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A 521 in Massachusetts


Crashtd420

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Took the truck to work today 22 miles, First time on the highway, other than the fact that I was going 60 mph at 4000 rpm all seemed real good..

I guess I need to get working on that 5 spd swap....

 

You get used to it.  I want a 5sp but just don't know/care enough to do anything about it.    

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I took a 500 mile trip a couple years ago to the Blue Lake show...middle of August...with a 4 speed.

 

200 miles one way on the freeway at 70mph. It was loud but not horrible. Truck handled it well. The L16 does quite alright I the upper end of the revs. It sounds like you're pushing the motor worse than you really are.

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I used to drive my 510 from the bay area to San Diego regularly. It wasn't bad at all back then, but my standards have changed.

 

My 320 was often my vehicle of choice when I commuted from Pleasant Hill to Diamond Springs every day. 100 miles each way. I miss that little truck.

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I took a 500 mile trip a couple years ago to the Blue Lake show...middle of August...with a 4 speed.

 

200 miles one way on the freeway at 70mph. It was loud but not horrible. Truck handled it well. The L16 does quite alright I the upper end of the revs. It sounds like you're pushing the motor worse than you really are.

 

yeah usually I have music playing so I have got used to not hearing it.  But when I don't have music its a little unsettling lol.

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A Datsun engine is not your grandfather's Oldsmoble engine.  A stock L-16 has a torque peak around 3600 RPM.  Hp peak around 5600 RPM.  If you had a Datsun 510 with a tachometer, you would see a yellow zone starting at 6500 RPM, red line at 7000.

 

4000 RPM is fine.  All day long.

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I am just so use to my 99 chevy Silverado , nice and cushy, power everything, and I think I'm barely at 2000 rpm doing 70.....

The datsuns are definately a completely different driving experience... I absolutely love driving it again....

Last time I drove it (12 years ago) everything about the truck was so tired and worn. This feels like a completely different truck, much better, and a lot less scarey with all new tight steering and suspension, not to mention a motor with some power....

I just need to get use to it again....

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A Datsun engine is not your grandfather's Oldsmoble engine.  A stock L-16 has a torque peak around 3600 RPM.  Hp peak around 5600 RPM.  If you had a Datsun 510 with a tachometer, you would see a yellow zone starting at 6500 RPM, red line at 7000.

 

4000 RPM is fine.  All day long.

 

Redline on L16 is 7K? I always thought it was 6K cause it screams like a mfer around 6K.  

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Well after about 250 miles things are still running good....

Haven't done a damn thing to the truck other than drive it lately.....

I have a small list of things I wanna check , valve lash and plugs.... and I want to bring the front up a little but I need to correct the camber if I do. So I've been waiting on that too....

 

The only issue now, which keeps me from driving it happened tonight... left blinker stopped working... right directional and flasher still works so I'll checking the column switch first, because every so often if I wiggle the switch I get 1 blink.... should be easy enough to fix....

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I added gounds to all my lighting, and even regrounded part of my cluster..

And when the flashers are on the bulbs inside and out are nice and bright...

Pretty sure it's the connection inside the switch. The wire at the column doesn't output anything when I activate the blinker....

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My rear tires are a little taller than my fronts...can't remember the size off hand, but it does 70-72mph at 4k

That's about what I'm seeing... at 60 i was just a little under 4000, guess i rounded up a little... i got it up to just about 70 today and I was just a hair over 4000 rpm... I was surprised how little rpm it took to go from 60 to 70....

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I added gounds to all my lighting, and even regrounded part of my cluster..

And when the flashers are on the bulbs inside and out are nice and bright...

Pretty sure it's the connection inside the switch. The wire at the column doesn't output anything when I activate the blinker....

 

Yes, the switch contacts burn.  Too much current through the switch

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Took the switch apart and cleaned the contacts...

 

20180531_173714.jpg

 

20180531_174224.jpg

 

Well seems like it is not the switch, while it did made the switch work better it did not fix my problem....

I tired jumping the wire at the plug and I get the same result....

Just one flash on the driveside... unfortunately ran out of time last night..

Got a few ideas to try later today....

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As a quick test, you could put an electronic flasher can in and see if it improves or fixes the problem. If it does, you either have a bad flasher can, or you still have a ground problem.

I was gonna swap the hazard flasher later and see what that does....

Every light has a dedicated ground wire not just from the mounting screw..

I'll admit I only saw the interior flash properly with the hazard.... maybe I'm a dumb ass and the rear bulb wasn't flashing,.... I feel this is gonna be one of those stupid obvious things, hopefully.

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Ok well it wasn't as stupid as a bulb being out......

As stated before all 4 work off the hazard switch, i know the grounds are all good, so I'm leaning towards it being the connector... because it looks like the flasher wires are wired to the hazards right at the connector coming from the column...

Still haven't ruled out the flasher can but it flashes the passenger side just fine.

So I'll check that next just to rule it out, then I'll have to check voltage before and after the connector and go from there....

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To diagnose turn signal problems, first make sure the four way flashers are working good.   The four way flasher bypass a lot of the turn signal wiring.  The four way flasher also uses a completely different always hot fuse than the turn signals, the turn signal fuse is only ignition on hot.

 

You said you checked the grounds, but do not rule grounding issues yet, especially with 521 tail lights.  On a stock 521 tail light assembly, because the lamps are mounted in plastic, each tail light assembly has a ground wire from the lamp socket to the frame of the tail light assembly.  The tail light assembly is bolted to the bed of the truck, and then the bed of the truck is bolted to the frame of the truck, the frame of the truck is bolted to the engine, and finally the engine is connected to the negative battery terminal.  That is a lot of bolted connections that can go bad, or even worse go bad intermittently, making diagnosis even harder.  To help reduce tail light grounding issues, I add an extra wire on the tail light metal frame, on each side, and run that extra wire to the frame of the truck.   I also make a short loop of fairly heavy wire, and loop it across one of the rubber engine mounts.

 

A quick way to diagnose a tail light ground issue is to turn on the brake lights.  To do this, on late 521 trucks, rest a heavy block of wood on the brake pedal.  This may not put enough pressure in the brake system to close the hydraulic brake light switch on earlier 521 trucks, to turn on their brake lights,  use a jumper wire on the wires on the brake light switch on the firewall, above the starter at the brake line junction.

With the brake lights on, with the engine off, turn on the ignition, and put the truck in reverse.  This will turn on the reverse lights.  Go and look at the tail lights.  Both brake lights should be bright, and well as both reverse lights being bright.   Now, turn on the four way flashers, and the turn signal lights should also be bright, and the brake lights, and reverse lights should not dim significantly when the turn signals flash on.

 

Another ground test is to connect a long wire to the tail light frame.  Take the other end of that wire to the front of the truck.  Using a volt meter, check the voltage between the tail light frame wire, and the NEGATIVE battery terminal.  This voltage should be less than a half volt, .5 volts.

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Got lucky .... i accidently touched the power lead going to the flasher unit to ground as I was messing with things... it made a quick spark, didn't blow the fuse but my blinkers started working again.....

Bough a replacement, problem solved....

 

20180602_163441.jpg

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