Well I am questioning whether I should sell my 1980 280zx or keep it but either way I think I should take care of some electrical issues. I am usually fine when it comes to replacing a mechanical part but I have never had electrical problems to take care of in any of my cars. I feel really lost as to where to start and what the most common places to look would be. It randomly started one day my car was dead so I jumped it drove it around all day, dead again in the morning. I didnt have time to check things out because of school and 2 jobs so I just jumped it every morning. Now it is worse, and it even died out on me while I was driving. All I have done since the problem is replace the main ground from the battery because I thought what the hell it cant hurt. Is the alternator going? Even if it is, something is draining it overnight, and now even quicker like 10 minutes after I get out of the car. Hopefully someone can guide me in the right direction.

 

either the alternator is ****, or the battery is soooo gone its draining power from the alternator. got to autozone they will test both for free. just make sure you dont let a dipshit do it.

 

would it be smart just to replace em both and not have to worry about it?...im not sure if it will **** out on me on the way to autozone on the highway

 

if you got money to blow why not, but im just saying, it would be smarter to figure out these two are really the problem.

 

Have you looked at your volt gauge lately?

 

well today is my first day off in a long time so I got up early, checked grounds, replaced a few terminals that looked rough, took out my cd player/sirius mess the previous owner put in, made new fusible links, cleaned off some terminals, and replaced the battery and it started right up. I just came in and the volt meter stayed at 14 for about the past 5 minutes. This is definately an improvement even if I still have a slow drain somewhere. I think I will still stop in autozone to get my alternator checked just to be sure. Im really hoping that this solves my problem. I wont even be sure what was the culprit, but at this point I dont really care.

 

battery has a dead cell, go to a place like autozone, your preferance, and have them test the system. the fact you can drive your car after you jump it tells me the battery is crap. possibly a dead cell.