HELP seems to be sputtering BADLY

[Black Jaguar]

Hi guys, yesterday I did a through cleaning of my engine which it has never had. I used a hose and air pressure and good old fashioned hand power. It ran fine after I cleaned it and started it up and ran it to work the following day. When I got off of work my engine would not start like it normally does with no gas pumping. It only started with gas pressed in and it sputtered like mad and shot black smoke, it would not stay idling with no gas. It seemed like it must be running on like three cylinders. I pulled over and checked the spark plug connections incase I did not put them on hard enough. They were on tight and still ran like ****. The distributor did not move to make timing worse and sense the wires were in the orginal positions I am not sure what to do other than take a hot air gun and do the distribitor just in case or what.... Any help would be greatly appreciated. I was able to drive it home but I need to fix it as soon as possable, its my Daily Driver.

Thanks, Dean

[Black Jaguar]

Its a 75 280z fuel injected 4 speed.... Thanks

[2ManyZs]

Sounds like water either seeped into a connection or when you ran the car you got condensation as it cooled.

Get a can of WD-40, spray a little into all the plug wire ends, and inside the distributor cap on the contacts and inside the plug wires in the cap as well.

If that doesn't help, just start pulling wiring connectors one at a time and do the same thing.

[Black Jaguar]

Thanks! I will try that tommorrow, I sure hope that fixes it or maybe the condensation will be gone tommorrow!

[silent]

I'm very new to cars, but here are a couple of things i've encountered:

Perhaps you got water/moisture inside the distributor cap. Any water in there, no matter how small, can make your car sound like crap.

Also, seeing as your car is fuel injected, that means it has a computer, something that the Zs were known for pioneering. My car sounded like $^!# and sputtered severely until my mechanic told me that the temp sensor was fried and sending wrong information to the computer. Basically, any sensor could be messed up (O2 sensor, temp sensor etc). After he replaced the sensor, the car worked like a charm.

It may also be wise to check for any loose hoses (vacuum hoses, fuel lines) and there's a possability that your injectors don't work like they should anymore.

I hope I may have provided any help to you.

[Brad-Man]

Check the TPS connection - Throttle Position Switch...

[pig4bill]

You could have gotten water into the injector connections too.

[deadflo]

Its pretty common on F.I. cars to run bad if the throttle postion sensor gets wet, I would check that first thing...pop the cover off and blow some hot air on it.

[Black Jaguar]

I found out that it was the connection from the new throttle body to the air flow meter. If that isnt completely sealed up then it runs like crap :mad: Thanks for all your help!

[sblake01]

If your're talking about the rubber air duct between the throttle chamber and the air flow meter, make sure you also check for cracks between the folds. Also make sure there's no leaking at the elbow where the hose from the air regulator connects to that duct.