Hello Everyone (new owner of an 82 D Maxima Sedan)

General information about the first-generation Nissan Maxima in the US. What was the Datsun 810 became the luxury leader Maxima in the US in 1981.

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asavage
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#16

Post by asavage »

mrtaquito85 wrote:Just for my clarification, when checking the glow plug, the key is in the ON setting, not cranking right?
Yes, but you only get about six to eight seconds before the controller turns them off. So connect the test setup up before turning the key. And the controller won't reset for about two minutes, so you can't really cycle the key and get more glow time.
And I have a multi-meter, one lead would go to the GP and the other to Ground :?:
Yes, and do measure at the No. 1 GP. The bus is aluminum and corrodes. See this post and the one that follows for the replacement bus and a picture of a badly broken one.
And finally, how would I go about getting an FSM off of you? You take paypal, or would you like me to send you a check/money order.
PayPal = asavage at iname dot com (add 4% for their fees) or PM for my mailing address for your personal cheque or MO. The former is faster but slightly more expensive.

Take a minute to edit your Profile (click on "Profile" at the top of any page) and add your vehicle information to your Signature (ie I can't recall the year of your Sedan without scrolling back to the top of the thread, which is hard to do when I'm composing this). It's just a very good idea, and saves people asking.

BTW, you do know that you can (briefly) run the engine without reassembling the whole thing, right? No sound, but a short vid (9.5MiB). You can run the engine for about 30 seconds with no harm done. It begins to get too warm for comfort some time after that.

If you have the radiator out, be certain to use a length of 5/16" fuel line or trans line or similar to loopback the cooler lines, or you'll be sorry.
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
mrtaquito85
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#17

Post by mrtaquito85 »

aa
Last edited by mrtaquito85 11 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
diesel-man
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#18

Post by diesel-man »

Clarification: For the marks on the Timing belt, is it 1st tooth is a white line, 18 blank teeth then the last mark is a white line making it 20 teeth total,

or 1 white mark, then 20 blank teeth then the final white mark making it 22 total teeth.
20 cogs equal 7 1/8". Use A/B mark on gear (if you had it off) and B mark on gear, and if course small mark on crankshaft gear. Camshaft needs to have cam lobe (visible in oil fill hole) pointing to the passengers side of car.

Possibly air in system? Check for air at fuel filter, then pump 20 or so times after that.

A little ether will rule out a glow plug problem (if you truly believe it is glowplugs) a half seconds worth is a lot. A blink of the eyes is about the right amount.

Glow plugs do not need replacing at a "time or mileage interval". Take a jumperwire and ground the glow plug and just touch the top to the positive side of the battery. (about a second) It should smoke right away. If you have to play with it awhile to get it to get hot, set it aside and check the rest. You are looking to see if there are a few that act slow or not at all compared to the others. Check a new one and you will see what I mean.
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asavage
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#19

Post by asavage »

mrtaquito85 wrote:I connected the Multi-meter to the GP Bus and nothing . . .
This problem is usually the fusible link's connector about 6" off the battery terminal. It's a "large" (5/16") spade terminal in friable (extremely brittle) plastic sleeve: you touch it and the plastic breaks, due to repeated heating from a bad connection plus outgassing of the plastic, as it turns into dust.

I have run into three of them bad, including my own '82 Wagon and the '83 Sedan I bought a couple of months ago.
I have been looking at:

http://asavage.dyndns.org/Nissan/Maxima ... -038_b.jpg

this schematic for the Glow System. And thinking, since I will be eventually transplanting this motor into a different car, I'm going to have to wire something to get it working in the Z. So, I'm thinking, can I unplug Relay 1, Relay 2, the Fast Glow Control Unit, Dropping Resistor etc etc and get my own wires and wire it together myself.
[rant]
Why does everybody want to re-invent the wheel? Other than the OEM GP Controller not glowing on a warm start, and sometimes not glowing long enough on a cold start, the only problem with the OEM system is connections. A lot of engineering time went into that system.
[/rant]
I really do not want to deal with searching for wires throughout the harness and what not.
The harness breaks we've seen have (so far) been confined to one splice, and that affects cranking. The GP system connection problems are all external and easy to find and test.
is this a good idea or not (since I'm going to have to do something similar when I do the swap)
You will want the afterglow system. Starting is easy. Starting and good idle and reduced cold misfire and cold smoke requires afterglow. You can't duplicate that with wire alone, hence the twin relays and dropping resistor. This is not a tractor!
What gauge wire should I use for connecting all the items together?
GP: 10ga or heavier. 10ga will do, but note that Nissan wired twin 10ga

For the fuses, what amp fuses should I wire in?
And for the fusible links can I substitute them for fuses instead?

Other Questions:
Whats the recommended replacement interval for the Glow Plugs? I've attached a picture of my glow plugs, how do they look? The two on the left are different than the two on the right. I'll be replacing them with Autolite P/N 1104

Clarification: For the marks on the Timing belt, is it 1st tooth is a white line, 18 blank teeth then the last mark is a white line making it 20 teeth total,

or 1 white mark, then 20 blank teeth then the final white mark making it 22 total teeth.

Image

Image

P.S. I sent payment via paypal for the FSM. Let me know if I put enough down for the paypal fees if not so I can send some more monies.[/quote]
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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asavage
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Location: Oak Harbor, Wash.
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#20

Post by asavage »

mrtaquito85 wrote:I connected the Multi-meter to the GP Bus and nothing . . .
This problem is usually the fusible link's connector about 6" off the battery terminal. It's a "large" (5/16") spade terminal in friable (extremely brittle) plastic sleeve: you touch it and the plastic breaks, due to repeated heating from a bad connection plus outgassing of the plastic, as it turns into dust.

It's where you see the white tape in this picture, and the type of connector is shown next to it:
Image Image

I have run into three of them bad, including my own '82 Wagon and the '83 Sedan I bought a couple of months ago.
I have been looking at:

http://asavage.dyndns.org/Nissan/Maxima ... -038_b.jpg

this schematic for the Glow System. And thinking, since I will be eventually transplanting this motor into a different car, I'm going to have to wire something to get it working in the Z. So, I'm thinking, can I unplug Relay 1, Relay 2, the Fast Glow Control Unit, Dropping Resistor etc etc and get my own wires and wire it together myself.
[rant]
Why does everybody want to re-invent the wheel? Other than the OEM GP Controller not glowing on a warm start, and sometimes not glowing long enough on a cold start, the only problem with the OEM system is connections. A lot of engineering time went into that system. It's a 25-yr-old car and while wires seldom give trouble, connections usually do, after that much time.
[/rant]
I really do not want to deal with searching for wires throughout the harness and what not.
The harness breaks we've seen have (so far) been confined to one splice, and that affects cranking. The GP system connection problems are all external and easy to find and test.
is this a good idea or not (since I'm going to have to do something similar when I do the swap)
You will want the afterglow system. Homegrown wiring for starting is easy. For starting and good cold idle and reduced cold misfire and reduced cold smoke requires an afterglow of the GPs. You can't duplicate that with wire alone, hence the twin relays and dropping resistor. This is not a tractor!

And the Maxima uses fast GPs, which are not designed to put up with over-glowing. A manual button is going to require the self-control to not hold down the button too long. Or perhaps you can put slow-glow GPs in and not worry -- but you'll wear a dimple in your thumb holding down the button long enough (if you've ever started a pre-1980 Mercedes-Benz diesel, you know what I'm talking about. Glow times over a minute (!) are not uncommon. The really old MBs (220D and older) have a pull cable with a knob for glowing. You pull it out for a good long time on a cold day!)
What gauge wire should I use for connecting all the items together?
GP: 10ga or heavier. 10ga will do, but note that Nissan wired twin 10ga wires to feed the GP bus bar (not shown on the schematic you link above, but shown in the wiring diagram on page EL-40.

Again, the problem is likely to be the fusible link at connector 9M in that wiring diagram. This is very easy to check, it's a few inches from the positive battery terminal. Connect the voltmeter at the connector (backprobe the connector), and then have someone else turn the key to ON. This is important, as even a bad connection may show OK voltage until the GP Relay is closed, and then the high resistance will cause the voltage to "go away".
For the fuses, what amp fuses should I wire in?
Fuses are not recommended for this kind of load. The inrush current for this kind of resistive load is about 4x the steady state. A fusible link is best.

Figure that the GPs should draw ~15A each after five seconds = 90A, but that there may be more than 250A for the first second. You can buy fuses that will delay on that kind of draw, but they are not your typical Honda Accord fuses or stereo amp fuses (which is what you are probably thinking about).
And for the fusible links can I substitute them for fuses instead?
See above.

Being indelicate here: I do not think you can do better with new wire and new fuses and starting from scratch, than Nissan did. My recommendation is to diagnose the current system and then either repair it, or if you don't like the operation of the GP Controller, use the existing wiring and install a momentary-contact switch that applies voltage to the GP Relay 1 -- that way, you can override the GP Controller's timeout. Connect 12v via your switch to the small wire on the GP Relay 1 ("Main").
Image Image
But find out why there is no voltage at the GP bus bar. If you can't figure it out, you probably can't wire a replacement either. Sorry if this offends.
Whats the recommended replacement interval for the Glow Plugs?
They're not really consumables. They are often replaced in search of easier starting, when other factors are at fault. Unless they are over-glowed (voltage applied too long: probably somewhere over 10-12 seconds), they last "forever" on the LD. I have never seen a bad one on an LD (yet).
I'll be replacing them with Autolite P/N 1104
Autolite is the very worst GP on the planet. Please reconsider, and if you don't believe me . . .
Image
Clarification: For the marks on the Timing belt, is it 1st tooth is a white line, 18 blank teeth then the last mark is a white line making it 20 teeth total . . .
Yes: the white lines (which are not on all aftermarket belts, BTW) are on teeth No. 1 and No. 20.


Image
I can't make out No. 5's condition from this picture, but it's the critical area: where the two white 10ga wires bolt to the GP bus bar. You've seen in the pic of mine in the other link how they mash and corrode. Take a better (closeup) pic of that one.

From my '82 Wagon:
Image Image

The GPs look fine to me. That's not a test, but visually there are no holes [shrug]. Again, for poor starting of an LD, look at injectors and GPs last, and the GP connections first.
P.S. I sent payment via paypal for the FSM. Let me know if I put enough down for the paypal fees if not so I can send some more monies.

It's sitting out with your name on it, and will mail out tomorrow (in a box: never ship manuals in an envelope, it's a rule).

Another hour donated to the cause . . .
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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