Ok here's the deal.

I bought a '82 280zx [2 seater] for a parts car for my '82 280zx 2+2.

I haven't really needed the parts car for anything, there was some minor body damage on my 2+2 so I have taken the bumper and left side fender off the parts car and put it on my driving car.

Well anyways, the fender from the parts car doesn't really flow with the 2+2 so I decided I'm going to take it back off and find one at the local junk yard that fits.

So now basically I have decided to try and restore my parts car. The engine has 160k, 5 spd, t-tops. It's a pretty nice little car, the outside is rough but nothing a little sandpaper and bondo can't fix lol.

So to my question finally. I took the battery out of my car and put it on the PC. Everything works, the lights, radio, windows, everything! It won't turn over though. All I hear is a snap every time I turn the key. Is there a problem with the starter?

 

could be that or the engine is siezed :O

but also try new battery cables. if their isnt the max amount of power going through the system this will happen.

 

hit the starter on the back with a hammer.

 

^^^^ only works when the gear is stuck out i belive. did you try just manually arcing the points on the starter using a screw driver?

 

No I didn't.

 

Also I don't believe the engine is seized.
The oil is a clear goldish color[look like new] coolant is very good color.
But what do I know lol.
o0o yeah, one of my friends who knows kinda a lot about engines said he
was sure it wasn't seized .

 

just try hitting it with a hammer, its in a hard to get location so you cant hit it too hard, if it doesent work it'll make you feel better

 

The starter may be dead

 

x2 on the starter... give it a whack with a hammer / wrench...

 

jigga WHA! hard to get location? you.... youve looked at your starter before right? lol. i cant think of another engine with a more convienently placed starter.....


EDIT: oh and durr... lol, tap it, if no go, take it out and get it tested at autozone for FREE!!! if it tests ok there. get new + and - battery cables... even if that turns out to not be the problem, its something that should be done any who.

 

i said its hard to get at bacause you cant full force wack it because of the other parts in the area, like for instance mine has the injector cooler fan and duct on it still so its a little harder to get to

 

that injectors cooler is a SHAM, remove it. BLAH, icky....

 

the first time I removed the valve cover I got rid of the cooling fan, it was in the way and annoying, plus the only time I've had the fan come on was when I had the Temp Sender hooked up wrong, so it was recieving a signal as if the car was running extra hot and was kicking the fan on, until I hooked the temp gauge back up correctly it never came on again.

 

Well, I shall definitely go beat it with my hammer tomorrow!

Question:
My battery cables wouldn't be messed up if all the lights and radio and stuff
work, would they?

 

Perhaps.

Also, if you have some buddies around, try push starting it.

 

sure they could. they could just be bad, so there isnt the full voltage runing through. my car everything worked but the starter wouldnt it only clicked. replaced the battery cables. and it rotated for days. it also was blowing this one fuseable link. but that was only because i kept trying and trying it cause it would click and i was told the starter was good, and trying and it would eventually over heat the fuseable link and poof!

 

they could be. i had a car that had a bad battery cable and it did just that. everything worked, but turn the key and "click" was all you got. it turned out to be the cable had touched up against the exhaust manifold and melted through the jacket. the cable was grounding out. usually, i could get it started by jiggling the cable until i replaced it.

 

You guys are talking about clicks.
What I hear I wouldn't describe it as a click.
It's like a snapping noise. Like electrical snapping noise
if that makes sense.

But yeah, just tryin' to make sure I'm on the same page.

o0o good idea turbo I forgot about doing that lol.
If the hammer doesn't work at first I'll get some of my
boyz together and try to push it.

 

When you hear the snapping noise, like an electrical pop? Does everything in the car go out, or no? My car would do this, you'd get a pop and with the hood up I'd notice a spark jump off my battery. Everything would then go dead for a moment, then I'd move the key back and everything would come back on. The clips connecting the wires to the battery were crapped out, they would run everything, but when you went to crank it would just spark and die.

 

well thats different!! totally. get a buddy have them try it and look in the engine bay see if you see anything arc'ing out. now you for sure have either a electrical prob or a dead starter.