lastbrunneng

Whoops, of course, its a 76 280z, all stock.

I followed the wire to the fusible link marked 'ignition,' and determined that the circuit ends at the water temp sensor, cold start injector, and some things I haven't identified yet. But disconnecting all those things failed to remedy the voltage drop, so I suspect the problem to be further back the line.

Hello, I have a major voltage drop occurring, it started after my thermostat housing came loose and sprayed water while I was driving. The voltage drop only occurs with the key turned to On or Start, Acc or Off causes no drop. Because of the placement of the leak, I suspect I have either a corroded connection/wire or short near the front of the engine. My first instinct was the water temp sensor, but unplugging didn't help. I traced the voltage drop to the C5 connector on the junction block, the bottom flat connector. With that terminal unplugged I used a jumper wire to test each connection and immediately on connecting the bottom flat terminal I saw the voltage drop from 12 to 8. There is a white wire with a red stripe leading to this connection, can anyone tell me where this wire goes? I've studied the wiring diagrams but I'm not very good at it, I believe it goes through the C3 terminal as well before running through the ignition switch and possibly the ignition relay, but I lose it from there. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Kai

Thank you very much, that's exactly what it was. And like a newb I never even considered the fusible links. I really appreciate the help getting my baby back on the road!

Hello, So, following a heavy rain last night, my 76 280z wouldn't start this morning. Basically, anytime a draw (including turning the key to any position or just the dome light coming on when the door is open) is placed on the battery the in dash voltmeter drops to 8, then continues to fall until zero volts. So far, when I turn of off the draw (say by closing the door) the volts will go back to 8 then slowly raise to 12. The car obviously won't start like this. I tried taking all the fuses out and the problem persisted, indicating to me that the problem is before the fuse box. I'm sure this is related to the moisture from the rain. I'm a bit stumped, though, that there could be a short to ground which only drains the battery when another draw is placed. Electrical diagnosis is not my specialty, I took a class at the local Vocational but I'm hoping someone can direct me to a likely problem or a good diagnostic procedure. Until then I'll be checking connections. Thanks for any possible help.

Thank you, I replaced the bad shock today, waiting on the bushing kit. The car wanders a bit on the highway, but I don't believe it has much play. I'll check everything this weekend, thanks again.

Well the engine and transmission have been maintained almost immaculately, unfortunately the body and suspension are pretty rough. I knew the tires were wearing unevenly but the speed of their wear startled me. I do all my own work, what should I look for on the tie rods?

I have a 76 280z, basically stock. It has some suspension issues, the rubber is getting old (cracked), the rear passenger shock has about 1-2 inches of not damping, and the aligment is pretty clearly off, it pulls to the left under normal driving and to the right under braking. I was already planning to replace the rubber underneath, and the shocks and probably the springs (if I can afford it). Since my rear tires have worn down to the metal in less than a year, I'm suddenly motivated to get this all done before I go buy new tires and get an alignment. My question is if my tires have worn so bad because of poor alignment, or if there is another possible culprit I should know of? I feel like I read something about u-joints or bearings wearing out and causing tire wear, but I couldn't find it through searching. I attached pics of my rear tire compared to my front tire, the rears are half gone, and these were all bought less than a year ago. I'm ordering parts tonight, and will be getting new tires and an alignment after everything is installed, so any warnings or tips regarding this issue will be greatly appreciated. Sorry if I'm long winded, I didn't want to leave anything out.

Make sure you get one from the appropriate year. I couldn't find a replacement for my 76 anywhere, so I got one from a 78 and cut off the stuff that was different and welded on the stuff that was right.

I had a similar problem with my 76, the mechanism kept jamming and when it wasn't jammed it still didn't work very well. I also had two spare switches with the different style connector. I cleaned the internals of the switch and then I dissasembled the wiring harness (didn't cut any wires, just unrapped it all) and just transferred the appropriate peices to a better frame.

So I tried the thread chaser method. I started by using my air powered rotary tool with a conical abrasive. I ground the damaged threads away after identifying where I would stop, and used a thin-blade flathead screwjy to clean out the leading thread. Then I took the damaged gland nut and ground off the damaged threads, after which I used a cutoff wheel to cut four notches perpandicular to the threads. As a precaution, I also ground away the thread in front of one of the notches. It may be hard to see in the pic, but I wanted a definate starting cut. This method worked well, and since my threads were only slightly damaged, I didn't have to do much. Sorry for the fuzzy pics, and that I didn't get any before or after shots of the strut. Hopefully this can help someone else with a similar problem.

1976 280z, basically stock everything. After a few weeks of rattling from the rear strut, and doing some research, I disassembled the rear passenger strut and found the gland nut had come completely loose. From driving with the nut loose, the first two rows of threads on the nut were completely rounded, and worse yet the threads inside the strut are rounded as well. I have purchased a replacement shock with the gland nuts but I have three questions: 1: Can the threads inside the strut be repaired? I found one other thread on this topic suggesting to make a tap/chaser with the old gland nut. But since only the first two rows of threads in the strut are damaged I was thinking about just cutting the top 1/16-1/8 off of the strut housing to expose the good threads. I would do this to both rear sides to make them match. Is that a terrible plan? Other than the potential to further damage the threads (I would be very careful), would this complicate matters any? 2: I recieved two gland nuts in the KYB replacement shock, I know one goes on the top, where does the other go? I have reviewed the Chiltons and FSM and not seen reference to the second gland nut. 3: Should I put motor oil in the strut housing? The KYB instructions seem to indicate that I should not, and the fellow at Carquest concurred, but I have read from others online that I should. This is my primary vehicle and I want to get it back on the road as quickly as possible. Thanks everyone.