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Just bought a 521


mainer311

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that roadster is rare in your neck of the woods.

Here(washington) you see them in the back yard rotting out and soem driving with lots of rust but there on the road.

 

Mine isn't perfect. My front apron and front of the fenders are rotten. I haven't been able to source a pair that aren't an astronomical amount of money.

 

We have a club up here called DRONE. Datsun Roadsters of New England. They're around, just not very many of them. 

 

Someone on 311s.org put together this cool map to show where everyone is. CA is by far the biggest population.

 

http://www.311s.org/index.php/resources/interactive-map/

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Alright guys, I’m having a bit of electrical trouble that I just noticed tonight. My left blinker is acting up.

 

With the parking and/or headlights off:

The left blinker works, but the blinker can is barely clicking, and the lights are very dim.

 

With the parking/and or headlights on:

The blinker can doesn’t click at all, and if I leave the left signal switch on, the front and rears bulbs stay on, and are barely lit.

 

The right blinker works normally, and I get a strong audible click from the flasher, whether the headlights are on or off.

 

Flasher units sometimes require a certain amount of current to work properly, so I’m wondering if I have a bad ground.

 

What do you guys think?

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I just ran out and bought a Novita EL12 electronic flasher. It partially solved the problem. At low RPM with the headlights on, the left blinker still doesn’t work, or it’s very slow. As soon as volts come up when I hit the gas, it starts working again.

 

Definitely symptoms of a bad ground somewhere. Everything up to the flasher can is the same. Since right is fine, it either has to be the blinker lever itself, a corroded wire somewhere, or a crusty light bulb.

 

Damn electrical problems!

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On my 521, lights off, flashers work normally.

 

Lights on though, slow turn signals. Like half a click every 15-20 seconds.

 

 

With the lights on though, my coolant temp guage also pegs hot.

 

 

I don't have an answer for you. Just rambling. I believe my fault occured because previous owner wired the blue radio power wire to the cigarette lighter single black wire. I have not had a chance to figure out if fixed because my truck is still torn apart.

 

Because of above mentioned problem, my brake fuse would pop anytime I ran heater, washer, or dome light.

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I have found bad grounds to be a pain in the ass, generally when I have a bad ground when I turn the blinker switch on all my rear lights blink instead of just the light that should be blinking, it happens a lot with my 521 when I have the park lights on, and I cannot seem to figure out which light has the bad ground, I have considered going to LED rear lights just to get rid of the ground issue as they have ground wires instead of using the housing for the ground, but I have a flatbed with round trailer type lights instead of stock plastic 521 buckets.

You can always add new ground wires to the 521 buckets to supplement the original ground wires, we have been lucky not to have them using salt on the roads around here so far, but Portland is testing that option now. :( 

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Well, front and rear is on the same circuit, so it could very well be the front bulb/fixture as well.

 

I’ve been pondering what else it could be, and there isn’t much. It definitely could be a connection at a connector under the dash, but my interior is pristine, and it would likely be causing right blinker problems as well...which it isn’t.

 

The bulbs seem to be the only noncommon items between right and left.

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Do the hazards flash correctly?

If you get the same problem with the hazards i would look at the bulbs and housings..

If the hazards flash all 4 normal than most likely the bulbs are good....

 

Then I would look at the blinker switch...

I believe power goes from the flasher unit to the switch then out to the left or right blinker.... there could be something on the contact not allowing the proper voltage to pass....

I don't know if a multimeter is quick enough to read as it blinks but you can try and get a voltage reading and compare....

Another trick would be unplug the connector going into the switch, make a jumper that will reconnect it but swap the left and right directional pins... if the problem switches sides you know it's the switch....

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Do the hazards flash correctly?

 

Yep, hazards work fine. The hazard flasher and blinker flasher work a little differently though. With the hazards, there is a much greater draw since it's running twice the amount of bulbs. 

 

I get what you're saying about the switch. I looked at it last night and ohm'd out both side in both the neutral and activated positions. Didn't find any revelations. The problem seems to be downstream from the switch itself.

 

The fact that it only takes 1 or 2 volts increase for everything to work normally, means that whatever is bad, is just marginally bad. Of course, this was after I replaced the stock flasher can with a new electronic one. They are way more efficient. 

 

Funny you mention the multimeter. I had mine hooked up to volts, and it never reads more than about 1.2V, but every time the flasher ticks, I can see the decimal point jump back and forth around the 2. It's just not fast enough to change the volt reading. 

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Do you have a body ground at the rear of the bed? it is usually near the stock license plate light.

 

Stock license light wasn't there when I bought the truck. I ended up breaking the PO's license lights off to get his plate off before I drove it home, and replaced them with some LED ones that I found. I'll crawl under it tonight and have a look. Are both rear lights grounded together, or separately? 

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Solved.

 

The front right blinker bucket rang out to 0.6 ohms to ground. The front left bucket rang out to 3.8Mohms. The front hazard was actually running through the wrong filament (with lesser resistance) to “ground.”

 

The solution was a lot harder. The buckets in the fender wells are rusted and there is no hope of removing them to get to the back of the light fixture. Instead I drilled a hole through from the front and soldered a small wire to the inside of the bucket, through the hole and up into the engine bay where the side marker wires poke through. Grounded the wire to the body where the ignition coil bolts down, and all is good.

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For removing the three small screws that hold the mud covers inside the fenders, cut a slot with a 1/32 cutoff disk in the head of the screw. Then use a plain screwdriver to remove the screw. Most of the time, the heat and vibration will loosen the screw. Replace with stainless steel sheet metal screws.

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Solved.

 

The front right blinker bucket rang out to 0.6 ohms to ground. The front left bucket rang out to 3.8Mohms. The front hazard was actually running through the wrong filament (with lesser resistance) to “ground.”

 

The solution was a lot harder. The buckets in the fender wells are rusted and there is no hope of removing them to get to the back of the light fixture. Instead I drilled a hole through from the front and soldered a small wire to the inside of the bucket, through the hole and up into the engine bay where the side marker wires poke through. Grounded the wire to the body where the ignition coil bolts down, and all is good.

I swear all these datsuns have ground issues..... atleast it's fixed....

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