Guest bastaad525 Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Hmm where to start. I have a '72 240, with the fuse box in the front of the center console. I've had problems in the past, where, when I would turn on the lights, the dash and tail lights would almost immediately go out, and it would burn out the fuse for them (the third fuse down on the right hand side, just below the two headlight fuses). Replace the fuse and turn the lights on and it'd blow almost immediately. I had an electrician fix it once... not sure what he did but I noticed that he did do new wiring for a few things. Problem was fixed for about a year, then right around the time I did my turbo swap, it came back. A friend of mine checked it out, he's owned a lot of 240s, he said it was most likely the dimmer switch shorting, or the light switch on the steering column. He decided to bypass the dimmer switch and the problem was fixed. Now, I dont know if this is related or not, but just about the same time this happened, I dont remember if it was before or after (I think before) the car starts going thru alternators. Four alternators have gone bad in about two months. The first one was old, and heavily encrusted with old oil and crap, the second one was used, but I found out later that my external voltage regulator was also bad, which ended up killing the second one (or at least I THOUGHT that was the cause... but it is for sure that the voltage regulator was bad). The third was a rebuilt unit from auto zone, which I also replaced the regulator at the same time. Immediately after installing this one and starting the car, I heard a loud ticking noise from the alternator, so knew something was wrong... three days later it was bad. The fourth one lasted about 3 weeks, and actually was still working, just wasn't working well... the amp meter showed really low, and the alternator is emitting a burnt coppery smell. In the meantime, I've heard lots of bad things about rebuilt units from auto parts stores... so again I dunno if it is related, or just another string of bad luck. Anyhow, today, on my way to the auto parts store, my dash lights went out again. Checked the fuse, but this time it looked intact... ??? put it back in, and the lights came back on... then went out again! Took it out again... look at it and it looks fine??? so I get one of the fuses from another spot, and the lights come back on. They stay on, but I notice that the left terminal that the fuse snaps into is getting WAY hot. I let it stay on for five minutes... it didn't blow but just stayed hot. I also noticed that the plastic around that terminal looked like it's been singed and maybe a little melted. So... what does this mean? What do I need to do? I'm REALLY bad with electrical, and dont own a voltmeter or anything... is there something I can do or should I just take it to an electrical place? By the way, I've swapped out the stock 240 alternator for a ZX turbo alternator today, which has an internal voltage regulator. I started the car and it seems to be working okay. The fuse still get's way hot with the lights on. And when I turn the lights on the amp gauge goes down quite a bit, whereas before it would stay in the same place whether they were on or not (right above the halfway mark). The amps were also pretty high in general, but I think this was because the battery was probably drained a bit from driving with the bunk alternator... I've noted that it did that every time one went bad and I changed it. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 i had this problem with my old 240z, and it was a ground that ripped loose on the passenger side kick panel area. this also grounded the passenger side running light. another time the running lights wouldnt come on i traced it to a bad headlight switch, easy but expensive fix for me, got a factory switch and it was done with, nice switch too. Since you said fuse itself was getting red hot, i would think its the fusebox itself and would address that first, it may be excess corrosion eating the back of your fusebox up, creating resistance there. try this one also, see how much play that fuse has, if it moves around alot, there you go, crusty fusebox and a common z problem. on my 280z, it got so bad i had to replace the fuse box, and i traced it that time to dirty hazard light switch. this is best i can do without being there. what i would do is get that msa fuse box replacement after finding where your short is, and be done with it. I am not good at electronics myself, I just have a Bahala Na attitude towards that kinda stuff. Bahala Na is tagalog and means, no fear in the face of the unknown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Yeah the connector there is definately getting loose... the plastic around it is eaten away, I can't tell if it's melted or corroded or what, but I'm guessing melted from the excess heat there. So, should I take the fusebox out and just clean up the back and see what happens? A new fuse box is gonna be expensive I'm SO broke right now.... what's gonna happen if I keep using it like that (I dont have a lot of choice here... )?? And about the combo/light switch... I'm guessing you DONT think it might be that... if that was bad the lights just wouldn't come on? I'm thinking fusebox or bad ground too... hopefully not a bad groung UGH I'll be looking for it forever..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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