Also my gauge lights and the lights out side do not work but I am thinking its the fuse, right?

 

Yes its the ground. This is a very common problem, for mine i took all the bulbs out and cleaned the connecter patches, i even wired in an extra ground wire from the tail light harness to the chassis inside the hatch.

other people should chime in on this with what they have done. My Z is a 71

 

The ground is only half of the problem. Too lighten up the amps, replace with LED "light bulbs= 1" in diam. Also a help if you've gone to the higher watt dash, instrum. bulbs, like from H-4 Lights. Any short to ground is suspect. Remove each lamp ass'y and inspect with a maglight. You just might find some melted "bulb solder" bridging 12v to ground. Norm K.

 

xhricardo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recently replaced the evap on my 76 280z and at
> first all my lights work when I put the dash back
> in but now for some reason the Park Tail 20A fuse
> burnt out and it burns instanly when I replace it
> with a new one, it actually glows for a minute and
> burns out. I cant remember what does this mean, is
> the ground not good or whats happening?
>
> I am thinking there is something wrong from the
> combination switch to the fuse, right? And its the
> green blue wire, I have the wiring diagram for the
> car.
[hr]
You had the dash out and now you have a major short. My first place to look would be a bulb or wire in the dash that you removed.
Trace and repair; time consuming but it's really the only way.
If this does not solve the issue then start from the beginning of the circuit, the battery, and work forward with a DVOM and or a short finder.
If it happens without any of the circuit actuated, parking/dash lights not on, then it's a wire or circuit that is always hot, or always hot now.

[hr]
[attachment 13206 SmallBulb_H4.jpg]

 

Everything was working fine for a little while so I dont think I plugged something wrong. I also changed the bulbs on the dash to a higher watts, can this be a problem?

 

you probably pinched a wire in something during installation which is grounding and thus burning the fuse. the fault is probably close to the fuse panel because that is where you were working. PUlled the radio from son's z31. got it all back together and tested before final push into the dash. good. after tightening everthing up fuse blew. pulled it again all okay. Finally after much discussion we determined that the aerial power wire was caught and pinched when tightened. rerouted same and problem solved.

 

I have unpluged all the gauges exept the RPM because its a pain to reach behind the dash, but I am working on it. And also I unpluged the dimmer and all the front lights and the fuse keeps buring. Am I soopose to leave them unplogged or plug them back in once I know the fuse keeps burning?


The weird thing is the high beam light indicator works but not the rest of the dash, this is the only one I left the old bulb on. Could this be a sign?

And the fusible links that are in the engine compartment in front of the battery, they all have continuity between them. Are they soppose too? I dont think they are, right?

Also noticed that the plastic connector is burnt a lttle right on the green with white strip cable, does any of this help figure out whats going on?

 

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electricalconnections/index.html

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electricalchecks/cp7678.pdf

Did you try what H4Lights said? A single bad socket can cause problems. I had a rusty old side marker socket that made the bulb explode and take out the fuse.

 

Ok I still have not figured out what is wrong. I have order new light bulbs to see if thats the problem. But I have disconected all the gauges and the out side lights and the fuse keep blowing. Does this narrow down my search? For example, I disconected the clock and if the fuese keeps blowing out does this mean that the issue is Not from the clock back to where I disconected, right?

Also the conector to the combination switch is burnt right on the Green and White cable, for those that have the wiring diagram

The Green and Blue cable is the power and I bypassed the combination switch and applied the power direct to the Green and White cable, and the fuse still blows. So this means that the combinations switch is not the problem, right?

I used another power cable and applied to the Green and White cable and its still blows. So does this mean that my problem is not from the power cable back since with any power the fuse still blowes or it does not matter?

The 4 fusible links that are in front of the battery I noticed that they have contiuity between them, for example the green fusible link has continuity with the red fusible link. I dont think they are soppose to, right?

Hopefully some one is an electrical expert and can help. I am trying to think back to my electrical classes but this things are not making sense to me and I dont know where to search next. Please some one help or recoment a good mechanic around Dallas Tx

 

Also the hazard lights work but not the night lights or the dash lights, this must be clues but I cant put them together.