Goon down!!! SOS

[Skib]

Alrighty guys, the goons electrical decided to go from grumpy :angry: to fuckin possessed :devil:

 

 

 

I was driving home from Kama's after working on the 620 and get lit up for no tail lights. no prob tells me to fix them and goes on his way.

 

I pulled the fuse out and it looked totally fine and stuck it back in and they start working so I head back on my way and then I start loosing my lights and have to pull over and leave it there for the night (about 1am)

 

 

I came back to get it today and gave it a jump, fired right up and vote gauge read 12V. made it most of the way home running just fine and then the volt gauge rendered itself useless, the tach points strait down and starts reading counter clockwise.... ran fine like that for a bit then the engine starts spitting and shit like someone had gone and mixed up all my plug wires. pumped the gas and kept the RPM's up to keep it going to a spot to pull over and leave it (right outside town like 2min from my house) and it gave a nice fatty backfire before it died.

 

 

 

 

 

any 510 wiring gurus want to save my ass here?

Im more than likely starting a new job a Nissan here soon and I cant have my goon let me down now :( :frantics: :no: :sick: :hmm:

 

 

hoping to get a full engine harness to swap in and get rid of mine, think thatl fix shit dime experts?

 

 

 

:( :( :( :( ( :( :( :( ( :( :(

[elmerfudpucker]

Check your grounds!! and did you do any new wiring on it recently?

[datzenmike]

Low voltage. When the volts get low enough it will do all sorts of strange shit.

 

When you jumped it you charged the battery a small amount, just enough to drive ti away. When you drew enough power out it started acting up. Check the volts when it's doing this and I bet it under 10 maybe more.

 

 

Most likely no charge from alternator or bad connection not allowing the charge to get to the rest of the car. Charge light on?

[Skib]

Check your grounds!! and did you do any new wiring on it recently?

 

 

Im gonna be tearing into it soon as I can get it towed the last bit home.

 

and no new wiring at all :(

 

 

Check the volts when it's doing this and I bet it under 10 maybe more.

 

 

Most likely no charge from alternator or bad connection not allowing the charge to get to the rest of the car. Charge light on?

 

 

shit doesnt even start up now but ya it was 10 and under driving back

 

 

no charge light tho

[elmerfudpucker]

that blows, any other issues? fusible links?

[datrod]

Skip.

I had the same thing happend to me. Check your main power wire to the alt. Mine was all green and fuzzy. and very little contact. I just cut the bad part off and ran some new wire.

[DISLEXICDIME]

Skip.

I had the same thing happend to me. Check your main power wire to the alt. Mine was all green and fuzzy. and very little contact. I just cut the bad part off and ran some new wire.

 

x2

[izzo]

time for a new harness dood

[Nick]

I've seen a couple issues like that.

 

On my car, a while ago, the lights started to dim a bit and the engine wasn't running right. I found that one of the wires from the alternator came loose (Like what datrod said), it wasn't noticeable from just glancing at it, so you may have to go through the wire connections at the alternator to see if that could have happened.

 

On another car, after someone drained the battery, the car would shut off if it wasn't running at higher RPMs (even after it sat without any additional load on the engine for a while). For that car, it took charging the battery for an hour or two on one of those car battery chargers to get it to the point where the car would idle on its own.

 

I hope your able to get it figured out.

[Spades]

hey skib...first things to check bud are your power and ground wires to and from the alternator. if they are good, check your battery...do you have a battery tester? if your battery is in good shape, and your main power and ground wires are good, its time to look at the alternator.

 

turn your headlights on, with highbeams on. Your alternator needs to be putting out about 14.5 volts, not 12 volts. If it is still putting out 12 volts, chances are its the alternator voltage regulator...they commonly go bad on externally regulated alternators...hell, its the most common failure I see in our shop on internally regulated alternators. a voltage regulator is usually cheap, so with any luck maybe that is all that is wrong.

 

You will need to have a properly working and fully charged battery to start doing tests though, jumping it isnt enough...if the battery is toast, it can make the alternator look bad, if the alternator is toast, it can ruin a battery. and if system voltage is below 12.5 volts and low amps, it can make all kinds of weird stuff happen.

[datzenmike]

Fuck towing! It's undignified for the car and shows lack of resourcefulness for the owner.

 

To get it home have a buddy put the jumpers on and let him idle fro 5-10 min before starting. This will charge up your battery more than enough to get you home, well without headlights on.

[Jason]

Skibby, after checking the grounds, battery and alternator wiring, it's probably time to soak the fusebox in vinagar too.

[elmerfudpucker]

After all the great responses, I just came up with an idea!! You could just give it to me!! :D

[hobbes_the_cat]

exact same thing happened to me in my dime. regulator and alternator both checked out bad. don't know if one died then killed the other or what but i replaced them both and all was fixed. :blink: i would have the alt. tested

[Skib]

Fuck towing! It's undignified for the car and shows lack of resourcefulness for the owner.

 

To get it home have a buddy put the jumpers on and let him idle fro 5-10 min before starting. This will charge up your battery more than enough to get you home, well without headlights on.

 

 

lol thats what Ill end up doing. all I have around here is the 280zx and the axle is making noise so Im not towing with it :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

soon as I get it home tomorrow Im just going to pull the engine harness and unwrap the whole thing and get cracking.

 

and the fuse block prob needs to be soaked (the "fixing" of the brake lights kinda made me think that, Iv never taken it off)

 

 

 

and its swapped to a ZX IR alt just for the info record

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fuckin hate electrical..... <_<

[zerow]

Skib,

 

Riddle me this: Remove the ground at the block and clean completely (both sides and the spot on the block) with some sandpaper. See if the problems start to dissipate. The alternator grounds (technically) twice. Once through the wire, and once through the casing. If the casing is not getting the ground back to the car for the lighting and gauges to work, then it is all relying on the battery and it's myriad of much smaller grounds on the car. Those little grounds cannot handle the job of accepting the charge from the alternator and grounding the lights and instruments. And its a cheap ratsun fix :)

[Skib]

Skib,

 

Riddle me this: Remove the ground at the block and clean completely (both sides and the spot on the block) with some sandpaper. See if the problems start to dissipate. The alternator grounds (technically) twice. Once through the wire, and once through the casing. If the casing is not getting the ground back to the car for the lighting and gauges to work, then it is all relying on the battery and it's myriad of much smaller grounds on the car. Those little grounds cannot handle the job of accepting the charge from the alternator and grounding the lights and instruments. And its a cheap ratsun fix :)

 

 

I tryed this once before and some dielectric grease when I put it back together and it still didnt help :(

 

 

Im just going to go threw each and every last wire this weekend (starting tomorrow) and get the gremlins out once and for all :angry:

[zerow]

...and get the gremlins out once and for all :angry:

OUT FOUL GREMLINS! THE POWER OF RATSUN COMPELS YOU!

[Skib]

OUT FOUL GREMLINS! THE POWER OF RATSUN COMPELS YOU!

 

 

hopefully Iv earned up enough Datsun gods karma lately :unsure:

 

I helped get kama's 620 back on the road the last 3 days and there was an old guy with a rover on the side of the road today that I stopped and helped him get it running again.

nice fellow, very gratefull (it was really hot out) he had Korean war vet plates so I was glad I could lend a hand to Veteran on top of that. :D

[hang_510]

and its swapped to a ZX IR alt just for the info record

 

fuckin hate electrical..... <_<

i had a bad alt cause similiar symptoms, brushes would short momentarily, eventually(4mos) melted the fusible link...

the fuses were replaced multiple times

 

 

if your removing it(while cleaning ll the grounds/box)), get it load tested at the local parts shop too

[Skib]

i had a bad alt cause similiar symptoms, brushes would short momentarily, eventually(4mos) melted the fusible link...

the fuses were replaced multiple times

 

 

if your removing it(while cleaning ll the grounds/box)), get it load tested at the local parts shop too

 

 

I took it by the parts store to have it tested when it first started acting funny and it tested good at 2 different stores :wacko:

 

 

prob test it again just for shits while I have everything all out to be sure nothings happened between now and then

[Skib]

I can haz beer? :(

[mswit209]

i would also check to make sure the diode hasn't gone bad inside the alternator. it might have gone bad and its making your car into an a/c system not a d/c anymore that can cause some problems. and it wont turn on the light be cause it will still sense voltage coming from the alt. but then again your charge light may be burnt out if your tearing it apart you might as well check your gauge light bulbs.

 

shit if i was doing my swap sooner i would just sell you my harness it hasn't givin me any issues since the PO of my car had it garage kept :D.

 

vinegar works good but lemon juice works better fyi. and it doesn't smell as bad.

 

good luck

[datsun723]

Check your alternator yet?

[Spades]

Like I said, check to see how many volts the alternator is putting out at idle with your lights and hi-beams on. If voltage doesn't go up to 14 volts, try jumpering the regulator...you can put juice to the field wire for a second or two and watch to see if the voltage at the battery goes from 12 volts to 14+ volts...if it does, you know your alternator is good and the voltage regulator is bad...if the voltage stays the same, the alternator is toast.

 

That is a simple test that only requires a simple voltmeter and a piece of wire to send 12v current to the alternator field wire.

 

Don't get me wrong, if your grounds and fuse block are corroded, it is probably a good idea to clean them up, and maybe run a couple new ground wires from the battery to the chassis and engine block...however, I am kind of doubting that corroded terminals are directly responsible for this issue...my money is on a regulator or alternator.

 

If you have any further questions, feel free to PM me.