Condenser wire smoking

[garretthes]

Trying to bring a 79 back to life. Had to re attach the fusible link wires. Now when I hit the starter the condenser wire smokes and also the ignition power jumper wire in the fusible link.

[Zed Head]

Trying to bring a 79 back to life. Had to re attach the fusible link wires. Now when I hit the starter the condenser wire smokes and also the ignition power jumper wire in the fusible link.

The "ignition power jumper wire" might actually be one of the fusible links. The fusible link for the 280Z looks like a piece of wire with a female spade connector on each end. They are designed to melt (fuse) before the rest of your wiring does. I'm not sure what the ZX links look like but they perform the same way. Sounds like yours did what it was supposed to do.

And a condenser (capacitor) would only smoke it if it was shorted. But the only condenser I can think of is on the alternator housing and would have fried when you connected the battery if it was shorted, not when you hit Start. Are you sure that it is a condenser? Where is it located? What does it look like?

You will need to find the short and get a new fusible link before you go further. Don't replace the link with regular wire, you'll burn some of your wiring harness.

[garretthes]

Replaced the fusible link with 20amp fuses. Replaced all the shorted wiring.

When I turn on the ignition the 20 amp fuse going to the ignition relay blows. Anyone know the pin ID on the ignition relay. I'm trying to test it.

[garretthes]

Nevermind on the relay. I found it

[FastWoman]

I don't know the '79 ZX wiring, but I have a '78 Z. None of my fusible links were engineered to blow at any amperage as low as 20A. I think they're rated maybe 40A and up (from memory). You'll find info about fusible link gauges buried in this thread:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35588

A short in the cap on your ignition coil might cause both the cap and your fusible link to smoke. The noise suppression capacitors/condensers are cheap. Pick up a new one, and see if that fixes the problem. You'll of course need to reinstall or replace your fusible link wire.

[garretthes]

I traced the short to the fusebox then to the wire that runs to the brake light switch-then to the ASCD tail stop lamp sensor. After seeing the rust under the ASCD Control Unit I understand why it's a problem. I hope the short stops there. More updates later...

Putting the wiring harness back together.

[sblake01]

280ZX's had cruise control? I did not know that.....

[garretthes]

Update: Tried to start it. No luck. I'm not hearing the fuel pump. Guess I will test for voltage. At least there were no smoking wires this time!

[garretthes]

How do you test the fuel pump? The FSM says to remove the oil pressure switch or alternator L connector. Where??? To the relay?? Useless info to me because it's too vague.

[garretthes]

Also noticed I don't get a tach reading when I try to crank it.

[garretthes]

Also not getting spark at the coil wire to the dizzy