FastWoman

Just a suggestion: As long as you're taking off the ignition lock, have the locksmith replace the cylinder in it. I recently did this. I think the new cylinder was $30. With time, the cylinders get so worn that you can start the car with your house key, a screwdriver, or even a popsicle stick. Seriously. Door locks get pretty worn too. There are some very affordable reproductions on Ebay. I had a similar lock situation to yours and went with all new locks, which I had re-keyed. The ignition cylinder and door locks were Taiwanese. They seemed quite OK, but the door locks needed a bit of WD-40 to lube them. The hatch lock was genuine Datsun. Total cost was a bit over $200, with re-keying. Half of that cost was the price of the hatch lock! Note that there are two styles of keyways. Be sure you get all the same.

I wrote: Just a follow-up on that one: I ordered a couple of these in. They definitely ordered in the "right" parts, in the sense that they were the ones listed for a '78 280Z. Unfortunately they look like something that would go on a large truck. Nothing about them would fit on a 280Z, by any stretch. Soooooo.... I guess I'll be getting in touch with Tidewater Z to see if they can rebuild my half-shafts or refer me to someone who can. (I've got some major wobbly U-joints.)

Ah, OK. I remembered wrongly regarding the fusing of the running lights. Yeah, the tail/clearance lights run off of a separate fuse on my '78 too, although it's a 15A fuse. The same fuse illuminates the instrument panel. When you talk about the fuse going to the voltmeter, are you talking about the illumination of the meter or the meter movement itself? Dome lights and map lights are all apparently fused differently between the two years (because mine are on separate circuits), so I'll be making fewer assumptions in the future. That said, the basic strategy of wiring a dome light is going to be the same. I'm still betting on a short in the dome light or its wiring. In answer to your question, I doubt you could put a high enough wattage bulb in that little fixture to blow the fuse. As Steve indicates, it would take 120W of load (actually more like 150W, since the 10A rating is only a nominal one) to blow that circuit. In my FSM, I have that bulb listed at 10W. It might not hurt to try another bulb, in the event yours was mislabeled or thrown in the wrong package. I agree with Steve that corrosion is a BIG problem in the wiring of these old cars. You can get corrosion in the bulb socket, which can cause heat buildup and melting of the wires. You can also get corrosion at any of the connections, which can also cause melting. (My fuel pump wiring recently failed that way -- at the big wiring harness connector in the firewall.) Finally, there are crimp connections sprinkled throughout the wiring harnesses. They're all wrapped up, so you don't see them. They corrode too, and they can even get hot and melty. I admit I'm veeery conservative when it comes to wiring, and I'm very quick to unwrap wiring harnesses for a look. However, it's just tape, and you can (and should) wrap it back up with new tape when you're done. Based on what I've seen in my own almost-completely-uncorrupted, dealer-maintained wiring harnesses, I'd honestly recommend that anyone with an S30 unwrap certain parts of their wiring harness and re-make the internal crimp connections, probably sweetening them with solder. There are parts of my own harnesses I've discarded and rebuilt. I've seen many cases (not in a Z, but often in better wired cars -- not too impressed with some of the wiring in the Z) where a hot/melty spot in a wire would take down an adjacent wire, which would take down an adjacent wire, etc., etc., until the entire wiring tree was toast. That said, there's no reason to tear into your wiring harness if you don't see any evidence that circuits are combined that shouldn't be or that impact each other when they shouldn't. If you find that a circuit draws power from a fuse that it shouldn't, that's a bad sign. Either it was "repaired" by someone who didn't/couldn't/wouldn't make a proper repair, or it's shorted somehow. That's when you might go unwrapping the wiring harnesses for a look. I do agree with Steve in general that it's prudent to check for corrosion, but I would find it very hard to imagine that the fuse-blowing problem is due to a crusty fusible link or corrosion in the fuse box (apart from a detached part), which would limit your current and have a sparing effect on the fuse. Instead, you've got an overcurrent situation, most likely a short somewhere. (But do check your bulb to make sure it's the appropriate type.)

Your fan clutch might have been locked up, and perhaps you were spinning your engine at high RPM?? If so, that fan blade might have flexed far enough to catch on the radiator and roll under, causing the bend. I've never heard of this happening on a Z, but it did happen on my '66 mustang when I upgraded from a 2 row to a 3 row radiator (which left less clearance between the fan and the radiator).

Fixed. A nice, steady 14.3V. I'm much happier now, as is my stereo. FAIW, the Duralast alternator appears to be a nice rebuild (pretty, anyway), albeit of Mexican origin. The prior alternator appeared to be rebuilt in Japan (by the sticker) but only lasted 2.5 years before the semiconductors broke down.

Some engines' valves don't tick, but those are the hydraulic ones. If your engine is clean and your valves properly adjusted, you're probably going to get a faint ticking noise from underneath the valve cover. It's not a bad thing.

There aren't water passages in either of the manifolds. Maybe a cracked head? Is there any steam coming out of your exhaust?

It's NOT a short in your doorjam switches. Your switches work by "shorting" to ground when the door opens, at least if they're like every other door switch I know, including on my '78. In other words, no matter how your switches might short to ground, all that would happen would be that the dome light would come on. What I see in my '78 schematics is that these things (voltmeter, dome light, map light, dash lights) are all powered through different fuses. I'm sure it's the same with your '76. I'm guessing someone did some creative wiring "repairs." Even so, these things all seem to run through a fuse, which is good. Not all professionals are so courteous as to make sure their ad hoc repairs are fused. Based on what you've described, I'm going to guess that there's a short in your dome light -- perhaps in the socket, or perhaps in the wiring that connects to the unit. When you open the door, the door switch grounds the dome lamp unit, which is shorted, such that current runs through the 10A fuse, through the dome lamp assembly (bypassing the bulb), through the door switch, and straight to ground. This of course would blow the fuse. I'd almost bet money on it! Please let me know if I got it right. Peace, Sarah EDIT: I just noticed the title, which includes parking lights and running lights. Those should be on an entirely different circuit -- and in fact the same circuit as the headlights. You might be having a wiring harness meltdown -- probably from some of the creative electrical "repairs" that have been made to the cars. You might want to start untaping the wiring harnesses to search for melted wiring. Insulate any melty wires with electrical tape. Melted wiring is like a cancer and can take down other circuits too. Honestly, from all you've described, you probably need to get your car to someone who can restore your electric to OEM design and condition. Unfortunately very few people know electric.

Some great advice above! I think HLS30 and Sblake are both spot-on. Just to add a few more perspectives: Too rich a fuel/air mixture is going to cause the popping, the sooty plugs, etc., but it is not likely to cause the engine to stop running altogether. That sounds much more electrical (e.g. the the ignition relay). The key piece of info here, as sblake pointed out, is the correlation between the dead instrument panel and the dead engine. The relay itself is only one potential problem. It could also be a fusible link or a bad connection (or other things too). You really do need a factory service manual to work through these sorts of problems. You can download them for free, and others here can probably tell you where. You can also buy a paper copy (highly recommended!) off of Ebay or Amazon. They cost about $80 in great condition or about $30 in the condition I bought mine. Meanwhile, in hope that it might get you to your ceremony in time: (1) Find your fusible links. They will be 4 wire loops (2-3" long) beneath two white, crumbly/missing covers, attached to a black metal box on the righthand side of the engine compartment. Give them gentle tugs. Have any of them come apart? (If you know how to use a multimeter, is there should be +12V on both sides of the wires.) If any of them are bad, don't just replace them with ANY wire. You need new fusible links. (2) The engine relays are in the black box the fusible link assemblies are attached to. Remove the plastic cover on the rear side (by removing 3 screws). Look inside. There are your engine compartment relays. Are any of the connectors unplugged? Are the connections dirty? Try cleaning and lubing with WD-40, and work the connections. (3) Look inside the firewall, just above where the passenger's feet would be. You'll see a couple of huge nylon connectors between fat sections of wiring harness. You'll probably have to remove a black plastic trim piece, just above the carpet, to see them. That's a major point where your wiring harnesses link together. Unplug them, and inspect. If they're really hard to unplug, try working them apart with a flat-blade screwdriver. Inspect for any connections that look burnt (i.e. with melted plastic around them). Again, clean/lube with WD-40, and work the connections to clean them. Similarly inspect/clean any other connections you see. (4) Look up and on the righthand side, well above the fuse block. You'll see more relays. In the middle of these is the ignition relay. Check all the connections there. Hopefully this gets you running. However, if it doesn't, you'll need to trace further: (5) I *think* only 3 relays are critical for your engine running -- the ignition relay (see 4), the fuel pump relay, which is in the top middle position in the engine compartment relay housing, and the fuel injection main relay (the right-most upper relay in the engine compartment housing). It's possible might be plugged in a bit differently, so check all the relays in the engine compartment housing that have 4 conductor connectors. The one you want will have a blue wire with a green stripe. Have a friend turn the key to "on" while you feel each of these relays. All of these essential relays should "click." (6) Is your fuel pump running? Unplug the little wire from the starter solenoid, and turn the key to "start." Listen carefully for the sound of your fuel pump running back by your gas tank. Mine makes a muffled, low-pitched vibration. My old '75 made a quiet, higher-pitched whine. Plug the starter solenoid wire back in after you're satisfied the fuel pump is running. If none of these get you running, then this is too big a job to tackle in a day. Close your car back up, and go order a factory service manual. Plan to spend some time picking through your system to find the problem. Even if your car starts up, order the manual for next time. BTW, if your car DOES start up, you might check the status of your AAA membership. You could well need a tow, here and there, until you get your car on a more solid footing. BTW, just a quibbly point about plugs for your '78 (which you should probably replace): The factory spec plugs are NGK B6ES-11. The "P" would be for a projected plug, which I think was a 240/260 thing. With fuel injection, the proper plug is non-projected. The "R" is optional. It's the resistive version of the plug, used for noise suppression. If in doubt, you're probably better off with the B6ES-11, at least until you get the car running. (This is a very minor, quibbly point, though.)

Maybe a ZX thing? Anyway, if it's not present on a properly wired '78, I'm sure it should be N/C on mine. Thanks. As I think about this problem more, I'm pretty sure it's a case of semiconductor breakdown (undoubtedly the zener diode), rather than a lifted ground. That's because the alternator regulates quite steadily at 16.25V. The regulator is doing its job, but at the wrong reference voltage. Anyway, the alternator is on order. All will be better tomorrow.

Hi all, So I'm looking at my rear axle again, figuring out how to tighten it up. (It gets a bit bucky and jiggly sometimes.) I had previously noted that my passenger side half-shaft had a lot of play in it, so I knew I had some work to do there. Today I jacked up one wheel, left the other on the ground, put the transmission in gear, and turned the lifted wheel back and forth to figure out where I had play. The outer U-joint on the passenger side is pretty well shot, as I can see it rocking and wobbling around. The rest of the half-shaft joints, both left and right, look OK. They might be worn, but they're not a major source of play. Unfortunately the wobbly U-joint isn't the whole story. When I rotate the wheel back and forth, I get about 1.5" of rotation along the circumference of the tire. Approx. 0.5" of that is due to the U-joint. The remainder of the slop (1") seems to be within the differential itself. So is that amount of differential slop within normal limits, or do I need to consider rebuilding (or buying a used R200 in good shape)? As some of you might recall, this is the same differential that had filings in the oil when I changed it out. I've recently obtained service records from the dealership that did 99% of the service on the vehicle, and the last differential oil change would have apparently been about 70,000 miles and 18 years ago. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys! Peace, Sarah

Quick questions, though: 1. Is the "E" terminal ground simply a ground to the case? Would any other ground to the case be equivalent? 2. There are two nylon plug-in type connectors on the back of the alternator. One is the 2-conductor connector for the L and S terminals. The B and E terminals are screw/nut type. I can't account for the remaining nylon connector, which is single-conductor. Is it for the F terminal, and if so, what is its purpose? Would it connect to an ammeter if I had one? Currently the terminal is not connected, and there are no dangling wires in the vicinity. As far as I can tell, it's not used in my car. Would that be correct? Thanks again!

A rebuilt one it shall be! Thanks.

Hi all, My alternator had been cranking out marginally high voltage since I've bought it -- high 14's. It's now putting out slightly higher. I discovered the problem (no thanks to my largely inaccurate dashboard volt meter) when my stereo was freaking out from the high-ish voltage. Anyway, I obviously need to address the problem now. I looked in the FSM, and I see this sort of problem can happen when the internal voltage regulator isn't well grounded. Thinking back, I had rewired all of my grounds (making them much better) when I did my conversion from fusible links to maxi fuses. In the process, I took loose the ground wire from the back of the alternator, which was only barely tight. When I went to attach the new wire to the ground lug, I found that the threads had previously been stripped (the reason for the loose connection). As the ground seemed to me just to the shell, I simply grounded to a different screw on the shell. In hindsight, I'm wondering whether this same ground screw ran internally to ground the voltage regulator. Is that how it's built? So now I'm considering my options. My first option is to try pulling the alternator apart and fixing the voltage regulator's ground connection (if that's the problem). From the FSM, it looks as though I have to go pulling bearings apart and such. I don't have the special tools for that. Can the alternator be pulled apart and reassembled without the special tools? My other option is a rebuilt alternator for $55 -- a Duralast lifetime warranted unit from AutoZone. Is this the better route? Thanks for any input! Peace, Sarah

As I recall, those mechanical voltage regulators are adjustable. Your factory service manual should tell you how to adjust the regulated voltage.

Just be sure you intend to live there for a while. Once when I was shopping for a home, I saw a house with a very new, custom-pieced carpet in scarlet and gray, with the Ohio State U. logo in it. Very nice workmanship. I'm sure it cost a fortune. However, everone who saw the house was probably thinking exactly what I was: "$1000 for a new carpet."

When you hear the air sound, is it sort of a quick, asthmatic wheeze, or a prolonged hiss? If it's just a quick wheeze, then your booster might be OK with a functional and correctly adjusted master cylinder. Another way of differentiating between a bad master cylinder and a leak is to mark the brake fluid levels and then work the brakes (i.e. with the pedal repeatedly sinking to the floor). If all of your fluid is still there, it's definitely the master cylinder.

Unless I'm misunderstanding something here, it's possible your head is cracked, but it's also quite possible you've just blown the head gasket. I wouldn't write off the head before knowing for sure there's a crack. And even then, some cracks can apparently be welded closed.

I'm just guessing here, but I suspect the switch on the '74 was to indicate overheating (i.e. for a dummy light). If your engine is cooling normally, the switch would never close. You probably need a switch that trips at a lower temperature than the one you found (i.e. the '74). But then again, I don't know much about anything prior to '75.

Tomo, here's a choke that would probably work for you: http://www.surplussales.com/Transformers/PowerChk-3.html Second from the top, on the left -- 50uH, 20A, $6 You could run a couple of them in series for even more noise suppression if you want.

Hey Tomo, The fact that you have a new alternator shouldn't make any difference. They're all noisy, old or new. Alternator noise sounds like a soft, somewhat high-pitched whine that's proportional to engine speed. Yes, you can hear it through many stereos. Other stereos have really great power conditioning and are rather immune to supply noise. I would think generic caps should be fine for your alternator and coil. Another possible noise source is your wires and plugs. The wires are rather obvious -- different varieties with different noise properties. The resistive types might be a bit quieter than the inductive/coil type. You can also try resistive plugs (e.g. BR6ES-11 (?), rather than B6ES-11 (?), the difference being the "R" for "resistive." A choke on the 12VDC line never hurts. Go to a different audio store, and make sure they hand you a choke, not a cap.

My bad. Yes, it's 4 guage numbers, not 2.

Mike, the fusible links are those wire loops with female spade connectors on the ends that are connected inside the two little (2" x 2"?) plastic assemblies on the passenger side of your engine compartment. The assemblies are mounted to a larger (6" x 6"?) black box, which is mounted to the inner fender. (Your various major relays are located inside the black box, BTW.) The fusible link assemblies have little white covers over them that typically turn very crumbly and might even be missing. Anyway, a fusible link is simply a funky, ultra-slow-blow fuse. It's a length of wire that is about 2 gauge sizes smaller than the wire they're protecting (e.g. a 16 gauge fusible link wire to protect a 14 gauge line). Mine were all crumbly and awful, so I replaced them. The project is documented here... http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35588 I have photos towards the end. My new fuse block assemblies are mounted where your fusible link assemblies would be mounted.

Tyler, check out the following source for Japanese OEM-style connectors: http://www.vintageconnections.com/ When you get your switch, try to find a mating connector there. Meanwhile, if you must drive your car, wrap up any dangling bare wire bits SEPARATELY with electrical tape. If you can leave your car where it is, pull the cable off of the negative battery post, until you can get your loose wires under control. I understand you can download a factory service manual for free on the Internet. Others here may be able to point you to a useful link. You can also order a used paper one from Amazon or Ebay, as I did. The FSM will show you which wires go in which connector positions. If your FSM is like mine, you'll have two different wiring diagrams that sort of intermingle -- one for the emergency flashers and one for the turn signals. Good luck! PS Nothin' wrong with a 280! It's a different sort of car. A 240 is a better car for racing, weekend driving, and for fixing up for sale. A 280 is better as a daily driver, IMO, provided the fuel injection is in good shape. It's more comfortable and reliable, and you won't cry quite so much if someone leaves a huge ding in your door. It all depends on what you're into.

Enrique, I do agree with you. However, sometimes people also get "stuck" and need a temporary fix. Sometimes people need a cheap/free solution to get them as far as their next paycheck. Sometimes the car is a rusty old heap, and the object is simply to get it running and legal for as little money as possible. The fact that Tyler is paying a mechanic to fix it doesn't mean that he can afford a proper fix. It could simply be that he's over his head with anything electrical and has no other choice but to pay an "expert." I know *I* would fix it with a replacement switch, but not everyone fixes things the way I do -- or you do. In the end, all I'm suggesting, if a proper fix isn't feasible or available, is for a jumper to be inserted into the switch connector. Then it's a rather obvious thing to figure out why the hazard light switch doesn't work: It's not plugged in, and there's a jumper plugged into the wiring harness connector. Perhaps an adhesive label applied to the backside of the defunct switch to label it "bad" would also be a good idea. Anyway, no criticisms, and your 2c is well appreciated. I just know too many people living from paycheck to paycheck to make too many assumptions.