Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

I have some major electrical problems with my car. I'm exploring options and wonder if anyone has a go-to guy for roadster electrical systems in the Sacramento area.
I've found that for some (most) things it is best to pay the money for an expert rather than pay the money for my mistakes.

Is the wiring harness original, burned up or hacked up/modified? You say "major problems", but it might not be as bad as you think unless the PO badly corrupted the original harness or it burned.

What kind of problems?

I don't know any experts in Sacramento - might be someone, but if not "roadster specific" they could make it worse and charge you big bucks.

Replacement harnesses are available and could be a good route. They are not cheap, but neither is paying a shop by the hour. j

I may be able to get it right, it is an option. The problems are that nothing seems to work as far as lights or gauges. I haven't jumped in yet and will probably give it a look to see if it is something easy before I take a more expensive option. The wiring is original but hasn't been expected to do anything for about 30 years now. I have mixed feelings about the shop I used to get it running again. It runs and seems to run well but they seem to have added a few new wires. I can resolve other changes they made and running is better than not running but I have never been a champ with electricity and I know one wrong move can be disastrous.

The entire lighting system on the 68 runs on one fuse. It would be nice to have park or tail on a seperate fuse, when you are out in the middle of nowhere at midnight with no light at all! Do your four way flashers work?

pebbles wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:43 pm The entire lighting system on the 68 runs on one fuse. It would be nice to have park or tail on a seperate fuse, when you are out in the middle of nowhere at midnight with no light at all! Do your four way flashers work?

My headlight/ running lights dont work on my 68, but blinkers and brake lights work. Safe to say its not the fuse?

(Sorry for the thread derail)

Hmm ill pull a fuse and check. Entire may have been the wrong word lol. Ill do it right now because i know which one it is .
BL and turn still work with light fuse pulled. As do the 4ways.

pebbles wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 2:02 pm Hmm ill pull a fuse and check. Entire may have been the wrong word lol. Ill do it right now because i know which one it is .
BL and turn still work with light fuse pulled. As do the 4ways.

Ok thanks. Electrical is strangely a mystery to me... my EE Dad laughs at me when I tell him about my electrical problems

It might be your headlight relay, or it might be the switch. If you have brake lights and turn signals, I'm inclined to think its the switch. In Simon's case, He had lights one day, and the next day he didn't. I chased the issue everywhere, but I didn't have a spare '68 headlight switch or relay to try. I'd pull your switch and see if you have power there, then see if there is a broken wire in the switch. Then check the relay. I've had the wire inside the relay break in the past. If you come up empty (and try a new switch) then I'd say see if you can take it to someone to work on it.

Will

A nice thing about electrical trouble shooting is it can usually be done in a very logical fashion. It isn't voodoo.

There are easy tests you can do to quickly zero in on a given problem. More than often the problem is pretty easy to fix. Intermittent problems can be much more of a challenge, but often come down to a poor connection, corrosion, failed solder joint etc.

For 68DsU, it is encouraging that the harnesses have not been monkeyed with much- may not be very hard to get things working if you proceed in a systematic fashion.

Since I have a completely functional 1968, I can give you some very specific easy tests to do if you would like the assistance and are willing to try. A 10$ muti-meter (home depot etc.) is worth its weight in gold for this work.

Couple basic questions.. Can you solder on or crimp a new electrical connector in place? Can you use heat shrink tubing? If the answers to these question are NO, then you might be better off finding help. If Yes, and you can follow directions, you can probably fix this with a little help. best, j

I can do just any of those things. I can't find my meter, it s probably hiding from my move a few years ago so I'll go buy a new one. Maybe I'll update my compressor at the same time. The bride is good about me needing new tools now and then.

Thanks to all of you for motivating me to try and fix it myself. I was in the frustration mode but maybe I'll give it a shot.

Harbor Freight has inexpensive multimeters.
App called HFT coupons has coupons, sales etc.
Maybe someone near you can lend a hand.
Good place to start is cleaning everything first.....grounds, fuse box etc.
Vintage connections.com has connectors.
Good luck
Linda

I'd suggest not taking anything apart. Lets do the troubleshooting in a step wise, systematic fashion. I'll give you some easy tests that should narrow things down quickly.

2mAn since you are having a very similar situation, we can all do this together if you like. Just LMK when you have a multimeter and can successfully read 12V DC - check your battery voltage. If we get out of sync you can PM or text me anytime.

jt

A computer safe no wire testlite is a good 1st start to testing for current too, they are kinda fun to poke around with

So here are the first couple easy tests for you. Meter is not required for these. we are just going to bypass the Headlight Relay.

***This works for any 65-68 roadster with 4-wire headlight relay and can be used for emergency headlight repair.*****

1)Turn off the headlight switch.

Make a like male-male spade jumper as shown in the photo. Use 12-14ga wire.

Locate your headlight relay located by the air filter (it has 4 wires, the horn relay has 3). See photo

Remove the middle two wires from the relay- they should be:

red/yellow stripe
red/black stripe

Jumper those together and pull on the light switch.

If the headlights work, those are the low-beams - both L&R bulbs should light.

2) Turn off the switch and now jumper:

red/yellow stripe
red/white stripe

Pull on the light switch. If they work, those are the high-beams - both L&R bulbs should light.

Conclusions:

If the lights work for both tests, you probably need a relay. *** Note: The car can be driven on low beams with the jumper in place, however the high beams won't work - but no harm. I have plenty of relays if needed.

If neither test works, the problem is before the relay and more testing is required.

If just one headlight lights up during these tests, it is the headlight bulb or a bad connection near that headlight.

let us know what you find// j

These might help.

http://kendo-usa.org/datsun/datsun_head ... out_68.pdf
http://kendo-usa.org/datsun/datsun_park ... out_68.pdf