Guest Anonymous Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 My 1982 280ZX went crazy on me. I was backing out of my driveway and it just died and the gauges started going crazy. Now it won't start and none of the electrical accessories are working. I hear a clicking in the dash when I turn the key to the ON position. I take out the gauge fuse and it stops until I try to make anything work. I can't even roll up the windows. Does any one have any idea as to what might have happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest super280z Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 check your ground on the battery for good contact. usually when electrical stuff goes haywire like that it's lack of power. the clicking sound is in the starter. it simply dosent have enough power to crank the motor. scour that electrical system. you'll get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 I checked the connection and that wasn't it. The clicking sound comes from the dash, not the starter. When I turn the key to ACC the clicking sound is really fast and then when I turn it to ON it goes slow. The voltage gauge matches the clicking sound. I hooked up some jumper cables to see what that would do. Still no electricity was going through the car. But once I put straight power to the starter, I got power to everything in the car. Though, I don't think it gave spark. The voltage gauge bounces around with the car on or off. I don't think it makes a difference, but I poured some coke on the battery terminals to get rid of some corrosion. I did that about four hours before anything happened. BTW, thanks for the response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 Sounds like a bad ground. Check the ground wire that's in the harness and bolts to the inner fender above the right engine frame rail, just below where the battery sits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 I know that cars built in the 90's had power relays that when shorted would give that exact same symptom...check your manual for relays & their locations. You're either not getting power to the starter or not getting enough power thru the starter. Your alternator's voltage regulator will fail sometimes causing the gauges to fluctuate. If your battery was about to go bad at the same time your voltage regulator failed it could've put the finishing touches on your battery. Also, if you starter is old-it too could've been effected. The battery, alternator & starter seem to always go bad in the same time span if/when those components have a lot of miles on them. You may have a combination of those three that failed. The first step would be to put another battery in it to check to see if your starter will turn other than just click. Use a battery from another car...this will save you from buying a battery you may not need. If the substitute battery doesnt power the starter; then you have a relay somewhere that is bad or a starter solenoid; or as Pete said...a short in the starter/charging circuit. Be sure & check for "Inliner Fuses"..sometimes found inline in the battery cable to the starter. Start w/a surrogate battery first-then go from there. If the battery starts the car; make sure the battery is fully charged; if you notice, in the following nights-while driving, that the headlights get brighter while accelerating-then chances are your alternator's voltage regulator has failed & is draining your battery dead. This has been my experience w/the battery, starter & alternator failures: sometimes power relays. Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 All of the guages and lights in my 260Z when wacko on the freeway and the car just died completely--turned out it was the ignition module--many fuses were burned out, the fusable links were burned, and nearly all the lights blew out. You'd swear the car had been hit by a lightning bolt or something. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Locutus Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 My ford truck did something similar when the starter was about to die. It would short and when I would check for voltage sometimes the ground would be live. I even hooked up a test light to the negative side of the batter and hit a bare spot on the fender it lit up. I replaced the starter and boom problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 22, 2001 Share Posted September 22, 2001 Well, For everyone that said it was the ground, they were right. I cleaned up the terminals and it started right up. Thanks. But it’s not over yet. While the car is running all the gauges are pulsating. Any idea what that is? Is that part of the problem? Is that the voltage regulator or the condenser? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Locutus Posted September 23, 2001 Share Posted September 23, 2001 Its probably still a ground. Check them all. Everyone of them, and make sure you have a ground strap from the engine to the chasis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 28, 2001 Share Posted September 28, 2001 i just had to put in my .02 cents here. the way you keep saying that your gauges keep pulsating could meen two things. its a ground problem like everybody says which is most likely,but it could also possibly be a short. like a wire thats corroded or worn to the metal and is loose. so that when you have power go through it could be shorting to a piece of metal in your dash. and if the spark has to jump a little bit of space to get to the metal then that could be your "clicking" sound. and when the short happens it will of course drain the electric system wich would cause your gauges to flux. or i could be speaking out of my anus but i think it could be a minute possibility that this is happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 1, 2001 Share Posted October 1, 2001 Okay, I heard from a friend of mine that if the ground gives an small ark when you attach it to the battery, there is a hot (+) grounding out somewhere. Does anyone know if that's true? I checked the grounds and I still don't see any problems with them. I made sure all were clean and tightened. And again, thanks everyone for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted October 2, 2001 Share Posted October 2, 2001 Any normal load (even quite small) can show up as minute sparks at the terminal of the battery (+ or -). Even an old style electric clock can do this. Thus a high resistance ground, and/or a high resistance load (again using the clock for an example) will have these same appearances at the battery terminal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted October 2, 2001 Share Posted October 2, 2001 Measure voltage across the battery terminals with it disconnected and then compare that to the same measurement once the battery is connected. A change in voltage will be an indicator you have a draw (live circuit). If you have a difference in voltage you can progressively remove fuses until the voltage #'s match and you've found your draw....or remove all fuses and work the other way....my dad had some circuit feeding back thru his headlights such that IF his headlights were left on and he turned the car off it would NOT shut off!!! some prior owner had fiddled with his underdash wiring more than once.....he since just recently rewired ALL his circuits thru a '95 camaro OE fusebox, lots of work but he's satisfied now everything is fused and routed properly. (it ran great for 2 months till the funny wiring finally reared it's head...just before a viper encounter , oh well, always next time ) [ October 01, 2001: Message edited by: Ross C ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 4, 2001 Share Posted October 4, 2001 Okay, I found the problem. Now, I have to figure out how to fix it. The dimmer switch has three wires to it. The big black one is fried. I traced the wire to its ending point and found it grounded. But this wire is hot. I checked the other two wires and those two are hots too. I thought there has to be at least one ground. Does there? Also, when I do ground out the big black wire all the gauges work properly. What am I supposed to do with this black wire? Am I supposed to ground it out (which I figure it will fry again) or is it supposed to be lead to somewhere else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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