SteveJ

Actually if Nissan used the US style door hardware in all of its 78 model year production run, the doors would only be swappable with a significant effort. That was the reason for Enrique's post in the duplicate thread. Hopefully this thread will be deleted or merged into the other. My suggestion: Don't respond to this thread. Find the other one of the same subject by mattbibbey.

Actually, the parking lights and running lights are on a circuit together, but they are NOT on the same circuit as the headlights. If they were, then he wouldn't have headlights, either. Page BE-15 and BE-17 show a good simplification of how the fuse box handles power distribution and goes out to the parking lights and instrument lights. All of these lights are on the same circuit. Page BE-18 shows the dome light, and BE-20 shows the map light. The dome light and map light are on the same circuit. Both circuits are powered off the same bus in the fusebox. Before tearing apart all of the wiring bundles, it would be prudent to check the fusebox for corrosion. Check the condition of your fusible links, too. There are plenty of posts on this board warning about corrosion in the fusebox and at other points of the wiring harness. It happens with a 30+ year old car. Ohm's Law applies here. You have a 12 volt system and a 10 amp fuse. You would need to draw more than 120 watts of power to blow the fuse in a healthy electrical system. How many watts were the bulbs rated for? Also, did the old bulbs have corrosion at the base? Corrosion causes voltage drops (and sometimes short circuits), and less voltage at the bulb means less light. If you don't have the FSM, go to Xenon S30, find the reference section, and download the FSM. The breakouts in the BE section are probably easier to understand than the wiring diagram. If you're still having problems after that, send me a PM, and I'll give you a phone number to call me so I can talk you through things. Steve P.S.: Search the Electrical section for the word corrosion. It will produce about 3 pages of threads addressing this issue.

Thor, You do realize [your comment is to a] post that is over two years old, don't you?

Florida? Okay, so you don't count.

Yeah, which Milton? I work near the one in Georgia, and I make trips up to the one in Ontario for business.

Are those readings from the gauge in the dash or from a real voltmeter?

Replace it.

I found 3 in 1 oil in 20wt at Ace Hardware.

Motorsport Auto 30-7116 Latch, Male 70-78 [A] - limited availability or not available 30-7117 Latch, Female 70-78 $38.27 1lb.

Well, I tried again this evening. During the day, I was thinking about what could be the common point. So, I hooked up the battery charger and set it to 10 Amps. I turned the key, and everything worked. I can't remember when I bought the battery, but apparently, it is shorted internally. New battery - $70 and 15 minutes to install. Buttoning up all of the wiring and trim I took apart - 3 hours.

What's your timeframe? I'd have to talk to She Who Must Be Obeyed (to borrow from Tony D).

A couple of months ago, I drove my 73 240Z to the Mitty. A couple of days later, I got in it to drive again, but it acted dead. Nothing happened when I turned the key except for hearing the accessory relay click. I tried the headlights, and they were dead, too. I finally got around to tracking down the problem. I have 12 volts at the starter. I have 12 V at the alternator. I measured the White with Red stripe wire at the fusebox. It was 12 V. I had my nephew turn the key to accessory, and the voltage drops to 0. I unplugged the accessory relay, and I had voltage when I turned the key, but it dropped to 0 V when I turned the key to the ON position. I am strongly suspecting that the short is in the steering column. However, I'm at a loss to find the common point(s) where the short could be happening. By the way, I do not hear any arcing or smell any wires burning. For the record, I do have the wiring diagram for the 73 from the FSM. Any suggestions for common points to search for would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance. Steve

That sounds low to me, unless you Canadians are using Imperial volts. First, is your battery in good shape? Does the voltage drop a lot when you're cranking it? Next, look at a wiring diagram. I'm not a 280Z person, so I don't know for sure how the pump is wired, but I would expect it to get its voltage through a relay. If there is a relay, it could be suffering from soft contacts. If there isn't a relay, it could be suffering from 30+ years of corrosion.

(IPO - Idiot Previous Owner) I just finished changing the calipers (with loaded calipers), rotors and soft hoses on the front brakes on my 260Z. I just have to issue this rant. I purchased the 260Z in early 2008. My garage looks nice with a 73 & 74 parked next to each other. By sheer coincidence, they are the same color, too. Anyway, I noticed the 260 pulled to the right under braking. I figured it was dragging a caliper. I put it on my round-tuit list and waited for my wife to stop spending money long enough for me to buy brake parts. After a year and a half, I finally got clued in to the fact that she wasn't really going to slow down, so I decided to just go ahead and get the parts. The parts arrived today. My nephew is spending the week with us, and to my good fortune, my brother has been doing an excellent job raising the young man. He was an excellent third hand, tool retriever, etc., and the parts swap went off without a hitch, and the brakes feel nice and firm after a thorough bleeding. So we start cleaning up, and I happen to put the pads from the passenger side up against the driver side pads since earlier I noticed the shims looked different. The pads were different shapes, with the passenger side having more surface area to make contact with the rotor. I stacked the passenger side pads on top of one another and did the same for the driver side pads. The driver side pads were noticeably thicker. I guess I found the reason for the pulling. Now I have to replace the dry-rotted tires and u-joints. I'm surprised the IPO didn't kill himself with that car.

Yes, check the voltage at the pump when you don't think you can hear it. If it has voltage, you have junk in your trunk, er, tank. If that's the case, have the tank drained, boiled & sealed. Always have the tank full when you have the car sitting for more than a couple of days, too, to prevent condensation in the tank.

When you say in your initial post "my car won't start", you are not providing enough detail to tell us anything. The same goes for the statement "no liquid in the radiator". A dead battery or burned fusible link would make it where your car doesn't start, and neither is related to a blown head gasket. Yes, that's a little sarcastic, but the responses you're receiving are based on the information you're giving. The main elements for having a car start are air, electricity (starter & spark), fuel, timing, and compression. Remove any of those, and that could cause your car not to run. Since you say the oil is a milky color, the best advice is for you not to attempt to start your car. The oil is contaminated and cannot provide the lubrication needed to prevent engine damage. You need to drain the oil and refill with clean oil at a minimum. Of course, the damage could already have been done, such as a spun bearing or trashed valvetrain. A new head gasket may be only marginally better than the radiator stop leak if the head is warped or if a water passage has rusted through or if the head or block is cracked. I wouldn't throw parts at it on a whim, unless you have money to burn.

My reply to your duplicate post was nuked with that post. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether or not cheap, old and desireable can be used at the same time to describe a car. While you only paid $600 for your car, you can consider that a downpayment of about 5%. You have another thread saying you need to replace floor pans, etc. Did you have a mechanic go over the car before purchase, or did you fall in love with it and just decided to buy it? Most everybody makes an impulse purchase at some time or another. Sometimes it works against us. At this point in time, you need to step back and think about how much money you're willing to pour into the car. Also take the time to research what it will take to fix the known problems. If you REALLY love the car and have the time and money, go for it. If you get pleasure out of it and you value that pleasure, it's worth it. If money is really tight for you, you may benefit more from cutting your losses and waiting until you have enough money to buy a Z (or other hobby car) that requires less initial maintenance.

Check the wiring around your combo switch, especially the grounds.

1. Get a good wiring diagram, usually from a factory service manual. 2. Get a good multimeter and learn how to use it. 3. Analyze your circuits using the wiring diagram and the multimeter to find the dead short. First focus on circuits that are not connected through the ignition switch (or relay). If all those circuits are good, start on the switched circuits. Alternative method: 1. Make good friends with someone who understands automotive electrics, preferrably with some Z car experience. 2. Buy a lot of said friend's perferred beer/liquor of choice. 3. Convince friend to work on your car.

Thanks, I'll have to do that some day on my 260Z. I haven't had trouble with it, yet. By the way, how far are you from Milton? I'll have to be up there for almost 3 weeks starting Tuesday. Are there any interesting car-nut events happening in that timeframe?

I guess it's time for me to start digging into the FSM for a 260Z and look to see how that is bypassed. Unfortunately, the nanny state had a wonderful idea for the 1974 model year that if people shouldn't be able to start their cars unless the seatbelts were fastened. The apocryphal stories have it that people had to put the seatbelt around the bag of groceries they placed in the passenger seat in order to operate their cars. Somehow, I don't think it would be that difficult to bypass.

I don't claim to be an expert on fusible links, but according to this site, a black fusible link should be good up to 80A. Granted, length is a factor in capacity, but I don't think the 240Z fusible link is that long. You may want to go to a 60A fuse.

I drive a MazdaSpeed6. My wife liked it enough that she ended up with a Mazda 6 Wagon.

I figured as much. We'll just have to take some good pictures for someone to send to him.

Wouldn't it be great to get Mr. K there, too?