Sorry to be Redundent - Help

[Mark Maras]

Well at least you now have a buzzer to remind you of the things that don't work.:-) Keep cleaning those connections and things will start coming to life as you go, Hopefully the next one will be a little more useful than a warning buzzer. Mark in Portland.

[EuroDat]

Good to hear you fixed your voltage problem. IMO half the fun owning a Zed is working on it.

My buzzer sounds like its on its last death throughs before giving up all together, but its been doing that for 3 years now and still going.

It really attracts attention when someone comes for a ride the first time. You get questions like "is that normal?"

I have grown to like it.

Chas

[siteunseen]

"Pay it forward" has new meaning to me after the help I've received from these nice folks on this forum. I'm always trying to return the help too but it's premature mostly. :stupid:

[FastWoman]

I got tired of my buzzer and disconnected it. Very easy: Get the thing going, reach up under the dash, and feel for the part that's vibrating. Then pull its plug. Done.

That said, I did enjoy the thing for a while. It has a Cold-War-era feel to it, with the buzzer going bzzzzt -- bzzzzt -- bzzzt and the huge "fasten seatbelt" light flashing on and off. It sounds like something ominous is going to happen. I think if someone were to ask me if that was normal, I'd say, "No, I don't think so. It's never done that before... Unless... Wait... Oh no... OH DEAR GOD! GET OUT NOW!!!"

[Zed Head]

I rewired the door switch and buzzer to the running light power circuit. A tap from the output side of the light switch through the buzzer and door switch to ground. No more running back to the car to turn the lights off and save the battery. Here in overcast Oregon, with my dull brown paint, I tend to drive with lights on in the daytime.

I had to replace the stock buzzer with a Radio Shack unit though. The original was physically damaged for some reason.

[bhermes]

This is a little bit of an old thread but I have finally comitted to driving the 280Z on a daily basis. Or at least more often. I drove about 30 miles today and still have the same problem with "fuel delivery". About 3 times during the trip the car wanted to stop and a few other times seemed to have trouble getting gas. I have reached my end of trying to solve the problem and will be taking the car to a mechanic in about 30 days. The person I want to work on the car is not available until then.

I described the problem to him and he feels (obviously not sure) that it is a fitler or screen clogging issue.

Just quick back track, I did have major fuel tank rust issues and dropped and coated the tank myself.

He said it might be the screen in the pick up line in the tank. Is there a screen in the pick up line in the tank?

What about a screen on the inlet of the fuel filter? If so, does this come with the fuel filter?

Lastly, I am correct in saying that there is only one filter which is located under the hood?

Thanks.

[siteunseen]

You can take the fuel supply line loose at the bottom of the fuel filter and put it in a jug. Have someone turn the key and see if fuel is coming out, you'll know if it's clogged, should be a strong steady stream. The inlet to the original Bosch fuel pump, if that's what you have, has a small cone shaped filter in it. You'll need to loosen the line from the tank to the pump, slide it off and pull the filter out with tweezers. They are very fragile so be careful. While you have that hose off you could blow through it to unstop any debris from the pick up in the tank. If you haven't done this yet, you should go to Walmart and buy a Fram G3 clear plastic filter and put it in the line from the tank to the fuel pump, $3 insurance. I look at mine all the time fearing the Red Kote tank liner will show up in there, 2 years and nothing but beautiful fuel.

http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/fuelpump/index.html

Edited July 22, 2014 by siteunseen

[bhermes]

Quick question, while reving a little in the driveway, which the car will typically idle fine, I noticed it appearing like it was having the fuel issue that I have been experiencing. Acting like it was not gettng enough fuel. I read the pressure gauge, I added, and it would go from 28 psi to 31 psi and down just for a second to 22 psi and then settle back at 28. Not sure this means anything but just curious.

Thanks.

[bhermes]

I finally gave in and took the car to a local mechanic that is somewhat familiar with 280z's. He noticed that after running the car at idle with a few rev's here and there the fuel pressue gauge dropped below 20 psi. He is going to look further but thought I would get some advice from you guys.

What should we be looking for causing this problem. Fuel pump? Supposedly changed about 1 year ago or less than 500 miles.

A short list of things to look for would be great. Just trying to keep the mechanic honest. I hated taking the car in but after 3 years I thought it needed another more intellegent look.

Thanks.

[FastWoman]

If your fuel pressure slowly fades away while idling, without rocking around, without sloshing around any debris in your fuel tank, I would still guess it's because of your fuel pump. I only say that because that's what my pump did when it failed. It's a vicious cycle: Fuel flow is somewhat insufficient to start with, and because fuel flow cools the pump, that means cooling is insufficient. So the pump slowly starts to heat. The warmer it gets, the more inefficient it gets and the less fuel it pumps, which means even less cooling, etc. Or it could be that the pump craps out when it warms up, irrespective of how much fuel flow is cooling it. Just remember, though, that by the time you get to 20 psi, there's almost no fuel flow at all, save for whatever passes through the injectors at idle. That is, there's no return fuel flow. So at that point, your pump could have a serious issue with staying cool.

Irrespective, that's exactly what my OEM pump did when it failed. I replaced it with another OEM pump, and the problem was gone.

The other thing I would look at is the electrical connections. In particular, the big wiring harness connector just inside the passenger firewall is IMO insufficient for the sort of current flow it gets through the fuel pump circuit, so it gets hot, arcs, chars, and melts the plastic. This happened to me a couple of times on my old pump (which might have been drawing excessive current at the time). I eventually snipped out the fuel pump wire (green and blue) and connected it with a bullet connector, which solved that problem.

[bhermes]

Thanks.

What about the Fuel Pressure regulator? What would its failure look like?

I am waiting to here from the mechanic about the pump and connector. I am unable to get to the shop until the weekend.

[bhermes]

Not sure if we have solved the problem but found several issues and fixed;

- timing way off

- vac lines not connected

- vac line connected wrong

- throttle body boot torn

Few other things.

Anyone know where I can get a new boot quickly.

Fuel pressure issue was not accurate. Reading good now.

Thanks