Jon Powell

It didnt fix itself It decided to NOT START again on Monday night after a full day of rain. The coil had come loose from the bracket and was shorting tot he strut tower when water filled the miniscule gap....easy fix, stupid problem. Thanks guys!

Well, believe it or not, the car "fixed" itself. 2 days after posting that message, the car stopped stalling......rain or no rain. It is still rough to start everynow & then, but it appears to be fine. The car sat from Friday night through this morning and fired right up with a second or 2 of cranking and was good all the way to work. I think whatever the issue was had to do with rain.......open wiring shorting out or something stupid.

Ok, so I am no dummy, I am actually pretty good at disagnosing problems on a car, but this one has me stumped... 1977 280Z New:battery, voltage regulator, starter, spark plugs, wires, dist cap, condenser, rotor Timed to 10º BTDC, vacuum line attached. When I first start in the morning, it fires right up, no issues. After about 10 mins, if I try to idle it likes to drop to 500 RPM and not come back. if I go from 0% throttle to anything over about 60% in one quick shot, it will bog HARD and usually die, unless I start pumping the throttle. If it rains, forget it. I will be lucky if I get her started. Voltage doesnt drop off, I think its a coolant temp sensor related issue, almost as if the computer thinks the engine is cooler than it is and is adding too much fuel. If you had any similar problems, let me know. Thanks! Jon

I was thiking also of just upgrading to a '78 alternator with the internal regulator... Most of the junkyards here in NY have rusty junk buckets. Nothing worth a damn. Thanks for the help!

It appears to be from the alternator to the regulator. I typed battery by mistake. It seems to be activating the regulator as soon as the power is applied to the system. Thanks for taking the time to help, I appreciate it!

Come on people, help a brother out!!!

I tried looking for this, but couldnt find anything, so I am asking all you intelligent Z heads for some help. I purchased a 1977 280Z and was told that the battery is going bad, might need to be replaced. I started doing some work to the car(brake lights, headlights, horn wiring was all bad) and noticed that whenever power is supplied to the car(hooking up the battery) the voltage regulator clicked, creating a draw on the system, draining the battery. I traced it down to the yellow wire going from the alternator to the battery and found that if I unplug the white plug from the alternator with 2 pins place like this: --| it shuts off the regulator. the voltage regulator LOOKS like its fairly new though so I dont suspect that it is the problem. First question is, what does the yellow wire go to, if anything, besides the voltage regulator? Second, does it sound like the alternator could be causing the problem? Thanks in advance, and sorry for rambling on so long. Jon Powell