Sunny in Winter (Read 416 times)

[sunnyb11]

Hello all,


Managed to get my hands on an '85 Nissan Sunny B11. Will snap some photos to upload when i get a chance.



Only had it 2mins and need to get on the forum for some help I'm far from a mechanic, but love to get the hands dirty and attempt anything I can, so i've done a fair bit of tinkering with my cars over the years as hobby and diy maintenance. This is probably a decent engine to get to practice with, fairly simple - i assume! Which leads me onto my first issue ....





Struggling to get her started. Been sitting there at least 3 years without moving. Battery obviously flat. Hooked it up to another car in attempt to jump start, got the dash lights on and got it turning over but no fire up. Starter is giving a strong whizz but no attempt to turn over from the engine. My guess was that its either no fuel, or plugs are knackered, maybe the leads. I did pour in a jerry can of fuel before attempting, but maybe it wasn't enough? Or could there possibly be air that needs bleeding? I pulled the plugs out, they didn't look too bad. I tried to see if they were all sparking by leaving them hanging out whilst attempting to start up, 2 of them looked good, 1 iffy, and the other not at all. Was difficult to see by myself. One of the leads is damaged so gonna replace the whole lot anyway, along with some plugs while I'm at it.

will give some easy start a try too.

is there a way I bypass the fuel tank to eliminate the idea of gone off fuel sitting in there? Set up like a gravity feed straight out a jerry can?




if that is an option, whats the best way, take a hose out from the fuel filter?



Second issue ...the car is stuck on the old owners property still so I want to get it back to mine to work on this properly. I went to tow it out and and the rear wheels are seized up good. Was just sliding along the driveway. So, any tips on releasing those suckers? I'll prob go back there tomorrow day time and give it a go... was thinking hammer and wd40, possibly some heat if there isn't anything delicate nearby??



As i said, will get some photos up when I get a chance.



All advice welcome, thanks in advance.

[gainsb1]

Hi there. As you have suggested, change the plugs and leads but also the rotor arm and distributor cap as they are reasonably affordable. Check the points too and change them if in doubt. Before you start pulling fuel pipes and hooking up a gravity feed for the fuel, try the easy-start and if it coughs into life then it could just be stale fuel and that will need to be drained and replaced. Also take the feed to the carbs off and turn the engine over to see if the pump is squirting fuel. Check the fuel filter or replace if you can't see it's condition. Start with the cheap and easy things before stripping the carb, for instance. Most Datsuns just start up after lengthy lay-ups with little or no tinkering.... it's quite amazing.

As regards the brakes; try driving the car backwards and forwards once the car is running. This may just release the drums but if not then have a look on the internet for "How to release siezed brakes". There's loads of info/help there. Good luck... and please update us on progress.

Leigh (Area rep)

[sunnyb11]

Hey, thanks for your reply! Great tips thank you.

I managed to get it unseized in the end. Jacked it up and tapped around the tyres to vibrate the wheel a little to free up the drums and got it rolling again.
So now its at my place where I can work on it. Just looking online to order the cheap bits to swap out as you suggested. Yea hopefully won't take much to hear it started up again will update as I go along. Thanks again.

[sunnyb11]

Right Leigh, planned to have a little go at some of the stuff you mentioned today, but it started pouring down

I was a little impatient so i did give a quick squirt of easy start and tried starting it and it did come to life! ...for a few seconds, then died. So guessing its starved of fuel. Will drain the tank completely and top up with fresh fuel in case it is stale as you suggested. I did also remove both hoses from the fuel filter and tried starting it up, I was expecting to see some fuel spurting out, but nothing. Am I incorrect in thinking that is what should happen, or is there an issue in fuel delivery there? The filter was full of fuel, poured out when I removed the bottom hose.

[gainsb1]

Take the fuel feed off from the side of the pump that feeds the carb. Take the HT lead off the distributor as you don't want it to start up when there's fuel splashing about. Turn the car over and fuel should squirt out. If not,then it could be that the pump needs renewing. Readily available on Fleabay for £15-20.00.

Leigh (Area rep)

[sunnyb11]

Good news, managed to solve the issue of no start up.







Ordered a new pump. But went to remove the old one I realised I ordered the wrong type - idiot. I needed the 3 pipe version, but i ordered the 2 pipe (even after double checking ... in the dark). Hayne manual wasn't any help, only shows 2 pipes and mentions nothing about fuel return pipe. Anyway, I took the old pump off and could see it was seized. Sprayed some penetrants into it and got the pump moving and managed to free it up. Repeated this and then rinsed it all out with fuel and bunch of limescale and crap came out. Tested it and it now does its job. However, when connecting back up, I discovered there was another fault, a blockage in the fuel feed. Done some testing with the compressor and managed to trace it all the way back into the fuel tank gauge sending unit. Removed it and it was rusty as shit, and the fuel feed pipe was blocked. Sprayed some paraffin into the pipe, let it sit for bit then blasted it out with the compressor. Gave it all a clean up and connected everything back up, and voila, she runs 😄







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[gainsb1]

Well done and congratulations. Looking at the pictures I can't see how you managed to get the sender unit to look like almost new. Wow! Now we just need to see some pictures of the car.

Leigh (Area rep)