C10Hakosuka

Well before I start listing all of the horrible things that my car has given me since I've purchased the car let me begin by telling you all my typical "first time buying a car/240" story. (Feel free to scroll pass it)

Car: Nissan '89 240sx ka24e (plan on swapping to dual cam in the near future)

Things I've done to the car:
New spark plug and spark plug wires
Oil change
New battery
New alternator
Fixed coolant leak
Cleaned MAF
Cleaned Throttle body
Cleaned IACV


So, me being half Japanese growing up in Japan I've always loved Nissans. So of course growing up I've always wanted a Hakosuka. One day life hit me and reminded me that money isn't exactly the easiest thing to acquire so as time went on I decided my first car would be a Silvia. Fast forward, joined military and through out deployment every day I would search for a reasonably priced schassis. Of course after six months many of the cars I initially planned on purchasing eventually got sold. I got back to California and immediately bought a hatch that caught my eye. Of course I checked it out with the little knowledge I had and drove it around. Everything seemed fine to me. So bought the car the next day and fell in love. Car was running great and I did some entry level maintenance on the car. "Fixed" the timing (pretty sure it's not fixed car used to idle high then I thought when I retarded the distributor to roughly 1k it was good to go but well you'll see as you read further) got better spark plugs, and wires. I really just wanted to maintain the motor as much as possible until I had the money to swap it out. One weekend I decided to do an oil change with the help of a friend. We went to a shop and put her on a lift. Everything went great no issues really got to check for rust and absolutely none fantastic right? Though I did notice a copper line under the car with a melted harness under the car next to the car but couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was for aside from that nothing unusual.

Now here's where everything went wrong. The original owner had the car sit too low and well it was hard getting the car off the lift. I asked my friend to just push the car while I manuver it in neutral and the car got stuck. I drove it back on the lift and had no choice but to force it off. Got it off successfully but the moment it got off the lift my electrical went haywire. My mph needle was dancing around and the stereo cut out for a few seconds. Odd yes? Well I drove it back home no issues in terms of performance but I did notice that when I would hit the brakes the stereo would cut off for a few seconds then cut back on.
A few days later one cold morning I tried to start the car. It would turn over and crank but wouldn't start. Eventually it slowed down and just died on me.
Had my friend come and we jumped the car. He pulled the negative connector and the car shut off. We figured the old connectors were just done for so we got new connectors, cleaned the battery up and tested it again after jumping and it stayed on but the car would just not hold idle. Figured it was the alternator (since the coolant leak was getting work and basically showered the alternator) a good week later we fixed the leak and put in the new alt. Same issue, car wouldn't start. The next day I got a new battery and the car fired up no issues. Electrical problem still existed (most likely loose ground but I can't seem to find any) and the car still would not idle it would just die unless I gave it gas to keep it alive.
So I drove it around base and noticed that it would somewhat idle after driving but occasionally would die at stops. Whatever I could deal with it for a little as long as the car could start right back up.
Now here's where things got out of hand. This morning I tried to start the car and that same "I don't want to start today so I'm gonna die" issue occurred. I immediately took the battery back to be tested and a few hours later they called back saying the battery immediately told them that it was fully charged which is odd. I put the battery back on and the car fired up again. I even drove the car and seemed fine. Note, the night before I drove around for a good hour and I noticed a slow decline in power randomly and I could literally floor the car and it would just gradually take its time to accelerate. But anywho the car pulled faster than the day before.

So later that day (today) I got tired of guessing and forum searching in hopes that whatever I do fixes everything I decided to pull codes from my ECU. I shit you not the ECU gave me a code 55... I'm at a complete standstill scratching my head. I figured something is draining power even when the car is off (even though NONE of my electrical works unless the car is physically running) so I just decided when I'm not driving to just disconnect the battery so it stays charged. The car lasted me a good week before this starting issue occurred again so I'm hoping this will keep the car alive just a tad bit longer.

So I'm wondering if there is anybody out there that can throw suggestions or anything. I have friends who are mechanics that can't even seem to figure out what is wrong but then again they don't work with 240s.
Thank you very much sorry for the long read.


Edit: Drove around today at night noticed my low beams seem somewhat dim but the roads are still visible. Turned on my high beams and only the drivers side turns on. Odd.. Still mostly concerned about the idle issue.

Tomorrow I may drive out to a friends house roughly 20-30 mins away wish me luck lol.