skyblue Posted February 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Pedastal = distributor mount with the tang that has the 10mm hold down bolt. also known as dizzy mount. ground the case of dizzy to the dizzy mount(pedastal) I wonder if you go to Radio shack and buy a bottle of quick freeze and spray the module whn this happens if it goes away. maybe take module off and clean the 2 connections there. the grn red wire. where does the other end of the ground to the pedestal go? so the distributor affects coil spark? i would try the quick freeze, but it usually starts after it dies. Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 SELL THIS PROPLEM TRUCK TO ME FOR 350$ FROM "DIMEQUARTERLY" Quick Tech Tip: Ignition Problems - Grounding Datsun's Breakerless L-Series Distributors By Kelvin Dietz If you haven't already done it already, make sure you have your breakerless distributor grounded to the chassis. Datsun originally provided a .250 male spade connector under the vacuum can screw for grounding. Use it. Yes, I know it's an aluminum case bolted to an aluminum pedestal, which is all firmly attached to other metal bits. Why would you have to add a ground wire from the distributor to the chassis? I'm guessing Datsun did it for a reason and I've fixed three cars with odd electrical problems, including one of mine that got by with no ground wire for 3 years. A few days ago that car was running badly again. It sure felt like the same problem - tach was jumpy... missing all thru the rev range - but we'd just added a ground wire a few weeks earlier! We pulled the dizzy and swapped black boxes. I've honestly never had a black box go bad. Dozens of these distributors have gone thru my garage. It seemed I finally had a bad one. Swapping the black box fixed the problem. I took a look at the old box sitting on my bench. The back of it was very dirty and the aluminum quite oxidized - about what you would expect after 25 years. We decided to pull the distributor back out of the car and clean the mounting area on the distributor as well as the back of the original black box with a wire brush. We then reinstalled the old black box and buttoned the whole thing back up. And guess what? The cleaning worked like a charm! The car ran great with all of the original parts. My guess is most of those "dead" black boxes aren't. That box needs a good ground and after all those years there is enough corrosion to lose that. Tach jumping? Car running like crap? Give it a try. It just might be the answer. Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 SELL THIS PROPLEM TRUCK TO ME FOR 350$ haha. 350$? aw man. :P she hasn't pissed me off that much yet. i'm gonna stick this one out. Quote Link to comment
dat521gatherer Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 most have a male/spade connector for a ground as seen on the left by the vacuum advance here is my set up. i recently went through and replaced all my female connectors cause i had a bad miss from carbon tracking do to unshielded connectors. fixed the miss right away. Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 mine doesn't have it. thanks for the pics. they really help. i totally grounded it that wrong. i'll redo it as soon as it stops raining. no garage or carport. Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 maks sure your wires are correct B goes to + coil C to neg coil ground it!!!!! 10min job. If raining get a trash bag as your rain jacket.Better yet buy a Gortex one cause these are 40 year old rigs and get used to working on them on the side of the road Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 My 40 year old rig always makes it home before i have to work on it, only once it didn't make it, that stupid dogleg transmission was the reason, I guess I deserved it, using a light duty tranny in a heavy duty truck. wayno Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Wayno Not to thread hijack but My rigs always make it home. But all are L motors. They havent really broke hard in a LONG LONG TIME. Dome a headgasket maybe ayear or year and a half. but that is not a hard break for me. 3.5- 4 hrs I was rolling again. Sky I swear the top part of the T on a matchbox was the B side Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 ok so i grounded it. cleaned the outside of the module and connectors. will go run some errands now. fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Wayno Not to thread hijack but My rigs always make it home. But all are L motors. They havent really broke hard in a LONG LONG TIME. Dome a headgasket maybe ayear or year and a half. but that is not a hard break for me. 3.5- 4 hrs I was rolling again. Sky I swear the top part of the T on a matchbox was the B side really? i read here: http://datsun1200.com/modules/mediawiki/index.php?title=Matchbox_Testing that its the stem of the T. how can i b certain? Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 ugh. still doing it. :hmm: but, when it wouldn't start for 10 minutes i turned the ignition off and took the key out. Then put the key back in, cranked it, and it started up no problem and made it home. i'm sure you guys are tired of hearing about this. it's so frustrating cause when its running it runs excellent. but then the spark just decides to take a break. wtf... Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 The bottom of the tee is where my positive side of the coil wire is on both my trucks, the top of the tee is the negitive side of the coil, and both my engines are L20b blocks with w53 heads or at least going to be as soon as I get the other head back from the shop, thanks Skib, had it ported for the dual SU intake, and had to get rid of the brass valve seats as my foot is to deep into the pedal all the time. :lol: wayno Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 time to try another dizzy Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 i was afraid of that. ok. thanx everyone for your help. Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 do you think it might just be the module? or should I just bite my lip and dish out the moolah for a whole new dizzy? Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Most of us Datsun guys have a stack of parts. Do it anyway you fill good about it. If you get another used dizzy make sure they send the pedastal with it. as there were 2 types. If the dizzy is going to Kill ya price wise to ahave a NICE reliable rig, Ill still take that truck for 350$ Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted February 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 yea i know. i've accumulated a little stack over the years. got it. i would've never known that. hahaha. you really want my truck huh? Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 hey guys. so i have an update. I replaced the Ignition Control Module on my distributor 5 days ago and she hasn't given me any trouble since. I'm pretty sure that was the problem. and now on to other things. thanks for everyone's help.:thumbup: Quote Link to comment
wayno Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 I just thought of this in case you have trouble in the future again with the starting, I found out there is an extra wire that goes directly to the coil in the 71 521 wiring harness, this wire is to supply the coil with power in the starter engaged mode(while you turn the engine over), I had trouble starting my truck in the morning because this wire had somehow been disconnected, so I found out if I jumped the positive side of the coil directly to the battery, the truck would start right away. Then one day I seen this wire, I think it was a black wire with a red line, I looked it up in the wiring diagram, seen it belonged on the positive side of the coil(it bypassed the ballist), I reconnected it and all my starting problems went away, I also have the matchbox distibuter. wayno Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 ah. i will have to check for that. thanks for that wayno. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 Sup ya'll. Gave her a little tune-up todayand finally replaced the inner wheel bearings and she's running smooth as butter. Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 i thought those inner wheel bearings were hard to get??? Love this truck!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 They are, but boxboy has a source in Singapore that he shared with me and I ordered 2. they took about 2 weeks by air mail which i thought wasn't too bad. Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 small update. replaced oil pan with correct 521 pan cause it was leaking oil. and here's the old(wrong)510 pan. worst pan i've ever seen. motor was sitting on crossmember. it was all f'ed up. how does that even happen? was totally stoked to stop the leak, but then found out the motor is leaking form timing cover too. :no: good thing timing gasket kits are dirt cheap. On the upside, she runs soo much smoother from the engine not sitting on the frame. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment
josh817 Posted June 23, 2011 Report Share Posted June 23, 2011 I've been having problem after problem with my 521. When I read your ignition problem, I'm curious if when it shuts down on you, is the coil HOT to the touch. We've had this problem with British cars at my fathers shop. They start back up again a few minutes later when the coil has cooled. I have a hunch that's what it may be, but you have the right resistance in your coil so I'm not sure anymore... Quote Link to comment
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