wm_e_smith

You guys have provided valuable information. You have revived my interest in my car. At times, I wanted to junk it but something told me to not do it. People are always asking, if you want to get rid of it, let me know. I assume they have ideas for it. So, I'll hang on. It has been a wonderful car and other than the idiosyncracies, still has the potential -- I'm convinced. Seems to me though that after discovering this site, I want to talk about it rather than work on it. So, I better hop with it. I have a lot of information now from you that doesn't sound so costly.

At the time of the a/c problem and when I was a bit more energetic, I blew the fan switch by not disconnecting the battery cable. It worked on "high" speed only. I went out and bought a new switch but after tracing wires in the wiring diagram, I noticed there was some sort of rheostat which does the "medium" and "low" speeds. I decided that was the problem and also that rheostat was a separate thing. I never bothered to even check if I could find one. So, I have become use to "high" speed only.

I haven't really tinkered with it lately. I move slow. My A/C still works. My past problems with it was mainly the unavailability of a blower fan. I finally removed the "fan box' took off the front part where air is chosen between inside and outside air. Mounted a cut out piece of oak board, cut out a hole, put a new motor (I think for a Ford Truck), and put a blower fan on it with opposite movement since the motor was now in the front. Restriction? No longer outside air, but has worked great since doing the brainstorming effort. Sounds like real redneck intelligence, but us rednecks sometimes experience success.

Are the connectors mentioned identical? Being as inexperienced with older cars as I am, I look under the hood and see wires and connectors and become afraid to touch them. Afraid since the connectors look brittle and the wires were bent to a certain position, remained that way for years, and my thoughts are if I move them they will either crumble, insulation will break, or short out. Is this paranoid thinking? Being new to this web site, I'm probrably in the wrong place since my car is the 1978 Datsun 810. I just noticed that there's a forum dedicated to those "other" Datsuns. I'll post my headaches there in the future.

I did a lousy job of describing it correctly. The shaft itself was welded to the 'lever' which producies the back and forth torque to the shaft. It seemed as if it was meant to be one unit where the shaft was originally knurled, pressed into the lever, and eventually broke loose (stripped).

An experience with wipers, maybe not related -- One of my wipers a few years back became "floppy". Painstakingly, I manage to remove the wiper 'linkage' under the thing behind the hood. The knurled gizmos were stripped. Took it down to a friendly welder and to my surprise he welded it and saved me a bunch of money that I didn't have. Amazing -- and it's still hanging on. Cost --"Give me two bucks". Todays prices? Who knows?

Going back to the Air Flow Meter, I took what I thought was the cheapest route but I might have screwed up. Old problems seem to arise again. For instance, just a few minutes ago I started the car with problems. It wanted to go dead when I pressed the accelerator, but finally got going. Maybe I should go the route suggested (or almost suggested) of buying another from the OEM site. Not so experienced since, as I have said before, It's been a very dependable car but brain boggling at times -- BUT, income warrants ME to handle it's future. If I wanted to replace the connector to the Air Flow Meter, are they available?

I'm not about to immediately get carried away -- too damn old for that. So, I'll replace the fuel filter and work on the water temperature sensor and its connector and then I will let you know what happened. By the way, not long ago I kept having problems with the air flow meter and finally took it off the car, took it to CarQuest, they sent it in for "rebuilding". That did wonders for the old car. Prior to that, the car would start and run as long as I did not touch the accelerator pedal. It went dead after even placing the slightlest pressure on the pedal. Also the car ran very rough when I get could get it to run at all.

I'll work on the fuel filter and the temp sensor (assuming it's what my Haynes manual calls a water temperture sensor). Another thought came to mind. I don't quite understand the full purpose of the DASHPOT. I had a racing engine, took it to a Nissan dealer, was told that no DASHPOTS were available, picked it up, then noticed the DASHPOT was on the seat. They removed it and I've been driving the car since with no apparent problems. What are the consequences of not having the thing mounted?

Fuel Filter could be it. I've never thought abought it but over the years I've noticed that car spits and sputters when fuel tank is almost empty. Could that be moisture, rust sediments, or whatever in the fuel tank? Also how important is it to repalce the fuel cap? When I ususally fuel up and unscrew the cap, it has a big gust of air. Is that a bad thing?

I appreciate the responses. The car is a 1978 Datsun 810 California model (assuming it's called that because of -- catalytic converter and altitude switch, plus other emission control stuff), L24 6-cyl, a great car but if I live any longer than it, I'm so afraid it'll become a junk yard relic. The problem I now have is after starting it (easily starts and runs top knotch), after about 10 miles down the highway, it will suddenly lose all power and come to a stop. But it's always easy to start up again. Then when I make a turn around and come back home, I can expect it to die again a couple times before I get back home. ALSO -- a slight bump in the road, a pot hole, or a speed bump will cause the same problem. It's mind boggling to me.

I'll start with being brief. I have owned a 1978 Datsun 810 for 26 years. It has, and still is, realiable, dependable and I still have faith but it has also had little brain warping idiosyncracies that even neither the dealers, car repair places, nor myself could understand -- costly, to say the least. Now it's bothering me because I cannot afford to take the chance of wasting money on someone telling me "It's fixed" then the problem arises again two days later. My future posts will explain some of the problems I've had and what eventually happened. Hopefully, my past problems might give someone an idea of what's going on with their car. Also, I hope to gain by someone giving me ideas. I hope that I am not intruding on the web site by not having a z-car but my understanding is that my car was a result of the success of the 240-Z engine. If I have intruded, let me know.

I have owned for 26 years a 1978 Datsun 810 (L24, 6 cyl, efi, California Model, sedan, manual transmission). A local parts store has told me they can order a Thermotime switch for a 1982 or 1983 BMW 528e. I interpreted your reply as saying that this would be acceptable as a replacement for my old thermotime switch. Are the cold start valves also interchangeable? Thanks, Bill