In need of help please...

[krzywhtboi82]

Hi guys. I got a thread on another site but not getting help. I'll post like to it because there's a lot. Thanks for looking and any help

My '79 woes (getting better - ZDriver.com

[Zed Head]

I started at the end and stopped when you said you were going to sell the car. You should put an ad in the Classifieds section.

If you're not selling the car, you should restate your problem for this forum.

I did glance at the first post though, and it looks like you own either a stolen or illegally modified car, with the mis-matched VIN tags and body. If I were you I would report it to the police and get my money back from the guy that sold it to you. That might solve all of your problems and avoid future ones.

[Mike]

Hi guys. I got a thread on another site but not getting help. I'll post like to it because there's a lot. Thanks for looking and any help

My '79 woes (getting better - ZDriver.com

Hey, if you want to repost here, it should be pretty easy. Go to the other site and log in. Find your message, and then click "edit".. Copy all of the text from the window and then come over here and log in to start a new thread. Paste the text and you should be good to go.

Mike

[krzywhtboi82]

ZED

Why should i worry about it? PO got it titled and registered for 2 years and never had a problem. I got it registered and titled w/o a problem. You would have to do some serious digging to figure it out. No I don't plan on selling it. It was more just frustration which I am sure you all have had with the Z

[krzywhtboi82]

Ok so I will be as detailed as possible. It might be long and might have some grammar errors but please stick with it as I need some help before I take it in to a shop.

Feb 9

I bought my 1980 280zx 2+2 5 speed.....Wait you said 79 in the title... Yes I know I know. Long story short; someone changed the dash and door tags. The vin was for a 80 coupe. I have a 1979 2+2 5 speed.

I bought the car with out it running. All it needed was a battery, valve cover gasket, and clean out the drained gas tank. The guy was asking 1400 for her and assured me that it would start and run once those were done. He also said it was running rough. So I offered him 1000 plus 40 to tow it to me. It was mine.

Parts he put on.....

Distributer

Cap and Rotor

Wires and plugs

Water pump

Ebay fuel injectors

Cut exhaust off before cat. converter. installed a universal muffler and a 18in piece of pipe that ended about middle of the car

Feb 11-16ish

Installed battery, gasket, cleaned the tank best I could with out dropping it, and filled her up with some SeaFoam in the tank.I also changed the oil Sure enough it started and ran but ran like total dog crap. First thing I did was download the FSM for a 80 and went on a hunt for the vacuum diagrams. Finally got those straight(I think...Still not 100% sure, more like 90%). No change after that. So I hit the FSM again. I next metered out the Maf and TPS and both checked good. The TPS was a bit off so i fixed that. Took the maf out and cleaned it real good. I also put a 90 degree pipe on the exhaust to at least get it out from under the car. Did a test drive....nothing.

Now up until this point the car was running pig rich. Blue smoke and you could smell it so bad it was burning your eyes. It would run "ok" at low speeds, rpm, and throttle. I couldn't rev it past 3500 or go over 40mph and anything over 1/3 throttle and it would actually slow down. I couldn't even go a mile down the road before it would be stumbling all over itself and back fire like crazy. It sounded like a M80 going off under my car.

I then pulled out the plugs and cyl. 1,4,5,6 were normal but cyl 2,3 wer completely dry and black. According to the FSM that could be a sign of spark plug wires. so I went down bought new cap and rotor and wires and plugs. Installed all and went for a drive...NO CHANGE. Now I am getting frustrated and pissed. I needed a instrument cluster so I went to my local J/Y and got really lucky. The owner has his personal 81zxt with a rotted frame sitting on the lot. We strike up a deal for the whole car and I start pulling parts.

I check the plugs after some idling and couple miles of driving and notice 2 and 3 are the same as before. With talking to my old boss he said it sounds like injectors. Made sense to me only other thing that can affect 2 cylinders. so I replace them. No change really driving but not blackening plugs now.

Feb17-21

While talking to my neighbor about it, I mentioned that I am also loosing brake fluid but no where externally. He tells me to pop off the hose to the booster and see if fluid comes out. Would you believe it?! fluid came pouring out!!! Sweet I found my problem. I go the next day rob the master and booster(because no one sells them) of my parts car. Put it on go for a drive...some change for the better but not much. Now i start messing around and checking the timing(No light just guessing) and cant get a change. During this time I put in a Thermostat(none installed), coolant temp sensor and switch. Go for a drive....No change but hey my temp reads right now...

All along I keep telling everyone "it's going to be something stupid and simple". Well one night at about 11pm I have a "light bulb" moment. One thing I didn't check or change.....FUEL FILTER. I run out the next day get one and slap it on. Oh and the old one....nasty brown crap came out. I could tell as soon as I started it it was running better. I went for a drive and and it was running pretty good. It would still spit and sputter but it would at least go around town. It would also randomly just up and shut down for now reason but would start right back up first try. Then the fuel pump started getting real loud. I was told my pump is on it's last leg. I went and got the one off my parts car and it looked almost brand new.

Past few days.

So here is where i am at currently with the car....

She doesn't like low rpm, throttle or speeds..

Its hard to describe the sound but it sputters and pops. If you hold it at one speed it will still "pop". I'll try to post a recording. I took some tonight.

If you mash it to the floor she scoots. I got her up to 80 tonight chirping the tires through 3rd.

I'm not sure if this matters but I have read some things online. The alt doesn't always put out 14 volts. It fluctuates alot from 11 to 15-16. Sometimes it will stay around 14.

I am on my 2rd fuel filter since i changed the first one.

The fuel injector connectors on cyl 1,4,5, and 6 have been replaced and they just have the normal butt connectors on them. Is this a problem? I wouldn't think so because I am getting changes but I may be wrong.

Well I think thats about it. I'll keep this updated as I do things but next Tuesday I am taking her in. I've exhausted what I can do and I am getting pretty fried. I would appreciate any help or if someone is near me that can help out.

I appreciate any help in advance. Even if its to point me in a direction. Lets keep the grammar police to a minimum please. If you have a question about what I have wrote just ask me. I just really need some guidance and not a grammar lesson. I'm new to the Z world and I have heard they can be a giant headache.

Thanks again

MARCH 7TH UPDATE:

So I went out and was checking my EGR valve and piping. I found that the pipe is broke and hanging by a thread at the intake manifold. Now the question is; how much will this affect drivability? I know it will some but will it so much to make my car run the way it is?

UPDATE March 8....

I think I now have a bad ICM. I did the checks acoriding to the FSM. I am getting 354ohms with the pick up coil connected and disconnected. I am also getting 12v to the plug. What I am getting is the car just turns over and acts like it wants to start. The car was running(decently) last night and this morning. Then when I went out this afternoon it was running rough and I didn't even make it out of my park before it died. First few times it would start up and run terribly then die. Eventually(and where I am at now) it wont even start.

QUESTION:

Is there a way to make a turbo ICM work just to see if it will start? I have one and was thinking if it would work. It is wired up a bit differently at the coil. but I thought if I could make some jumper wires it might work.

Here is a link to my album with a couple videos of how it was running. Video 1 is more to the end and video 3 is the other good one. The pic is my exhaust starting thursday and hadn't done that before. Might be because of the egr

Nissan Photos by krzywhtboi82 | Photobucket

[krzywhtboi82]

i had the link because it had the couple other replys on it too

[krzywhtboi82]

Just had this done thanks to OfficeMax. 24x80in gonna get it laminated and possibly framed

[Zed Head]

The turbo engines use a totally different ignition system. The ECU controls timing and a simple transistor is used to fire the coil. They're not interchangeable with the NA engines.

You should check fuel flow and pressure. Sounds like you're either out of gas or the filter is clogged again.

[krzywhtboi82]

The turbo engines use a totally different ignition system. The ECU controls timing and a simple transistor is used to fire the coil. They're not interchangeable with the NA engines.

You should check fuel flow and pressure. Sounds like you're either out of gas or the filter is clogged again.

Done and done. Both are good. Like I said I'm getting 354ohm from the pick up coil and fsm says approx 400 and I'm getting power at the plug for the icm. So according to how I read the fsm that should be the icm that's bad but no way of knowing for.sure without replacing. Hate to do it bc its $100+ but oh well. Wish someone was near by so I could borrow there's to test.

[Zed Head]

Didn't realize that you had already solved the problem.

I would call 354 ohms pretty close to approximately 400 ohms. Your money. At least you'll have a spare pickup coil.

[krzywhtboi82]

Didn't realize that you had already solved the problem.

I would call 354 ohms pretty close to approximately 400 ohms. Your money. At least you'll have a spare pickup coil.

????? Confused? how will I have a spare PUC? Well I might because i found it's cheaper to buy a whole distributor that has the ICM and VAC ADV on it. I was meaning that since the PUC is reading those ohms then it supposed to be good and since the plug for ICM has power that should mean ICM is bad. I'm not sure though wiring is my biggest weakness.

[Zed Head]

It was mild sarcasm. It sounded like you were going to buy a new PUC based on those numbers. You didn't give any pressure numbers either so who knows how you measured pressure. Some people just look for gas coming out of the hose.

Have you checked spark strength, or sprayed some starter fluid in to the intake manifold? Pull a vacuum line, spray in to the hole, and try to start. If it fires up, runs, then dies, your ICM is probably good. If it doesn't, pull a plug and make sure it's not fouled.