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New DD/project: '85 720 4x4, I am excite!


SolidZ24x4

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Hello,

New guy here, figure I'd introduce myself and my new truck. I am a self-proclaimed wrench head, and have previously hailed allegiance to OBD-1 European cars; '87 VW GTi 16v, 1991 BMW 318is, and currently a 1990 Audi 90 quattro 20v.

 

About a year ago, I blew the main bearings in the Audi and bought a 94 Ranger 4x4 for a DD whilst I saved money to fix the Audi; I hate it, but you can't touch a 4x4 'yota around here for less than $3500 so I bent over and bought a Ford. Shoot me.

 

Recently while working out of town, call it farm country, I came across a neglected looking Nissan pick-up and asked the owner about its condition. "Nobody wants to work on a carburated engine anymore, and I got too many cars as it is. It doesn't move and needs work, but if you can get it out of here, you can have it." Gotta love AAA.

 

Got her home and did some research; 1985 720 4x4 with the Z24 engine. I am excite! Perfect body, paint looks new, 109k on the clock. Took out my tools out and prepared for the worst; nobody gets rid of something this nice for free... or do they?

 

She wouldn't go into gear, wouldn't idle, the interior smells a bit like mold, but damn what a looker; the nicest looking older car/truck ive owned! I replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders, which fixed the shifting issue (clutch feels solid), and then I got friendly with the Hitachi carb, and these forums.

 

It took a lot of head-scratching, reading, taking apart, reassembling, taking apart again, reading, reading, reading, but I finally (just today) found the idle solenoid circuit faulty. I jumped the faulty wiring and almost burnt down the house when the jumper grounded and turned neon orange in a cloud of rubber-insulator smoke... yeah that happened. Anyways, diagnosed and fixed the idle problem, or at least temporarily unbroke it. So now I am an extremely happy camper, listening to that thing purr at 700rpm makes my toes tingle.

 

So now I have a few questions: First, I got zero voltage on the solenoid circuit pins in the harness-side plug. Im looking for a place to splice into an ACC/ON for the hot wire; the ground just goes to the battery, where I have a temp switch for the hot as well. I am considering running a wire from the proper pin/plug behind the ignition switch but would rather find a spot closer. Any suggestions?

 

Next, neither my hazard or my turn signals work, are those two flasher/relays above the fuse box involved? The bulbs look okay...

 

I have already done a bit of reading here and can see there is a wealth of knowledge and friendly people. I hope I will be able to contribute as I learn more about this cool little truck! This is my first post so hopefully I will be able to post some pics soon...

 

Thanks for your time,

solid

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You can power the idle cut (Red) wire to the automatic choke heater wire (Blue) beside it on the carb. The auto choke is powered any time the engine is running.

 

None of the relays above the fuse box involves the turn or 4 way flashers but.... The 4 way flasher is powered by the number 12 fuse over to the right from the far left side. This is hot at all times. The turn signals are powered by the number 4 fuse over to the right from the far left side of the box. The turn signals are switched on by the ignition.

 

Thanks for joining Ratsun solid, and welcome. Maybe next visit you could post up some pictures of your 720?

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I've given it a good couple wiggles but no dice, forgot to mention earlier that the brake lights do not work either.

 

So that's no flashers, signals, or brake lamps. All fuses mentioned earlier by datzenmike are good.

 

Jumping to the blue choke wire worked beautifully btw, thanks for the heads up.

 

Cheers

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Good point. There are two parts to the 4 way switch. The 4 way in the OFF position closes a switch that allows the turn signals to work. The 4 way in the ON position disconnects the turn signals so that they don't conflict with each other. 720's are problematic in this one area. The switch in the OFF position often travels too far and goes past the turn signal connection leaving them still disconnected. The trick is to move the 4 way flasher switch slightly towards the ON position to re connect them.

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I've given it a good couple wiggles but no dice, forgot to mention earlier that the brake lights do not work either.

 

So that's no flashers, signals, or brake lamps. All fuses mentioned earlier by datzenmike are good.

 

Jumping to the blue choke wire worked beautifully btw, thanks for the heads up.

 

Cheers

 

Too bad this wasn't mentioned. Well with everything off the ground is likely not working or making contact. I assume the license lamps and the side markers are also not working?????

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After vigorous wiggling, I have cleared the crud in the hazard switch enough for the turn signals to work. I'm not sure if my brake lights work, but my test drive landed me right in front of a PPD cruiser for a block or so, and nothing happened... tags are two years overdue :P

 

But datzenmike was spot on once again. Im working on getting more pictures.

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You know this thing is amazing and I really want to keep it, but there's an Audi higher up the project list, and this truck is in such great shape already.

 

Im considering selling it... there's no reason it wouldn't qualify for NADA excellent condition @ $3975... :shrug:

 

Am I going to kick myself later? If I could only explain the joy my 2.3 20v quattro sedan does for my soul, maybe then I wouldnt get flamed for this. But that amount would rebuild the quattro.... :O

 

(Is this okay? Not trying to sell anything merely asking if I'll hate myself later.)

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I agree with you man, I'm sure it will happen, but im already 7 years into a project audi and its been broken for two. If I dont fix it now it.might fall to the wayside, you know? There's someone out there who will appreciate this truck the way I appreciate my Audi.... she's stuck with me through two girlfriends whom just couldnt compete. (They left out of jealousy btw)

 

 

 

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