521 Engine Power Loss

[hb_justice]

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!

[Npdavies.]

Have you done anything to the carburetor? It sort of sounds like you're having some sort of vapor lock-esque issue.

[hb_justice]

Have you done anything to the carburetor? It sort of sounds like you're having some sort of vapor lock-esque issue.

 

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

[banzai510(hainz)]

Like I said in a earlier post Ray Stonehocker could give it a once over 425 931 31 21 maybe Jeff Hino also know as Icehouse on this forum.

 

If your ignition seem to die are you cking for 12volts anywhere? You got a volt meter? spark at the coil. next time this happens

 

Now what coil you replced in there? Hopefully you put a stock 521 coil in there. If not maybe your burning something up ect. Coil getting hot ect.... Im sure the other coil was fine. I never seen one go bad myself in 25yrs of woring on Datsuns.

 

 

when its running make sure you do get good voltage. otherwise you migh not have anything wrong with the signals. Just low voltage or a burnt out bulb ect.

 

You got a nice truck However 521s are not for a inexperince mechanic. I know. I have to work on mine all the time. If you dont have a another car best to get rid of this to soemone who will appriciate it. its almost a 40 yr old rig. Things break.

 

 

batt cables good?

do a valve lash ck

Timming set?

point gap correct?

have spark?

Have fuel?

Power at the coil? Ballast resisitor? CORRECT COIL installed. Not a newer EI type, BLING go faster coil of the wrong value?

 

 

if you lived closer I would give you one FREE ck up. After that I charge you.

 

 

THATS a COOL truck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wayno]

Next time it dies, carefully touch the ign. coil, is it hot?

If it is hot, that is likely the issue, the wrong one/type.

[dat521gatherer]

I have the same problem. But my power comes back on before I can diagnose it or even get out of the damn truck. :confused: As far as the blinker on the cluster being dim it's a ground problem. There is a rivet or 2 for the cluster turn signal bulb socket that gets oxidized/corroded. I'll try to find a pic for you. The blinker problem is unrelated.

[datzenmike]

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.

 

First, when it quits and you turn the ignition to start, does the motor turn over at all?

 

No?.... I would suspect that no power is getting to the ignition switch. Check the alternator plug and power wire, and unplug and plug the connector to the voltage regulator to shine the connector pins and make good contact. I know you replaced the alternator but check it anyway. A volt meter is handy here to 'see' that there is power to the ignition switch or the fuses or not.

Yes?... it turns over. You need only two things to start a motor if it turns over.... GAS and SPARK.

 

Gas... Take air filter off and look at the glass front of the carburetor. It should be full to the horizontal line on the glass.

 

(no gas).... replace the fuel filter, it's plugged. Gas in tank?

 

Spark... Pull any plug wire off and stick an old spark plug in the end (or screwdriver) and hold on the grounded valve cover. Crank motor and you should see a spark jumping across the plug gap.

 

(no spark)... pull coil wire off and repeat. If it sparks the problem is likely the rotor. If no spark pull distributor cap and check the points gap. Crank motor over and observe that the points open and close, the gap should be around 0.020".

 

Here is where a test light or small $5 volt meter will come in handy. You can check the coil to see if there is voltage present.

It's also possible your coil overheats and stops working, cools down and begins working again.

[DanielC]

Check the fuel pressure, and also the flow.

The fuel pump should have about 2.5 to 3.5 PSI pressure.

The fuel pump should also be able to pump about 1000 CC in a minute, at 1000 RPM.

 

A fairly common problem with 521 trucks it the fuel pickup gets clogged in the gas tank. Dirt, or crud gets sucked to the fuel pickup, and as long as the fuel pump draws a vacuum, it holds the crud there. This is a picture of the fuel pickup inside the tank.

 

If you suspect this is happening, blowing air from the fuel filter backwards to the fuel tank will dislodge the crud and you will be able to run the truck almost immediately. There will be a tendency for the fuel pickup to get clogged more often if the tank is close to empty.

[dat521gatherer]

We need to get a little more specific here. When you say "power" do you mean you loose the ignition light and oil light and it wont turn over? Or when it dies you have ignition and oil light and it turns over?

 

If you have electricity then it's a fuel problem. I had this happen to me many years ago when my 521 would die but I had electricity but had to wait a few minutes to start it. It turned out to be the hose clamps on the fuel hose not being tight enough. The hose on the bottom of the fuel filter can leak air into the line and not show any signs of wetness because of it's position.

 

Go to napa and buy a fuel filter they are clear so you can see if your running out of fuel. Also if you have a stock hitachi carb look at the glass window on the front of the carb with the air cleaner off and see if there is any fuel in it. Disconnect the hose below the filter and blow on it and listen for air to blow back into the tank then reconnect the hose and make sure it's tight. Good luck.

[dat521gatherer]

My filter a few years ago. I just replaced all my filters with the napa clear ones so I dont have to cut them open to look at it. This one only lost power on the freeway. Just a little bit clogged.

 

[hb_justice]

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?

[banzai510(hainz)]

Ok This helps

 

If you have head lights that means the power is getting to the fuse box input side at least.

Is the wire at the starter selinoid tight? Mine worked loose a couple days ago. I get a pliers and crip it slightly tighter. You could ck for 12volts there when you put the key in Start. The little yel blk wire.

 

Sometimes I pull the battery side of the starter make sure its tight. Sometimes my starter is like loose there. Hower this will not be related to your motor just stop running.

 

Be nice once running get the voltage at the battery. with No lights then with lights ON. and ck for voltages.What were doing is seeing if youtr alternator is OK. Sometimes bad in Box.

 

 

need to ask what coil you put in also? does it feel really hot when running?

 

Frank lives on 41st close to the Union 76 maybe you could have him look at it. I dont know how eleltrical he is but by chance he is out and Jeff Hino will be there.Frank Cook 425 280 4747

 

ck for voltage at the ballast resisitor next to the coil where the blk/wht wire gois into. With Key On youll have 12volts. then other side of ballast should be about 6 volts which should be the same at the + side coil. If using the Stock stuff( I dont know what new coil you put in there so it could be different). you get those voltages it sounds OK.

 

 

Blinker stuffs lets worry about later. Most times I just swap the blinker cans under the dash and see what happens. Some times just jby doing this ur cleaning the contacks and it works. Maybe soembody put a 2057 bulb instead of a 1157 bulb. But like I said lets look at this last.ESP if it was working OK before

[banzai510(hainz)]

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.

 

could be a plugged gas issue. OK if you get the voltages and your point gap is good in the distributor,coil not hot.

 

Ck the fuel filter and open it and replace it. If alot of rust then dirt could be pluggin up the idle jet of carb or main jet. Had this happen before. 521s the fuel filler tube is in the wheelwell and dirt and water run inside and rust out the tank. I myself run a stock flter and add a inline one now on my 521.

[hb_justice]

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!

[hb_justice]

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)?

[banzai510(hainz)]

pERSOANLLY i DONT THINK THE COIL SHOULD GET hot. look up the specs of the coil.

mOST POINT COILS WILL SAY ON THE OUTSIDE USE WITH A BALLAST RESISITOR.

if you can confirm its a pooint coil then I guess you can rule that out.

 

Condensor passes AC but blocks DC current. what its design for is to keep the points from arching to much I think.Make them last longer.

If a condensor goes bad I notice my car cutting out right above idle. Like running out of gas. Poping out the carb ect........Makes the carb look bad. Also a point dizzy bushing wear will make it look like a condensor bad also. If dizzy shaft loose enough it will make the points open when you dont want it to. and fire the coil.

 

Youll be using only one set of points most of the time. The 2nd only works in 3rd gear as there is a switch soemwhere.

I personally disconnect the 2nd set wire(one with the small condensor on the outside) and dont use it. Cause if not set right it could make the truck run worse in 3rd gear going up a hill or somthing..

 

as for the dash light dim. You could just try to seat the connector in back. It might clean it up or just a dim bulb(never seen this myself)

 

Ps you voltages do look about normal to me.