Electrical Issues

[tleverett]

Alright guys this is going to be a bit lengthy, but I'm hoping by giving as much info as possible the clues will be there and you will have a better idea, maybe I'm looking too hard at one thing.

Okay I got this 1978 280z about 2 months ago. The car hasn't touched the road in 12 years and hadn't started in who knows how long.

First I got a battery and hooked it up. The brake lights or night time lights were permanently on and the headlight switch would turn on the lights (it looks like someone put in new wiring to all of these things to bypass switches or fuses). The voltmeter also was the only gauge that worked. With the keys in the car there was no signs of life from turning the key to accessory. NO lights sounds, nothing.

I changed the oil, spark plugs, filter, fuel filter, dropped the fuel tank and cleaned it out, switched out some lines, the fuel filter, added another in line fuel filter and put things back in. Once I did all that I turned the "crank bolt" and it was not seized. After that I gave the ignition a full turn, and nothing happened. Went back to the engine bay wiring. After watching a random youtube video I saw that two wires that were just laying in the engine bay were supposed to be hooked to the battery so I rigged them back in the terminal. I tried starting it again and there was life in the ignition. I sprayed some starter fluid in the intake and it started up and died shortly after (I was by myself so I could not continue to spray it to keep it going). Mind you still no gauges or anything worked.

Then the ignition started to act funny. I would try to turn it and nothing would happen. And on the second or third time it would start again (with starter fluid). Then it would shut off, I know the fuel pump didn't work at this time. So sprayed some more starter fluid and tried again. This time the ignition didn't work until the 4th or 5th try. And upon the final attempt the ignition did not work at all. I also noticed the volt meter (the only gauge that worked) is no longer working.

At this point I tried to clean up some electrical and fix some things for longevity. I did a fusible link delete with the Maxi fuses. I cleaned the positive starter terminal, took the wires off, sanded the o ring terminals, and de gunked everything and put them back on. I took off all the grounds cleaned the o ring terminals and sanded the paint where they were attached and re attached them, one with a new 4 gauge wire to replace an 8 or so. I took the two wires connected under the fuel pump and plugged the battery straight to it through the bullet terminals and the pump made no sound. I cut the terminals off and connected straight to the wires and the pump started to prime, so the connections/ wiring was bad there. Then I replaced all the cylinder fuses in the passenger kick panel with all new fuses, I noticed a decent amount of blue/green oxidation under passenger dash, not sure how that would affect it. Then the ignition still did not work.

My next step is to take off the fuse box kick panel, get some connection cleaner and "dialectic grease" take the fuse box completely off (if possible) clean all the connections and prep them, and see if that makes it work.

If this should not work, does anyone have an idea of where I should start looking to tackle next based on the things that have shown so far. The volt meter being the only gauge that did work, and now it doesn't. The ignition slowly stopping working. These are two clues that I just don't know what they mean.

Edited May 24, 2019 by tleverett

[munters]

Take a voltmeter and start to look for feeding wires and the volt they have. Should be the same as you measure at the battery. If it's not the same fellow the cable and measure every connection until you find the loss. Use a wire plan you can find here on the forum.