Well, I was taking my 280 zx to a car show today due to the fact that I could not get a rebuild kit for my carb on my 1963 Dodge Dart. So on the way, I was just tooling along then all the sudden my radio went out. I looked over and I also had no voltage meter, or clock. Maybe a Fusible Link, or a fuse. So I guess it is time to pull out the FSM and see what I can find out. I Don't think it has anything to do with the Alternator, because my battery never went dead.

 

Well, according to what I read in the FSM there is a 20 amp fuse for volt meter, clock, cigarette lighter, and hazards. Well I did find it blown, so I will have to go get a new one tomorrow. But guess what that means, the F-sticks who put the aftermarket radio must have decided to use the power from the lighter. I am so sick of whoever owned this car before me thinking they could fix anything. I will post a pic of the hack job on the heater wires someday and you will see what I mean.

 

Have fun, as you know the wiring on these cars suffers a lot from PO abuse, knuckle heads who don't have enough common sense to sit down and peruse the FSM or just ask for help end up cutting and splicing and making a mess of things. The wiring harness to my radio is in shambles, someone has cut it all up, I have not even though about the sound system yet, still trying to get the basic stuff fixed 1st, my 280zx basically has no interior right now, just a drivers seat.
You might want to take a look at the wiring before you replace the fuse and see if you can find the short, or this will just happen again.

 

I did find that the guy I got it from hooked up the power wire to the hot of the lighters, I will post some pic's of before and after when I get it repaired. It was really bad. I know somebody on here had a good color wiring diagram for a aftermarket stereo, I just have to find it.

 

Ok, I found the sticky post on the aftermarket Stereo. It is listed as being for a 1980. I found that however did my wiring may have been using it as a guide. it has the yellow green wire as ignition on positive. which is also where my cigarette lighters are hooked up. But New radios need a constant power to hold the memory, and with ignition off the yellow green would not produce that environment. so they had it backwards, and should have used the red with white stripe, for constant power. Still don't like my radio running of the same circuit as my lighters, but I guess I will go with it and if there is no issues I will leave it.


https://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx...diagram-29053/

 

Ok, here are some pictures of the great wiring job that somebody did. I cut all of the crap out, took the harness into the house and redid all the wires I will be using with solder and shrink tube. I will get pics of that soon. One pic is of a Micro switch that is just laying by the heater, does anybody know what it is for? maybe it is suppose to be attached to something?