no start

[lees510]

yo

i got a 74' 620 and it wont start. in fact, i have no power to the dash (no turn signals no lights nothing). it's not the battery, i charged it. my battery ground is fine, as well as my fuses. any ideas?

[Figbuck]

No power to the dash? What does that mean? Does it crank and not fire or are you saying that the ignition switch is dead, no crank no dash lights? Is there power to the hot side of the fuse block? Did you check the fusable link?

 

Was it running before and now has a gremlin? :confused:

[fiveNdime]

Its a Ghost.:eek:

 

I would start with square one again. Check battery, have it tested. Chech all grounds, make sure there tight and clean. Check all your conections between wires such as butt conectors and spade conectors etc. Fuses and relays should be checked. Make sure nothing is getting hot when your key is on, like a relay or fuse. Then what I would do is trace the wiring from fuse block to key switch. Making sure all is right on the way there. Use a test light and make sure power is getting to your ignition switch. Then see if its getting to your accesory side. You could look under your fuse block too. I have had wires melt on mine from someones great idea in the past. Dont overlook simple things. I wish I was there to help! Let us know!

[lees510]

sorry, i should have been a little more specific. the ignition switch is dead, no crank no dash lights. i checked the battery and the grounds.

it ran and started fine when i parked it a few weeks ago..

 

thanks for the help, and so fast! i'll start tracing the wiring with a test light

[datzenmike]

If you're going to own a Datsun get a 12 volt tester bout $5. It has an alligator clip on one end and a probe on the other. Just clip it to ground and touch a bare wire and the light bulb will light if you have voltage.

 

To see if it's your fusible link, open the door... does the interior light come on? Do the head lights work? does the horn work? All these work without the key but have to come through the fusible link. If they aren't working check the fusible link.

 

If lights working:

If one or more are working you should have power to half your fuse box and to the White wire going to your ignition switch. Test the White wire at the ignition plug, if power, connect plug and check the Black/White wire. If no power the ignition switch or contacts are bad. The fact that you have no start suggests that it's in the ignition switch.

 

If power comes on with ignition switch on the Blavk/White wire then you have switchable power to the other side of your fuse box. Wiggle the fuses to make better contact... everything should work.

[banzai510(hainz)]

ck the fusable link wire that plugs into the starter post.this feeds the fusebox ect....

 

 

the plus side of the alternator(while OFF) should have 12volts if not then look at the fusable link above

[toddluck]

fusable link for sure

[lees510]

muchos gracias

[ggzilla]

The last my fusible link went bad, I used one I had around from a Mustang ... it worked OK. But I recently bought the 'genuine' item from Nissan it looks much better than some random wire stuck into the connectors.

[Figbuck]

I'm going to say this because I wish somebody would have said it to me a long time ago. One of the things that has helped me more than anything is a book called;

 

HOW TO KEEP YOU DATSUN/NISSAN Lseries/Zseries ALIVE

MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR 1968-1986

510-610-710-521-620-720

BY COLIN MESSER

John Muir Publications

 

I found this book new at Barnes and Noble for $20. It is out of print now, but you can get it used at amazon for even cheaper. It is the hot set up. The book is a lot like the Volkswagen for complete idiots, same publisher. There is a Z car book too. If you never worked on a motor vehicle before, the book will walk you through it. All the different systems are broken down to into procedures and there are clear black and white graphic illustrations that are way better than crappy black and white photos in Chiltons or Haynes. There is a pretty good section on trouble shooting, and the electrical system is explained.

 

I bought a factory service manual from the dealer when I bought my truck. It was all right, but I always thought there was stuff missing. All these years later, I realized that it was a common service manual for the '73 1600, and had 510 info as well as 620. I saw an actual 620 service manual not too long ago and was blown away that the one I was using all these years was not specific to the truck!

 

I was trying to sort some electrical gremlins and the wiring diagram didn't always make sense because it was for a car. I found a link to the 620.com site and there are wiring schematics posted up there that were for my truck model!

 

Good luck and tell us what finally happened.