Search the Community

Whenever I switch my Z into reverse or try to use my turn signal it will kill the engine, as a result it has become nearly undrivable. Has anyone else ever had this problem? If so, please include your solution. Thank you.

Working on my '77 280Z, and had planned to replace all the old bulbs with LEDs from superbrightleds.com. Last week I replaced the brake lights, reverse lights, and front side indicators (whatever those ones on the side are called) with LEDs and everything worked great, new ones were clearly brighter, etc. Although right around that time the headlights stopped coming on, which I didn't pay attention to at the time (but in hindsight this should have been a warning maybe?) Today I went to start on the turn signals. I replaced the front driver side bulb with an LED and it came on just fine, again noticeably brighter than the old one on the other side, great! (The dash is out of the car right now so I can't test turn signal flashing yet, I have the load resistors but haven't spliced them in yet). Then I replaced the passenger side one, and no lights would turn on. So I put the original incandescent bulb back in the passenger side, still no lights come on. Then I put all the original incandescent bulbs back in, removing all LEDs from the car. Still no lights come on. I did nothing else on the car between the install of the first and second front signal LEDs, it was maybe 10 minutes. Multimeter still gives 12.28 volts across the battery, and the head unit/speakers work so it's not a complete electrical failure but something to do with the lights. I checked ground connections (in particular the two at the front of the car right next to the horns, which I tried wiring directly to the battery negative via some alligator clips) but they are all fine as far as I can tell. I don't know what steps to take next. I have the full wiring diagram for the vehicle (http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/wiringdiagrams/F77ZCAR-WIRING1.pdf) but I don't know where to go now, any ideas?

Hello all, long time, no see. Which is good since I typically only come here when something is bad... anyway I've got this problem, see? Started a bit ago, a little trouble getting the car to start. Classic *click* when I'd turn the key. Checked wiring on my starter, since one has come off in the past leading to this problem... not this time. I rock the car a little in desperation (I'm on a dirt road, quite far from civilization at this point) and somehow it starts up. Whew, I think. I get home. Try turning it on again? Click. all wires connected. OK, must be the battery. I get a jump from a neighbor, run it for a while and I turn on the lights to see how it's going. This kills it. Well. Not going to bug the neighbor again, wait for my girl to come home. Jump it, run over to the neighborhood Napa. Guy comes out to test the battery and alternator. He says battery is bad, alternator is good. I had to jump it to get this tested. Jump again to drive over to AutoZone because I still have the battery under warranty until March (Bought it just shy of two years ago). Guy verifies battery is no good, I replace it, but not before brushing the cables free of any possible corrosion. Car won't start. I jump it to go home because I don't know what else to do, and I need to get to work asap anyway at this point, so now I'm borrowing my girl's car for work. Thanks babe! But still not sure about this car. I have a multimeter that I am a little familiar with, use it to test the ground, and it's good. I jump it again and decide to just run it a bit to see if the battery was just dead from the store (it had almost no charge at this point). I run for a little bit and LO! There's smoke coming out of the dash vents on the driver's side! Electrical smell. Great. I'm about to pull the dash apart, which I've never done before and am not looking forward to because my best guess is a short somewhere in there. It's not a well-educated guess. Any ideas? Car info: '73 240z with l28 and upgraded windshield wiper motor ('94 Accord, I believe) and upgraded MSA fuse box, both of which were done over two years ago. no radio, no A/C, no heat connected (core just sitting there) and none of that has been changed/touched in years.

So maybe a bit of a weird problem. I went through and started replacing all my fuel injector clips with some replacements out of a Volvo. They actually snap on, its great, or so I thought. Something happened and I'm not longer getting full power to each injector. The side of the injectors that get power from the Fuel Injector Relay and Dropping resistors are all good. But the side that seems to feed off the ECU are all reading a fraction of the 12V. Weirder is when I touch them with a multi, they read a voltage and just quickly start draining. Anyone ever see this problem before? Car ran fine a few days ago. Battery is brand new as of today.

I have a 1972 240z, and the guy I bought it from got a viper security system and a beefy sound system wired in (very poorly might I add). I need to rewire a lot of the engine bay and the wiring diagrams available are not helping, a lot of wires are spliced and replaced that don't match up or are just taped off and lead nowhere. If anybody has a diagram of all the 10 pin connectors that are located underneath the passenger side of the dashboard it would help a lot, or if anybody has any self made diagrams that are at all related to engine bay wiring please post them, anything might help me out.

I've been a member here for 13 years and have probably read every post (twice). Now I have a bunch of questions so I tried to wrap them all up into one big question with the use of a wiring diagram. Would someone with good wiring knowledge please look over my drawing and advise me if it’s OK as is or what needs to be changed. Thanks guys! 1977 Datsun 280Z Restomod 2005 L33 Chevy 5.3L V8 Motor Carb Manifold with MSD Ignition

Would someone be so kind as to look for me and tell me which side the wiring comes out of for the steering wheel, left side of it or right side of it, that would be super helpful. I'm having trouble getting the reach I need and I think I installed incorrectly.

Just got my LS6 up and running using MS3Pro and the DIYAutoTune drop on LSx 24 harness. From the harness, there is 1 wire that goes to the alternator to activate a low charging light. That's the only wire on the plug. The alternator I got reman from RockAuto (98-02 Camaro) was tested fine at AutoZone. The alternator will not charge. I have the hot lug run back to a fuse block where all the large gauge wires centralize from the battery. I tried running a wire from the 'sense' pin on the alternator back to the fuse block so the system has 'reference' voltage, but that didn't work either. The 4 pins on my alternator plug are 1) Phase, 2) Indicator lamp, 3) Ignition, and 4) Sense. The DIY harness was rigged to the Indicator lamp, and as stated, I tried running a Sense wire to my fuse block. I am currently researching, but not coming up with much. I am not quite sure what I'm missing here. Anybody have any ideas?

UPDATE: After completing the install my alternator isn't charging the battery. Please see the post at the bottom of the page So I have a '75 280z and recently I've noticed my headlights get brighter when I rev the car. (Both in neutral at stand still and in motion) I also noticed that my dash lights and interior lights get brighter as well. The headlights are also very dim whether or not the car is revving or not, revving only brightens them a little and overall they're still dim. The A/C fan also gets louder and blows harder when revving. So somehow all of these problems are connected to something and I'm at a loss on what to do next. I've been reading a lot about this and my best guess is there's a problem with the grounds. If so, where are the grounds located? My problem isn't with the lights/fan getting brighter, but a possible problem with low voltage getting to these systems at idle (or in general) What do you guys think could be the source of all this? Sorry for the barrage of questions but I'm new to electrical gremlins and it's all especially confusing to me. Thanks for any help

Morning guys! Own a 1976 280z stock. I recently received a very generous Christmas gift of full Intellitronix gauges for the Z (Speedo, Tach, Fuel, WTemp, Oil press). I am trying to delete the clock and voltage meter. Each gauge comes with 4 wires (Power, Ground, Signal, Highlight Dim) I have installed the Fuel, Wtemp and oil pressure gauge in the appropriate location by cutting the connector off the stock gauge, splicing and taping into the connector with the new gauge and then plugging it into the stock harness via the stock connector. I was able to get a image and reading from all three gauges. I then decided it was time to move along to the speedo and tach. As soon as I removed the tach/speedo I have lost all power to my 3 smaller gauges. I attempted to reinstall them but realized I had already "hacked" into the tach with the new tachometer so its not possible for me to recreate a stock tach setup. I don't seem to understand why this is happening, checked all fuses as well. Is it a better idea for me to wire all the gauges off 1 power, 1 grnd, 5 individual signal wires, and 1 headlight dim wire? I apologize if this is vague, electrical work is daunting. Thanks for any input!

I have been working on resurrecting my '72 240z w/ l28et conversion. In the past two years the car has come a long way. Due to lack of time and/or lack of expertise I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction on the following items remaining on my restoration to-do list: 1. Installation of interior control panel 2. Install of radio and speakers 3. Install of sound deadening 4. Fender roll or install of fender flares 5. Troubleshoot ignition/fuel issue (fairly certain it's a bad TPS) I'm in north/central jersey. If anyone has a trustworthy and reasonably priced mechanic that can do the work, please let me know.

Guys, I'm still trying to get to my first drive after a long build. Last week I had an electrical issue that a few of you posted replies, and "rsicard" identified the issue. Thanks to everyone. So now electrical issues are behind me, I think. And I'm having a fuel delivery issue. The stock '77 280Z fuel pump is supposed to be good enough for TPI according to the JTR EFI book, but if I read between the lines I think it is marginal. No matter, my stock pump developed a slight leak between the halves of the fuel pump body, so a few weeks ago, I replaced it with a new 280Z pump "Airtex E8312" from Autozone. After getting the timing close (more work to do there later) it idles smoothly and pressure (measured at the shrader valve) stays between 35-40 PSI at idle. But as soon as I tip in the throttle, the pressure starts dropping until it dies at or below 25 PSI. Even if I try to go back to idle, once the pressure starts dropping, it can't seem to recover. No matter how careful I am, and I'm talking about barely 2000-2200 RPM, I seem to get fuel starvation. I talked to the parts house, and the Airtex E3210 is the replacement 5.7L Camaro pump, which is rated at the same max. pressure, 5 PSI less minimum pressure, but about 40% more flow rate. Flow rate sounds like my problem. However, the E3210 is an in-tank pump that won't physically mount like the external Datsun pump without modifications. I'd like to avoid all the mods to go in-tank if its possible. I didn't find anything in the FAQs, so what have you guys found as the best/right pump for this combination? Thanks, Steve And for those of you that keep requesting pictures, I will be posting them soon for anyone interested in this combination, my suspension mods, my Vintage Air AC install, or anything else of interest.

Hi everyone I'm currently doing a 81 l28et (all stock) swap into my 74 260z. My harness was missing the 6 pin ignition harness. I wired the correct yellow/white stripe wire (3) to my ignitor. Other prong on ignitor has its own switched 12v. The yellow wire (2) on the harness side has switched 12v. And finally the supposedly black ground wire (3) on my harness is cut and i can not for the life of me find the wire . If someone can tell me where this wire goes or what prong on the computer plug it connects to. Thank you 74 260z 73 240z

Interior box has all the fuel injection relays & fuses in their own section. Then normal car body fuses. Then a panel with a 50 amp accessory relay, a ignition relay, horn relay & headlight relay. The ignition switch now only carries the load of the two relays. There is a forth section with 6 micro relays that is for expansion in the future.

So about a year and half ago I upgraded my 280z alternator to a 280zx internal volt regulator alternator. I did the wire modification and everything but have this annoying issue that the alternator won't kick on unless I high rev it past 3000 RPMs. When this happen the AMP gauge needle moves from the middle to 1/4 past it. This holds for a little bit and then it drops back down to the middle. When I do this all the lights in the car become brighter as if it getting the juice it needs. Now if I do not rev it to "jump start the alternator" It will run off the battery and the car will eventually die. So I'm wondering if it's a faulty Alternator? It was a refurbished one I got from Rock Auto. Or is it maybe fuse related I have the glass fuse still and the old fuse wires in the engine bay? Thanks!

I have a 280z with an 83 l28et swap. It has had a 3000rpm cut out for some time. I replaced the cap and rotor last night and after about 1 minute of idling fine it just shut off. Tried restarting and now i do not have injector pulse or spark. I belive the Cas has gone bad. My question is should the green signal wires coming to the Cas have 5v whenever the switch is on and the cas is unplugged? Or should they act as grounds when the optical reader goes over the slots in the encoder wheel

Hi everyone, I've been getting some advice in the build thread I've got going but figured this would be the better place to chase after the issues I'm having since it's more technical and a better setting to get pointers of what to look for. So the background: 1976 280z with an 11/75 build date if it matters. Effectively stock, save for a few minor things and an L28ET. A couple issues that are electrical-related: 1) The system does not seem to be charging. Charge light was off with the car running. I ran the engine for a bit and noticed the fuel pump kept getting louder and the engine running rougher so I turned it off and found that the battery read ~11.3 volts. Checked the wiring at the alternator and it checked out so I started the car again and tested voltage at the battery and the alternator positive post. Both read ~11.3 volts. Had the alternator and battery both tested at O'reilly on their machine and it said it checks out, though I know that isn't a final judgement on whether or not an alternator is really working properly or not. By that point I had assumed it was the voltage regulator. Replacements aren't easy to get and they're either expensive or the shipping costs more than the unit. By the time that would all be said and done I figured I would be better off buying an internally regulated 280zx alternator. The alternator is a reman. unit from O'reilly that was on the old engine before without issue. Is there something else I could be missing here? I got a longer bolt/screw for the "E"/ground post of the alternator since the old one couldn't hold the wire and the capacitor at the same time. Is there some chance that the one I used isn't allowing the alternator to get a proper ground? I've also read things about how if the battery isn't charged enough the alternator won't charge, but I doubt that was the case since it seemed that the battery was at good voltage but gradually draining. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a new internally regulated alternator and throw it in, but I would rather have someone point out what I can't seem to see is wrong before I spend the money on it. 2) The tachometer and oil/water gauge are not working. I know I have oil pressure as I verified that before starting the engine. The sending unit is new and I know it's getting oil. The stock tachometer coil signal wire is hooked up and I verified it at the resistor under the passenger side of the dash. Also verified continuity and resistance in the resistor. As far as I can tell, the gauges are getting the signal, they just aren't being powered. The lights do come on but after reviewing the wiring diagram those seem to be on a separate circuit anyway. According to another forum member, the 4th fuse down on the left side of the fuse panel provides voltage to the gauges. The fuse is fine and has continuity, though I don't get voltage on either side of the fuse. After checking where the fuse gets power from, it seems to be hooked into switched voltage from a black and white wire that is spliced in at multiple points throughout the car. Here's where it gets interesting, though. The fuse that provides power to the voltage/fuel gauge also appears to be fed by that wire, and I know my voltage/fuel gauge is working. I feel like I'm going crazy trying to track down the cause of the issue since every lead (no pun intended) I find ends up in me thinking that it should be working fine. Any advice is appreciated as always. Like I always say, HybridZ is the place I turn to when all my efforts seem to be getting me nowhere. - Pac Man

Hello all! I recently acquired a 1977 Datsun 280Z and had a mechanic do a lot of work to restore the mechanics (engine, brakes, etc.) to factory specs. However, there is still an issue. The car starts and runs great, but when it gets warmed up (about 15-20 minutes into a drive) it starts to stutter and then it shuts down. At this point it won't restart. Letting the car sit for about 5 minutes (not a long time!) seems to solve the problem - the car starts again and I can drive it until the process repeats. Here is what has been done to the car so far: - Fuel tank checked to see if getting clean fuel from it - New fuel lines installed - New fuel pump and filter installed - New spark plugs - Distributor checked - AFM (Air Flow Meter) replaced - Fuel rail replaced - Air regulator valve attached (it was missing when I purchased the car!) The fuel pressure was checked and the mechanic said it was good. So, my question is, what do I check next to see what is causing the car to stutter once it warms up? What other information do you need from me? On a second note, when the car stuttered and stalled the first time I was driving it (a day out of the shop), I turned on my hazards. This caused my turn signals, hazards, and dash lights to all stop working. To clarify, my turn signals do not work at all. This means that they do not blink outside of the car, nor do the lights turn on inside on the dash. Neither do the hazards. On top of this, none of the lights on the dash come on when the lights are turned on and any electronic gauges (like the voltage meter) do not work any longer. The mechanical gauges (like the speedometer and heat gauge) work fine. The brake light for the emergency brake works. And a red light next to the voltage/charging meter briefly flashes when I start the car. All external lights work (headlights, tail lights, brake lights), so this is not a dead bulb issue. Since all dash lights stopped working, I am assuming this is not a flasher unit issue. I've also checked fuses and fusible links and they all look good. Where do I go from here? Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi guys. I'm at a bit of an impass with the headlights on my '77 280z and could use a little help. I did some searching here and elsewhere, got a lot of leads but nothing that worked so far All of my lights are working except my headlight. Turn signals, brake lights, parking lights all work. the combination switch turns the side marker running lights on and off but not the Headlights. fuses are good. Headlight bulbs show continuity with a mutimeter, and continuity from the stalk to the fuses look good and from the fuses to the headlight wiring looks good too. All the connectors look solid. (pulled them all apart, sprayed them down with contact cleaner and re attached) I pulled the combination switch apart tonight and cleaned everything with deoxit. pulled open the top of the stalk with the actual connectors and the High/low beam on the other side. (even cleaned the wiper control underneath, because i didn't know what it was.) Is there something im missing with maybe a ground somewhere? or another part of the system im missing? any help would be great. Heres the wiring diagram im working off of from the FSM

Guys, I haven't been active on this forum for over a year because I've been out in the garage building. My 1977 280Z conversion to a 5.7L (350 cid) TPI V8 with World Class T5 is now complete, sort of... After weeks of startup attempts and reading SES codes I'm not much closer to firing it up. I did find a bad fuel pump relay and replaced that. I temporarily relocated my battery from the cargo area back to the front to shorten the cables, just in case. I verified 46 psi of fuel pressure at the rails, and spark at the plugs. I've tried to start it so many times now I'm getting concerned about re-priming the oil pump. I've been very careful over the two year build using the Helms and GM factory manuals as well as JTR Z V8 and TPI/TBI manuals. My wiring connections were done well. I've added temp-switch controlled electric cooling, Vintage Air AC, upgraded the suspension and brakes, and replaced the fuel and return lines with 3/8" steel tubing and AN-8 fittings. Both cars ran when I started this project. I think it is time to enlist the expertise of a professional auto electrician to figure out what I have missed, or what I may have wired wrong. I kept detailed notes and made new wiring diagrams for everything I changed or added. I kept the VATS, Resistor key, VSS, and all sensors. I've been back over all of those looking for any mistakes and don't see any. But electrical work is not my area of expertise. Can anyone recommend an electrical expert in So. Calif. (I'm willing to trailer the car) who really knows, and is willing to work on a Z conversion? For those of you with years of experience, I know the 5.7L never came with the T5, so I swapped out the 5.0 for a 5.7 in the original car to sort everything out before starting the Z swap. I even had to have it smogged that way before the swap due to bad timing (it passed). The WC T5 is for insurance against excessive torque, but I did not use/test it before starting the swap. It has no impact on my current problems. I also welcome informed input from members of this forum who has successfully done what I'm attempting to do. Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Steve

So I can't seem to figure out this electrical problem. My turn signal switch worked for a while and then stopped working. Park lights still work when the headlights are turned on and hazard lights work, The brake lights worked for a while but recently stopped working as well (not sure if caused by turn signal problem) So I tried cleaning the connections by following this write up: http://fiddlingwithzcars.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/turn-signal-repair/ and after they still don't work. So i borrowed a turn signal from another 72' 240z and still nothing so it has to be before the switch. Haven't had the chance to follow the wire and i'm not really looking forward to dealing with electrical since i just fixed an alternator problem which was a headache. Any input is appreciated.

I found a 1976 280Z with a completed 350 conversion for sale. The work looks excellent and the overall condition is great! He's only asking $3,000. However nothing electrical works. It runs and drives but the gauges, lights and wiper do not work. I was wondering if anyone had an idea what the problem could be? I'd like to buy it but not if I have to spend all my free time tracing down gremlins. Thanks!

So i bought my 280zx a couple months ago and have been having a problem where when i turn the car off and key is out my clock stays on and i can also turn the fan for a/c and heat. ive tried 2 different used ignition switches and a completely new ignition lock assembly and switch thinking that would be the problem from what ive read so far. anyone have a clue as to what could be causing these symptoms? bad relay? bad wiring somewhere? any help is much appreciated!

I have mounted 2 buttons on my steering wheel and am not sure the best way to connect with wire. I am thinking about using a coiled cable, as I have seen before, but I would prefer to use a 'spring clock', which is how most cars connect electrical to the steering wheel in a discrete way. I am worried that a coiled cable could get caught up on the steering column when I turn the wheel all the way to one side. The steering rack on a 72 240z should be 2.6 turns lock to lock, which mean a coiled cable would have to wrap 1.3 times around the steering column. What do you think?

Hi Everyone, Long time reader first time poster. I have been looking rather exhaustively in my home country (Australia) for an original condition dash harness including lower console harness, radio harness and hazard light harness & switch to suit my 1975 260Z (280Z for you guys). Here is a photo of the harnesses that I'm after: From what I can find online any LHD 280Z harness should be suitable for my needs but my preference would be for harnesses out of a 1975 280Z if possible for continuity sake. I can pay in cash or I have a spare pair of 260/280Z "Euro" tail lights in good condition (with wiring) I could trade as a part exchange. Parts for these cars are becoming extremely hard to come by over here so any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm pretty desperate! Thanks, Alex