle, one has a stubby brass male-ish connector end, the other with a hollow brass female connector end...?

yikes, usually I get a response within an hour or 2 of posting a help question on here, but has been a day and nothing, nobody knows where the wires off the drivers side bottom tail light lead off to?

As a follow up, I found parking light article threads on here saying to clean corrosion out of front and rear lights (realized i have all 4 lights out, not just rear) and I did that but no results after cleaning them, think it has to do with the wire bundle with the 3 prong female connector which has no home after drivers side tail light...help!

I have a 77 280Z and the kid I bought it from had done all sorts of modifications and such that I have been correcting and fixing, but I was flagged down the other night by someone who said my lights were out and sure enough no tail lights. This caught me off guard as every time I hit the remote lock, the tail lights pop on for a minute. After going through and pulling bulbs, testing brake and reverse lights, I decided that its something preventing the bottom tail lights from coming on and after rooting around under the back spare cover, discovered a female connector with 3 slots and 2 odd black wires with what I can only guess are ground connectors on the end, which is sprouting off of the wire bundle going to the drivers side bottom tail light. This plug's wires are a good 10" to a foot long and I cannot find any 3 prong male connector to attach it to, so am woindering if anyone knows where these wired with 3 prong female connector might attach to. (took pics of it but can't find my camera computer chord...grr) HELP!! Thanks all

they had an eppisode of mythbusters on the discovery channel today and they tested putting a raw egg in a radiator after puting a good sized hole in it and it did stop the leak and it lasted a good while, they said it makes a good temp fix

If you're a true Z owner then your Z is your baby and any money you invest in it is for your enjoyment, I have done loads to my 77 280Z, its not gaining me anything for resale value but I dont plan to sell it, its my baby and its one of many in the town i live in

great, thanks a million, kinda embarassing to pull into a place looking and sounding great, then go to leave and you're looking great, but getting looks more for the horrible sound you're making

Glad I saw this listing, my 77 280Z is doing the identical thing, it starts great if cold, then after running it for a while, parking for a few, and if its hot at all, runs super sluggish, sounds flooded, then after running a while, like previously posted, seems as if a switch is pressed and it then runs good as new, I have the Bosch platinum plugs in, they were the best available at local auto parts store, so will now be hunting down NGK's...anyone happen to know the specific part number for the NGK's for ease of ordering should I not be able to find?

Okay, my 77's got 98k on it, and yeah, the switch could be a problem, mine's sure got lots of life in it, just keep in mind that with a 30 yr old motor, the rings have seen better days and probably were never changed...one thing to think about, am having my engine overhauled once becomes affordable Until then, the tune job i gave my baby still has her giving the local punks a good run for their money (expecially with a few mods and a centerforce clutch) and turns pleanty of heads

goescor, which switch did you replace, my reverse and high beams work, but no low beams, 77 280z....

Hard to say, I have a 77 280z and when I got it, it ran like you describe, but I just gave it a general tune job, changed plugs, all filters, wires, etc, just the usual, and it now runs like a champ, have no 78 experience, just know what mine did when 1st got it. Wondering, when you say carbon fouling, how many miles were on the 77 engine, if the plugs are carboning up, are the piston rings letting oil by up into the chamber?

I got a yellow one, custom mixes model paints to make a fairly close match to my custom paint job on my 280Z and painted up the hotwheels and mounted it on my dashboard, will post a pic when its light out to get a good snapshot

Mine's the same way with the K & N and yes, the performance is better and the sound is incredible, that combined with a cherry bomb high flow exhaust has my 77 280Z sounding nice n' fierce