D-max up and running!!

[asavage]

Upon further inspection, the cold start thing vacuum line isn't hook up to anything (vacuum line with a white or yellow stripe), and also a line with a red/orange stripe on it that goes to the vacuum pump isn't hooked up... I'm gonna search for a vacuum diagram, but if someone could tell me where these lines are supposed to go?

Sounds like you are referring to the transmission's vacuum modulator valve. It bleeds more or less vacuum to the modulator on the transmission. With the lines off or missing the trans will shift high & hard.

Got a FSM?
1982: page AT-10
1983: page AT-13

No FSM? Got a picture?

[later]

Think I figured out what you're talking about.

On my '82, orange stripe goes to A/C idle-up solenoid on passenger fender just toward the front of the fuel filter and above it; mine is always fallling off, because it's old and not as resilient. I should run a new line.

On the alternator end, it connects to a small plastic tee, which itself connects to one of the taps on the alternator:
(click on any image for larger)

[RacnJsn95]

Crap... So you mean that thing by the throttle bell crank isn't a cold start idle up thing? That's unfortunate. I guess I'll have to really check out the glow plug system now.

As you can see from my picture, no vacuum hoses are hooked up to the A/C idle up silinoid:



This picture shows the "idle upper" thing on the manifold by the bell crank:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a159/ ... luv014.jpg

This picture shows the two lines I have that aren't connected.. The white stripe line, and the orage:


As for the timing, the car runs great now, and is no longer smoking! I started three teeth retarded from the B mark on the IP pulley, and just kept advancing it a tooth each time untill it finally stopped smoking, and run good. Now it sounds like all the LD28 video's I've seen on you-tube! So I've put everything back together now, and I just need to figure out those two vacuum hoses before I take it on a real test drive!

[asavage]

Crap... So you mean that thing by the throttle bell crank isn't a cold start idle up thing?

No, that's the modulator for the AT.

The CSD is this:
(click on any image for larger)

As you can see from my picture, no vacuum hoses are hooked up to the A/C idle up silinoid:

That's a pretty good-sized vacuum leak. You may want to shove a screw in the orange-stripe hose, at least.

This picture shows the "idle upper" thing on the manifold by the bell crank:

You can live without the A/C idle-up, it just props the idle a bit higher when the A/C compressor is active and loading the engine.

As for the timing, the car runs great now, and is no longer smoking! I started three teeth retarded from the B mark on the IP pulley, and just kept advancing it a tooth each time untill it finally stopped smoking, and run good. Now it sounds like all the LD28 video's I've seen on you-tube! So I've put everything back together now, and I just need to figure out those two vacuum hoses before I take it on a real test drive!

Be aware that timing a diesel engine "by ear" is a lot more danger-fraught than doing the same on a gasser. A few degrees either side of correct can wildly change your power and exhaust gas temperatures ("EGT"), which is a fairly accurate indicator of the number of miles your LD28 will run. A gasser doesn't care as much.

[RacnJsn95]

That's a pretty good-sized vacuum leak. You may want to shove a screw in the orange-stripe hose, at least.

Well that would explain why the brakes don't work very good

Be aware that timing a diesel engine "by ear" is a lot more danger-fraught than doing the same on a gasser. A few degrees either side of correct can wildly change your power and exhaust gas temperatures ("EGT"), which is a fairly accurate indicator of the number of miles your LD28 will run. A gasser doesn't care as much.

Huh... That's too bad... My Dad still says it will clean out after I start driving it, but not because of carbon, because the kid I bought it from was running it on homebrewed biodiesel, and it sat for a long time in the tank, and most likely the IP, and gas lines. He also suggests I change the oil, because it looks like it's been run a long time. The car doesn't stop smoking unless it's 2 teeth clockwise of the B mark on the IP pulley, which is where I have it now. I tried 3, but 2 seemed to be it's happy spot.

Maybe I'll just park it out in the field until I get rich and famous. Has anyone ever tried to make their own "tach-n-time"? Not that I don't want to give you my credit card info to rent yours, but I just never want to use my credit cards ever again, regardless of what it's for.

[asavage]

[Well that would explain why the brakes don't work very good

The brakes are weak on the Gen1 Maximas, and that's that. If it had sat, the disks were rusted and you have embedded oxide in the pads. I wouldn't automatically blame poor brake performance on a lack of boost.

Also, if yours is a Wagon, the rear drum adjusters are always frozen, and they only self-adjust when you use the park brake (and they do not adjust when you apply the brakes while moving backward, as do most other drum brakes).

My Dad still says it will clean out after I start driving it . . . because the kid I bought it from was running it on homebrewed biodiesel . .

Which is why I said above, "unless you change the fuel . . . ".

Has anyone ever tried to make their own "tach-n-time"?

If you monitor eBay and similar, you can get one in the $100-$300 range, with patience.

The Snap-On MT257 are more plentiful, but then again they are in more demand too. They don't sell for a whole lot less than retail (over $300) and they don't do digital delay/advance either.

Build one? Are you good with electronics at the circuit design level? The piezo pickup can be bought (under $100); the rest you have to build or adapt yourself. Instead of building one, I bought the finished product; that way I don't have to reinvent the engineering and solve problems that have been long-ago solved.

Not that I don't want to give you my credit card info to rent yours, but I just never want to use my credit cards ever again, regardless of what it's for.

Your situation is your situation. Getting by without plastic is not impossible, just really really difficult. I don't use credit much, but I use debit daily.

I used to loan my tools to strangers . . . and then I got burned educated, and now I don't, unless I am holding something of similar value -- like a credit card number. I don't think that's unusual. If you come to my house, you can use a Tach-N-Time free, and a couple of members have done that. Ditto on the compression tester setups I've bought and built. But if I ship it somewhere, how do I guarantee that it will come back? Credit card (or other form of deposit).

[RacnJsn95]

Well I hooked up the vacuum lines to the A/C idle up solenoid, and noticed no noticeable difference in the brakes... It feels like they don't have "power", nothing happens until the pedal is an inch or two off the floor. If I pump it, a few times, it starts to build some pressure, and act like the brakes feel like their working. Bad master cyl? The wheel cylinders don't seem to be leaking anywhere, from what I can see.

I thought I had posted pictures of the car, but It appears I haven't. Here it is, 82 Maxima Sedan:







Pretty clean car, I picked it up for $300, although I think I see it's gonna start nickel and diming me to death in the near future. Can't seen to nail this IP timing thing down...

Al, you said that white smoke was a sign of being advanced... Well I *think* it's advanced right now... Actually this car's got me so confused I dont know what it is... Up is down, and down is up! Here is a picture I drew up to give you an idea of where I'm at:



I started 3 teeth counter clockwise of the B mark, and the car barely even ran and blew white smoke, same thing at 2 teeth CCW. At 1 tooth CCW, it was starting to start easier, and even idled on its own without my help but was still white smoking. On the B mark if started ok, and idled fine, but still blew white smoke. It didn't start to stop smoking untill I was clockwise of the B mark. The first tooth was noticably better, but still more smoke than I think I could get away with on the street, smoke was now turning greyish. The 2nd tooth (which is where I'm at now), didn't seem bad at first, but upon further inspection, and after driving it today, it smokes grey/light black pretty bad on acceleration. The 3th tooth CW from the B mark seemed pretty good, but I didn't drive it like that. Seemed to be normal smoke at idle, but that "diesel cackle" was starting to be a little on the scary sounding side if you know what I mean...

I'm contemplating tearing it all back apart, and going back counter clock wise one more tooth, to just one past the B, and see what happens.

Each time, my first tooth was straight up on the crank pulley, and the 20th would correspond with the arrows, or described tooth.

I attempted to bid on a DTI Tech-time on ebay, but was outbid by $35, so I'm back to playing it by ear. I'd really like to get this driving sooner, than later.

How exactly does the CSD work? Mine doesn't seem to be operational currently.

[asavage]

How exactly does the CSD work? Mine doesn't seem to be operational currently.

The CSD is explained in this thread.

[RacnJsn95]

Well, I finally got a tach-n-time, but I'm a little confused as to how I hook it up to the engine... The instructions say not to hook it up directly to the battery for power, but off the + and - on the injector pump... I can't seem to find anything on the injector pump?

When I hook the timing light up to it, I just clamp it around that metal ring thing?

And, I have 2 injector line clamps... One black, one green... The black one looks like the bigger of the 2, so I guess I'll try that first.

[asavage]

Well, I finally got a tach-n-time, but I'm a little confused as to how I hook it up to the engine... The instructions say not to hook it up directly to the battery for power, but off the + and - on the injector pump... I can't seem to find anything on the injector pump?

I connect the T-n-T to the battery terminals.

When I hook the timing light up to it, I just clamp it around that metal ring thing?

Yes.

And, I have 2 injector line clamps... One black, one green...

Lucky you! I have only the black, which I assume is the 1/4" one.

The green is probably the 6mm one, and should work better on our lines than the 1/4" one does -- though I've been makin' do just fine with the black. Pics are here.

Don't neglect to loosen the double line clamp on the injector lines up near the injectors, it does make a difference.

HTH

[RacnJsn95]

Well, I've got bigger problems than that... I did manage to get it to work, but half the display is burnt out, so it's pretty hard to see what it says, and there seems to be no output to the timing light when you clamp it to that metal ring ... If you switch the selector switch from "magnetic probe" to "timing light" the light will flash once, but that's it... But The little LED does flash while the clamp is on the injector line...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... :IT&ih=024

The unit was advertised in good working order... What should I do?

[RacnJsn95]

Well, I've got bigger problems than that... I did manage to get it to work, but half the display is burnt out, so it's pretty hard to see what it says, and there seems to be no output to the timing light when you clamp it to that metal ring ... If you switch the selector switch from "magnetic probe" to "timing light" the light will flash once, but that's it... But The little LED does flash while the clamp is on the injector line...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0026928982

The unit was advertised in good working order... What should I do?

[asavage]

If the red LED flashes, the pickup is working OK, which is where most of my trouble has been.

I suppose it's possible that your timing light's pickup is not sensitive enough for this older tech? I've used two timing lights with both of mine, but both are old timing lights (ie older than 1985) and may be more sensitive than newer timing lights. This is really only a guess though.

If nothing else presents, ship the T-n-T to me and I'll play with it.

You got it for a very good price, esp. considering the dual piezo pickups. Bummer about the non-working green LED bar displays though. I've seen them with severe burn-in (burn marks over the LEDs) and somewhat dim, from leaving it ON for hours and hours, but both of mine are pretty crisp.

I'd say you have grounds for a complaint for the burned-out green LED(s) alone, since the description does state "good condition", and burned out display elements definitely does not match that.

[RacnJsn95]

I've been messing with the car all day... By some stroke of luck the LED readout on the tach-n-time started working on it, and it's been working great all day... I just bought some batteries for the piece of crap timing light that came with the unit when I bought it off ebay, and it works

I dont know if I'm doing something wrong or what but heres what I've been seeing on the tnt:

Started out this morning, the IP pulley was 2 teeth counterclockwise from the B mark, and it would start and run fine, just some moderate smoke... The TNT read 18.5° advanced? So I turned the IP pulley 1 tooth clockwise, (being 1 tooth counterclockwise from the B mark)... Harder to start, smoked more TNT read 0°... SOO I moved it to 3 teeth clockwise of the B mark, started ok, smoked more then the first start of the day, got some hard diesel knock! TNT read 36.5°

So it seems one tooth on the IP is appx. 18.5°??? So I left it at 3 teeth counterclockwise of the B mark on the IP pulley and moved the crank 1 tooth counter clockwise, thinking it would retard the timing less than the IP pulley, but it advanced it up to 51.5°...

So right now I'm thinking I should just put it back to 2 teeth counterclockwise of the B mark, and clockwise 1 tooth on the crank, and in theory that would be 3.5°

Idk... Somethings up here...

[asavage]

Is this with the CSD disconnected, as shown in the FSM? Or extremely warmed up, so you can compare with the number I posted for a pair of warmed-up LD28s I've tested?

If "no" to both, the CSD is advancing the timing at idle from where it is on the other rigs, and no comparison can be made.

[RacnJsn95]

The CSD is not disconnected... How can do I do that? It's warm enough that I can't get the glow plugs to stay lit for more than a second or two. With the belt lined up on the B mark, and 20teeth to the TDC on crank, I can't even keep the car running to see what the Tnt says. As soon as I let off the gas it dies.

One tooth counterclockwise from B the TNT reads 0°. I noticed it doesn't go into negative numbers

*EDIT*

Well I put it back to the only place it seems to run with a damn, which is 2 teeth counterclockwise from the B mark... I let the ar get nice and warm and the TNT read out 16°... Anything less or more and it's hard to start and smokes like a bitch... I'm just gonna start driving it and see what happens!