Datsun mini diesel possible aquisition

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Kief

Kief

Joined
Apr 24, 2003
Threads
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Location
Southwest Oregon
I ran across an opportunity for a free 83 nissan, 2WD I believe. Haven't seen it, will tomorrow, supposedly rough with smoked glow plugs-improperly wired relay. My interest is mainly for tinkering but was curious of the ins and outs of this motor and if it is worth my time, thanks, Kief.
 
Keif, we have one of those at the school in Guatemala. Not exactly a powerhouse but it's a basic mechanically injected, naturally aspirated diesel and if it's free it doesn't come any cheaper!!
 
Apart from the lack of power they were reliable little things.
A big problem with small naturally aspirated diesel 4 cyl is that people drive them flat out and over rev them.
A friend of mine got one for box of beer and connected it to an old generator and now has power on his bush retreat;)

Its free so why ask?:D
 
Well, I had a free horse once. It was expensive.
I don't want to waste time on any more junk if it isn't worth messing with. I have plenty of scrap metal around here. I will go get it today if it is still there. If the nissan diesels were junk I wouldn't want to spend the time getting it going and buying parts (like glowplugs) if it was a lemon. Thanks for the input :).
 
Well, I drug it home, the PO's couldn't get it out of there fast enough.
I got it home and turned it over with a screw driver, well as far as I could turn it, apparently good compression.
Battery was swapped out with a good one and I cranked it over- it looks like the bio-diesel sticker is correct. I had puffs of funny smelling smoke but no ignition, of course I had no glow plugs heated either. Should I drain it and start with some fresh diesel? Any draining and priming tips? I pulled out one glow plug and tested it with 6V, it got hot enough to sizzle spit. Someone had attempted a bypass of the glowplug relay and the owner said it wouldn't start ever since then. She thought the glow plugs were not 12v and were fried (any ideas?). Some wiring has been altered so I am not sure what should connect to what.
How does one activate the glow plugs on this thing? Turn Key counter-clockwise?
Is there a cold start knob I am missing?
BTW it is a SD 22, 205,000 miles with a 5 speed. I will try to get pics up this weekend. TIA, Kief.
 
Keif, pull each glow plug and test with an ohm meter. You should have continuity between the tip and the threads. If so the plug is good. There is an orange light on the dash with a spiral logo (like a coil symbol in electrical diagrams). When you turn the key all the way to "On" the light should come on and the glow plugs should receive power. They will only receive power for a few seconds up to a minute or so depending on what kind of glow system the truck has so check for power quickly. I found the glow light on the truck at the school to be really weak so look carefully.
If you want to wait there is a full OEM shop manual for that truck at the school in Guatemala and I could scan a selected number of pages and e-mail them to you when I return in January.
 
You could connect the glow plugs directly to the battery for about 10 seconds or so to see if it will start.
Is the datsun 12v?

Last nissan 4 cyl I saw had a hand operated primer pump on the injection pump.
You open up each injection pipe one at a time and pump until only fuel come out .
You dont totally disconnect the pipe ,just enough for the air to escape like you were bleeding a brake line.
 
cruiser_guy said:
Keif, pull each glow plug and test with an ohm meter. You should have continuity between the tip and the threads. If so the plug is good. There is an orange light on the dash with a spiral logo (like a coil symbol in electrical diagrams). When you turn the key all the way to "On" the light should come on and the glow plugs should receive power. They will only receive power for a few seconds up to a minute or so depending on what kind of glow system the truck has so check for power quickly. I found the glow light on the truck at the school to be really weak so look carefully.
If you want to wait there is a full OEM shop manual for that truck at the school in Guatemala and I could scan a selected number of pages and e-mail them to you when I return in January.
Click to expand...

I saw the symbol on the dash... no light came on and I am not sure the hack wiring is correct (manual momentary switch added). They probably attempted to bypass the no longer functioning stock system.
I left my tester at work (I know I should have more than one). I will check the glow plugs with that but the #1 glow plug drew current but didn't get it red hot. The truck has a 12V system, I have heard that some times the glow plugs use 6V, would this mean a resistor in the system?
I will see what I can source for a manual. I can't read spanish or canadian anyways ;).
 
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roscoFJ73 said:
You could connect the glow plugs directly to the battery for about 10 seconds or so to see if it will start.
Is the datsun 12v?

Last nissan 4 cyl I saw had a hand operated primer pump on the injection pump.
You open up each injection pipe one at a time and pump until only fuel come out .
You dont totally disconnect the pipe ,just enough for the air to escape like you were bleeding a brake line.
Click to expand...

I thought about connecting the batteries directly to the glow plugs but after the owner's story about the g.p.'s being a different voltage I wanted to proceed cautiously.
I saw something on the injection pump that looked like a cap that would unscrew. maybe it is that pump of which you speak. Should I drain all the biodiesel out ( I have no idea how old it is)?
 
Kief
This might be mute to you but Interational Harvester Scouts and Travelers used
a SD22 or 33 diesel i think. There is a International web site called the Binder
bulletin that has quite a bit of diesel engine info on it, you might already know
the site but in case you dont it is:

www.Binderbulletin.org

Good Luck

-Jim
 
Kief said:
I thought about connecting the batteries directly to the glow plugs but after the owner's story about the g.p.'s being a different voltage I wanted to proceed cautiously.
I saw something on the injection pump that looked like a cap that would unscrew. maybe it is that pump of which you speak. Should I drain all the biodiesel out ( I have no idea how old it is)?
Click to expand...

The cap that unscrews is probably it.
I would drain it but Im not sure how to drain the pump.I guess just keep pumping till clean fuel comes through.
I would be more worried about the quality and possible moisture in it.

You could use some ether to start it without the glow plugs working.
Just dont over do it.
 
Kief said:
I saw the symbol on the dash... no light came on and I am not sure the hack wiring is correct (manual momentary switch added). They probably attempted to bypass the no longer functioning stock system.
I left my tester at work (I know I should have more than one). I will check the glow plugs with that but the #1 glow plug drew current but didn't get it red hot. The truck has a 12V system, I have heard that some times the glow plugs use 6V, would this mean a resistor in the system?
I will see what I can source for a manual. I can't read spanish or canadian anyways ;).
Click to expand...

The glow plugs on my truck actually have the voltage rating stamped on them. In my case it's 6v and there is a resistor in the system. You could see if a 12v plug is available in that length and thread and use those in conjuction with a momentary switch direct from the batteries to the glow bar (rail that connects the plugs). About 10-20 seconds should be enough to start the truck.

Personally I'd ensure the glow system is working first before going to the fuel system since bleeding the fuel system can be a pain in the butt. I've done it a couple of times on my truck and I prefer to do it with the truck warm as it makes starting again easier.

btw the manual and the truck in Guatemala are both out of Texas originally since the truck has a Texas DMV sticker on the window.

Ether can be the death of a diesel so proceed VERY cautiously! I personally would NEVER use ether on my truck.
 
I saw an "11V" stamped on the glow plugs or at least something that looked like that, better look closer.
Didn't have time to take pics today, skipped church to take the Mrs. to ER, she had to have surgery to remove a cyst that was causing a tremendous amount of pain. Guess I will cook dinner and then take pictures.
 
C_G, I don't know if I can read Texican either but will try if I can't find something sooner, I guess I could call my Nissan factory tech buddy, maybe he has access...
 
Kief said:
Didn't have time to take pics today, skipped church to take the Mrs. to ER, she had to have surgery to remove a cyst that was causing a tremendous amount of pain. Guess I will cook dinner and then take pictures.
Click to expand...

You'd best pass on the truck for a while until Jen is back. The kids need dad more than another pickup when mom's not around (especially the younger ones).
 
pics

Here are some pictures, in the one you can see the butt-splice connectors sticking up ( yellow ) that they ran to the momentary manual switch. there are no wires over to the fender where the solenoid is.
Thanks C_G, for your concern. The kids got their mom back, felt like they were pretty non-challant about the whole deal. In and out in less than 6 hours, I guess its pretty common. They wanted to watch a movie, so here I am.
 
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1 mo

Here is a pic of the injector pump, the shiny round thing is the knob I suppose is the priming pump.
 
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