Guest Anonymous Posted September 27, 2002 Share Posted September 27, 2002 Car is a 1975 280z. Guy who sold it to me said that the ignition switch is messed up and sometimes works, sometimes doesnt . I found this to be true except it does not work at all now. You have to cross the terminals on the solenoid with a screwdriver to get it to start. Push starting works fine as well...grrr. Runs Ok when started but idles and dies. And this ignition problem i need to fix before i can diagnose that. Pulled the starter it looks like it was replaced recently so i am positive that it is a wiring problem. When you turn the key to "start" there is no click or nothin. Can someone tell me what the wires to check are and any other advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted September 27, 2002 Share Posted September 27, 2002 Pull off your wiring harness from the ignition switch and you will find either 4 or 5 wires in the plastic terminal that coonnected to the ignition switch. You may have to consult a wiring diagram and use a tester to find hot wires, but one wire and usually the biggest and usually located at one of the corners of the plastic terminal is the hot wire and usually on the opposite corner is the ignition circuit wire. Use a jumper wire such as a 12 gauge solid houehold wire or alligator clips to connect the two (ignition/hotwire) and this will turn on your gauges as evidence that the right wires are connected. Now find the starter terminal wire...(easy to find since any contact with the hotwire will cause the starter to turn) and momentarily jump this starter wire terminal to the connected ignition/hotwire pair which should excite the starter and turn the engine to life..If you repeat this proceedure a few times successfully... then the ignition is bad. This is called hot wiring and bypass' the ignition switch. I have always had a spare ignition from a 620 Datsun pickup known to be good, to use in place of the Z ignition to check ignition problems. If thisproceedure does not work then there is a short in your ignition circuit somewhere.or starter solenoid??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted September 27, 2002 Share Posted September 27, 2002 Once you have located the Ignition Switch check to see if there are any loose wires or any splices nearby...chance are you just have a bad ignition switch. Along with the previous advice from the post before mine-you might want to go to Auto Zone and order a new one...if it is available it should be relatively inexpensive; usually around $35 or so. You would be surprised what the auto part stores can get for you nowadays. If they cant get it for you then you will have to go to Nissan...and you can probably double your price. The ignition switch on Asian cars are very easy to replace; usually one screw will hold them onto the butt end of the lock cylinder while the other end will be the four or five wires that end in a wire plug that plugs into your steering column wiring harness. If you wish to test it-then follow the advice of the previous post. If you need to replace it and cant afford a new one-then go to your nearest salvage yard and obtain a used one; you should be able to get a used one for atleast $10...but then you take the chance on getting a bad one. Dont fret-ignition switches really are easy on the Asian cars...seriously-they are. Good luck on finding the problem. Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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