I just bought a 1983 280zx and I replaced the battery in it because the owner before me had a refurbished battery in it. Well last night I was driving my car around and the gauge stays above 14volts meaning the altinator is charging the battery but when I went to turn the car off the fan that blows air onto the engine was still on. This morning went to turn my car on less then 10volts on the gauge and wouldnt start. Would the fan be what is running my battery down? Or would it be something esle like my radio that i installed?

Btw love the site I hope you guys can help me out on this problem.

 

Most likely corrsion on the cables not allowing the battery to get the full charge from the alternator. Check both ends of both cables and check the length of the cables for soft spots...

Rod.

 

Yeah I did that when I replaced the battery I put all new connections on the battery ends cleaned the connections on the altenator cause they were realy bad. So I might just replace the altenator just wanted to know what your guys input might be

 

charge the battery and next time you shut the car off and the fan is on come back 15-20 minutes later and the fan should be off. If its still running then you have a problem, most likely the timer, and will either want to fix the problem or just remove the fan altogether.

But it is normal for the fan to run after you shut the car off. But not normal for it to run long enough to kill your battery. And when you said the owner before you put in a refurbished battery: did you mean a refurbished alternator? I doubt it's a charging issue though because if your car was down to less then 10V's then the car would've been acting up before you shut it off. You would've noticed. Definitely just sounds like something is draining your battery.

You can also play with fuses. Pull fuses individually while you watch the voltmeter. The needle will move when the circuit thats draining your battery has been opened. And of course make sure you didnt just leave you lights on

 

No there is a place here in town that rebuilds them puts new cells in and they pretty much only last a year and there realy cheap. But anyways the gauge was reading around 15 or 16 volts when I turned the car off and this morning it was reading 10. So something this last night was draining my battery the only thing I could think of would be that blower and this isnt the frist time it has happend so its nothing I done like leaving the light on. So I'll try the fuses and I might disconnect the blower would that hurt the engine by disconnecting it?

 

I want to know why it's so common for your blower to come on after you shut off the car... Do you have a cooling system problem too??? I've had my car for 3 and a half years and that fan has come on TWICE since I have owned it and both times were after a really hard drive on a weak cooling system. Since I replaced the cooling system It's not been on once.

Anyway, you may not have corrosion on the ends of the cables, but it is common for you to get a break somewhere in the middle of the cable length... Double check that too.

Rod.

 

Wow well maybe I have a cooling problem but consider this I live in Kansas it was 100+ degrees yesterday when I was driving it and I kind of was driving it hard and this is the 2nd time its came on and I had it for 2 weeks. But when I went out to work on it I looked at the gauge and it was 6 so it went from 10 to 6 in 3 hours maybe its the voltage regulator in the altenator?

Here is a video of the volt gauge showing the altenator charging:


Also another question why doesnt my oil pressure gauge work it stays at 0 most of the time the only time it moves is when I get on the gas and it goes about 4000 rpms my engine is fine so I dont think i have a problem with the oil pressure I'm guessing the oil sending unit might be bad but here is a video of that as well:

 

it could be the voltage regulator in the alternator. This would probably allow the alternator to charge while the car is running... but allows the battery to run down as it is off. Just an idea

 

Your sending unit probably is bad, it's pretty common for these things to crap out.

 

Those are interesting vids. My Volt gauge does that same thing, goes up as the rpm's go up and sits right at 14 when at idle. When I turn the key on the next day it is at about 10-12 volts but the car starts fine and emediatly goes to 14 volts so I think the Alt. is fine or it would not go up in volts when you rev the engine. The oil gauge seems to be working but yeah it looks way low...how much oil is in the car...is it the right oil 5W-30 or 10W-30? Cause if it is like 20W-50 or straight 50 it may be too thick for the pump to push properly. Also the oil filter could be clogged if its old.

The fan for the injectors...yeah your getting hot!! Check your radiator for coolant levels and also make sure you have coolant in the overflow bottle....and leaks in the hoses? Is the thermostat working...take it out and put it in a pan of water...turn on the burner and watch to see if it moves when the water gets hot, if it does not then its bad...just keep an eye on it. If it does not say what temp it is on the thermostat you can use a meat thermometer in the water and check it when the thermostat opens and now you know what temp the thermostat is. If it is higher then 212 degrees then it may not open also and you need to get a lower temp thermostat anyway. Whoo Whaaa!! I am the man!

 

Lol thxone, yes the thermostat works fine the meter goes up higher then half way and all my coolent levels are perfect so I dont know about the fan thing. I am running 10w-40 sense I live in hot hot weather right now its 104 degrees but the oil pressure did the same thing when I first bought it and I did a complete tune up so its probley just the sending unit I'm going to get under and find out what is wrong. But the other day when I was installing my radio I found a vacum hose to something and I couldn't find where it would of went I thought it could of went to the oil pressure but thats all electronic isnt it?

 

yeah its electric must have been off of actuator for your vents inside the car or heater ac controls. Also when i had my car running the "injector" fan would come on when i shut the car off if it was hotter outside and i never had an overheating problem.

 

Yeah well see the heater core is bad in the car but the owner before me had a place do it well it went out again because they did a shitty job they didnt even connect all the vents up so only air blows out on your feet so I'm going to replace that so I was thinking that was probley part of the job from the place that did the heater core. Has anyone replaced a heater core? Are they hard to do?

 

Yeah I guess that rules out alot....Hmmm Have you checked the Flux Capacitor? If the car is not overheating I would check out that blower fan or remove it and see if that fixes the battery thing.

 

The oil pressure problem sounds like a bad connection or sender.
The injector fan is meant to come on when you turn the car off and the engine is above a certain temp. Doesnt mean the car is overheating at all. That fan ONLY operates after the engine is shut off. It's only meant to run for 12-15 mins or something like that.
The voltmeter should read around 14V while the car is running. That is normal. Thats the charging voltage. When the engine is shut off the meter reads battery voltage, which is usually around 12V on a healthy battery.

 

that vacuum hose is most likely the cause of the heater only blowing at your feet. Find the connection for that hose and that should restore the function of your vents.

 

It's most likely not the voltage regulator... It's probably a bad diode in the alternator. Either way, you probably need a new one.

Sounds like it also wouldn't be abad idea to get a better battery than the one you have. The S130's cars are notorious for having runnability issues related to voltage fluctuations.

Rod.

 

Yeah I'm just going to get a new altenator its only 45 bucks and the battery is brand new only 2 weeks old so it should have any problem with it. As far as the vacume hose I have no clue where it goes I'm going to take the dash out here soon to paint it and get new gauges so I'll find where it goes. So I'll defently have some pictures and everything here soon.