hb_justice

72 521

Getting normal voltage through the ballast resistor and coil but I am not getting a spark at the end of the coil wire. Any ideas? I am running a Mallory but I'm not getting spark to it.

I am looking for an ignition switch with keys for my 1972 Datsun 521. I hope to find one close to Everett, WA. I can meet and pay cash. I am still open to paypal and shipping... but I would prefer to pick up and pay cash locally.

Today I cleaned all light bulb sockets and replaced bad bulbs. They all work, however, I still have the dim left dash turn signal when I turn the lights on and no right dash turn signal (this is just running without having indicated if going left or right). If I turn my flashers on.. they blink at the same time left still a little more dim. If I turn the lights on while flashers are on... then they alternate (again left still a little more dim). All physical lights work as normal.... this is ONLY dash lights. On the previous issue... Is there something internal to my distributor that could be grounding out? I do still have a dual point set up... What will the truck do if the condensers fail (one or even both)?

Voltage Across Batter w/o Lights: 14.2 V Voltage Across Batter w/ Lights and High Beams: 13.15 V Yellow/Black Wire: 11.8 V Before Ballast Resistor: 11.6 V After Ballast Resistor: 6.35 V I changed out the ballast resister today (really cheap, eliminates one more thing). I drove around town for a half hour. No issues. I don’t think I drove it long enough to cause the problem. My coil was fairly hot. I could still put my hand on it without removing it (not sure how hot is HOT). I don’t have any information on it… the coil is solid black with NO part mark on it at all. I think it may be a BWD E504. It looks identical to the original one but it doesn’t have any writing on it. I swapped the signal cans… same issue occurred. The reason I brought up the turn signal issue was because I thought maybe current was getting re-routed through the same path as the signal or something. That’s all I got for today… Thank you all for the help!

dat521gatherer, Both situations have happened. Sometimes when it dies it WILL NOT turn over. It is like the ignition system is not getting any power…. Similar to if the battery was pulled out and I tried to start the truck (minus the fact that my headlights will still work) if that makes sense. I wait a minute (or less) and it will do as I described in my original post. datzenmike, No, the motor will not turn over INITIALLY (sometimes). It only takes 15 sec to have it start turning over, about a minute to get it to run rough and die and about 20 minutes to have it run like nothing happened. banzai510(hainz), I have another car that I use as my daily driver. I do not want to get rid of my 521. I know it may be difficult but I want to learn! I understand things break and I am willing to fix them. Thank you for the advice and places to start checking. (I have called Ray the first time you posted and again yesterday… no response) Can anyone direct me to a site that has all the voltages at various locations?

The person who had it before me put a Weber on it... I haven't done anything to it.

Sorry if I do not sound very technical… I am new to working on cars (better late than never). I am intermittently losing power to my engine. I will be driving and I lose all power to the engine and have to pull over. If I try and start it back up immediately... nothing will happen when I turn the key. It’s like my ignition system was pulled out. If I wait a few minutes it will turn over and start running really rough and die in 3 seconds. If I wait 20 minutes it will fire up and run like nothing happened. I have replaced my ignition coil, condenser, voltage regulator and alternator. I have wire brushed all my connectors going to the fuse box and replaced ALL my fuses. I am not sure if this is related…. But I figure I will throw it in. When my lights are on, my left dash signal is on but very dim and my right dash signal is off. When I hit my right signal it flashes like normal (nice and bright). When I hit my left signal, the dim light will just flash. All the actual turn signals ARE working. When I wire brushed everything last week, it was the first time I had seen the right signal light in dash come on when I turned my lights on. After driving a few days… I had the power loss again and the right signal in the dash turned off again. Please help! I am tired of getting stranded! Again, I am new to working on cars so the more description on responses, the better. Thanks!

So the truck died again and I didn’t have my volt meter on me. I fired it up later with the meter and it was good. I got it to auto zone and they checked the battery... 25% charge. I charged it up and tested again... I had bad diodes. I swapped out the alternator and haven’t had the problem again. Could the bad diodes cause that problem?

Thanks! 15X6 wheels 205/60/15 tires. I was glad it fit!

Hey All, I just bought my first Datsun. It's a 1972 521. I just lowered it a little (with some help from a friend on the forum) and put some wheels and tires on. I finally have a space where I can learn my way around an engine, so this is all a learning experience for me! I have been having an issue lately where I lose all power after I drive about 5 minutes. It won't let me turn it back on (like the battery was pulled out). I wait a little and it will turn over and idle for a bit then die. If I wait a long time, I can get back where I started! There was a wire going to the distributor (same connection as the condenser) that was making a bad connection. I fixed that and it didn’t have this problem again until this morning. Not sure what it is!?! Been stranded a few times… but that’s what makes it fun… right? Anyways, that’s the story! Beau