Guest bastaad525 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Maybe I AM on some kind of weird magnetic rift or something like someone suggested.... Some kind of mystical chasm in the energies of the earth running right under my parking spot and causing all these problems with my car. todays death toll: (read: parts that went bad today... yes now MULTIPLE parts are failing in one day... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) Starter Alternator (YES ANOTHER ONE!!! Three in one month!) And last but most dear to my heart... my MSD... yeah... after only three years of use, my MSD has apparently given up the ghost... and I figured out that THAT is what was causing the car to be so hard to start, in addition to the horribly slow cranking starter. So... no biggie on the starter, was a great opportunity to upgrade to a gear reduction unit... thing cranks SOOO much better and faster now. But it still wouldn't start, and I checked the spark which was very erratic. When I figured out the MSD was the problem, disconnected it, and the car fired right up after the starter only turned it over once. In addition, the problem that was there, the bad misfire and stumble, which the MSD had seemed to do so good at curing, apparently cured itself... I dreaded that disconnecting the MSD would cause the car to go back to running like crap, but to my pleasant surprise, the car ran fine w/o it. And then my alternator went out... again... and I called it a day. It's lifetime warranty so I'll take it back tommorow and HOPE that it was just a bad unit, and NOT that it's some other problem in my car that is frying them. I figured it may have been the external voltage regulator, but I replaced that yesterday along with the alternator. WILL IT EVER END!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Damn, one of these times you are going to have like perfect luck for a whole week and the world is going to blow up around you Have you searched around for a short to ground? That could cause some of those weird electrical-related failures. Also, be sure to make sure the battery is fully charged before installing a new alternator. A weak battery can take a major toll on a new alternator and even kill it immediately. If I remember correctly, you can check for a current draw from the battery while the vehicle is off to give you an idea if there is a short. Most likely it would be intermittant though. Maybe what you need is to start a round of preemptive strikes Start thinking about things that could be problems and check them first. Put the car up on jacks and check your joints and drivetrain for slack, check for rust, check your brake lines, hoses, etc. Try getting ahead of the problems and search for aged components before they fail. Heck, maybe even take it somewhere for a multi-point inspection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Damn, one of these times you are going to have like perfect luck for a whole week and the world is going to blow up around you Dude... what is that... some Nostradamus style prophecy? So... when my car finally stops screwing up for a week, that is the final sign that the end of the world is nigh? heheh... more likely I will die from shock when it finally happens. I just can't believe how it's playing out... first... like one major problem a month, then about once a week, then once a day, now 3 in one day... gonna be scared to get out of bed tommorow! anyways.. yeah... I'm thinking I will replace the fuel pump and oil pump soon as I can, as those are two major parts that would strand me and havent screwed up yet... and are starting to worry me! Well moreso the fuel pump as I have no idea of it's age or condition, the oil pump I did get a good look at when we reringed the block. I wonder where I could get a good, reliable, knowleadgeable shop to do a multipoint inspection on such an old car? I dont think Nissan dealerships will touch it, but I'll call one and ask. I know it's kinda pricey though and I'm so broke it's not funny. I did take the opportunity, when I was helping my friend put the car back together after reringing the block, to check out the underside, look at the suspension and drivetrain, and the frame itself, and all looked well that I could see. Except for most of my bushings which are pretty much gone. With this third alternator I dont think it was any problem with the car though... actually as soon as I installed this one and started the car, I heard it making a tapping sound, which I was concerned about. Headed right back to auto zone and told them about it and the guy said that it was pretty typical on rebuilt units and that it should go away after a little bit. Well... it did, but then earlier today I heard even funnier noises coming from it... like an intermittent, electrical buzzing sound (zap... zap zap... zap) coming from it. So I think they may have just given me a bad one. Also the first two that went out did so in exactly the same way, and showed exactly the same symptoms, which I linked to the voltage regulator, which it turns out, was the original 30 yr old part that came with the car, and definately looked like it needed replacing! The third one didn't go thru any of the motions the first two did (jittery jumpy amp meter, then the amp meter maxing out at +45 amps before just suddenly dropping down to below the halfway mark), this time it just died. At least with each new problem some progress is made.... I mean... today I swapped to a starter that puts my last starter to shame, and really cranks the hell out of the motor. And today I found out what was causing the car to be so hard to start, and in the process found that I DONT need to run the MSD for the car to run well... so somehow I must have done something to fix the stumble and misfiring problem, w/o knowing it.. or maybe the car just fixed itself again??? I've got a rebuilt alternator with a lifetime warranty. In the process of chasing down gremlins, I've pretty much done a full tuneup on the car, and have found and eliminated many wiring problems that probably would have made themselves known much later and with even worse timing. I finally found and fixed that nasty exhaust leak that was making driving the car hazardous to my health. I've got a new waterpump. So... yeah... at least I"m making progress. If this last alternator ends up being the last problem (at least for a while) the car is gonna fuggin be awesome, that's for sure, with so many parts replaced, and then I can turn my attention to getting it painted, which may be as early as next week, and finally have a car that 'looks the part'. Anyways... I gotta get to sleep Please let nothing go wrong tommorow... please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I am probably too late now but you should consider getting a internaly regulated alternator. They can be found in the junkyard quite easy. This conversion really made a difference too my car. The headlights were brighter no more regulator and as a bonus you get rid off the fusible links. look here for details http://www.zcarcreations.com/howto/voltreg.htm worked great for me. xander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I was going to do that but time was short... as always... I just needed to get the car running ASAP... I actually just posted a question yesterday asking the details on how to do the mod but didn't get the details. I will eventually switch over to a ZX alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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