ckolander

Amen to that brotha, I'm still fighting my own electrical gremlins, if only mine were as simple as yours........I just need a whole new wiring harness lol...

Thank you, the wiring on mine is shot so I think it's time to replace it

Ok new question, there's a little ?capacitor? hooked to to ignition coil and that ground wire is totally shot, how necessary is that capacitor thingy?

Score one for self diagnosis. Hope that solves all your problems.

Okay so my bone stock 79 s130 has had some electrical gremlins and from what I could gather it was a ground issue. So I tear into the wiring looms to check the quality of the grounds, see if there's any corroded or burnt areas, lo and behold there was both, however my issue lies elsewhere. Datsun in their infinite 70's wisdom decided to run a main ground wire from the battery/body straight to the alternator with about eleventy-million small grounds coming off of it at various points, one spot splitting in half with the other side going to the engine block. Now I have removed a few extraneous items such as the injector fan, a/c, underhood light, and something else. Now my question is, is it okay to simplify the ground wire nest, remove all the extra grounds for removed items, run directly from batt/body to alt and from there to block? Basically taking the factory stack of y'd wires and making a big triangle(continuous circuit). I figure this should be plenty fine but was hoping for some input before I start cutting the wires up.

I was driving for probably half an hour before it started smoking, guess I need to get the alternator checked out. Thanks

By burning/overloaded I mean the $250 Exide Orbital Select Deep Cycle Gel Cell battery started smoking out through the vents. Guessin it was hydrogen coming out because it smelled like rotten eggs. As far as the readings go, I don't know exact numbers, my friend was manning the voltimiter while I handled the ignition and fuel side of things. I would like to run the testing again but I'm afraid of putting another battery in it for fear of breaking something

Not tryin to thread jack but since it seems there's quite a few people of electrical genius reading it, I have an issue. My '79 280ZX seems to be burning/overloading batteries. So far I have gone through 2 batteries. My friend helped me check the readings and my alternator seems to be running low, I've replaced quite a few of the ground wires but I think I've hit a wall. Any advice?

Ok well I'm jealous of your interior. I have a '79 mfd of 02/79. About as plain jane as it gets, manual windows, manual mirrors, manual locks, rack and pinion, had a/c but I got rid of that, analog clock that doesn't work. Oh yeah, it's also a slicktop with a 5 speed and the r200 diff. God I love my car when it runs!!

I don't have any supporting pictures but a large duffel bag and my traveling toolbox are all I can fit

Very very high pitched, I thought it was the belt slipping at first but checked belt tension and that was fine, no uneven wear on belt. Ummm have no idea about the bearings, I pray thats not it........ It sounds like my 3 year old daughter when she gets mad and screams at me.......yes that bad.

Ok I searched for the following terms with no luck whatsoever "shrieking noise" "screaming noise" "really loud noise" My 79 280zx, which I just recently got back on the road is once again out of commission. Died on me 3 miles from home and wouldn't start back up, so my buddy pulls me home and I let the car sit overnight. The next day I go out and she starts right up, a little white smoke out the back, common for this particular s130, goes away after warming up. I let her warm up for 10 or 15 minutes and then rev her a couple times to see if she'll die again and this ungodly loud shriek comes from the engine. At first I figure it's the belt but notice with my head under the hood that it sounds like it's coming from under the valve cover or in that vicinity. There is no uneven wear on the belt and everything seems fine on the exterior. I am afraid to start pulling things apart but will probably have to. Does anyone have any idea what has happened? Thanks HBZ Chuck

Those rules that Hoov posted are the greatest.

I honestly don't think that our standards should be lowered in any way due to the ignorance of the new members. If they would like to learn then they can stick around, if not we can guide them over to zcar. I know that I have said some stupid stuff here, but usually in threads that were designed for it.

Fricfrac, do you have a step by step or anything like that, yeah it's goin in my s130 and I'm a good installer, it's just the logistics of the whole situation that has me stumped. Love the setup in that pic too