Zed Head

Sometimes the tachometer will give a clue. If you're in gear, engine turning, and power disappears but the tachometer still shows the engine turning that would mean you still have spark. If the tachometer drops to zero immediately but you're still coasting in gear with a dead motor, no spark, maybe the module, or the coil, or power to either/both. If the tachometer starts jumping around or reads abnormally high or low, it might be the module. Not a 100% clue about the module, but might tell something. Forgot one thing, that I just recently figured out on my car. One of the PO's of my car had jumped the two pickup coil wires together at the junction box. I never really figured out why until the other day when I was testing old parts to see if they were any good. One of the two pickup coils from that distributor, long since swapped for a better one, was bad. The jumper wire allowed the ignition module to see both pickup coils and use the one that provided a good signal. Short story - maybe one of your pickup coils is bad. If so, the engine would only run when cold.

Doesn't the rear main seal ride on the end of the crankshaft itself? Not a bearing? Just wondering. That's why they make those Speedi-sleeves for the end of the crankshaft. Unless you mean that it was pressed in until it touched the bearing. (Aside - Monroe puts the seal on the crankshaft before installing the shaft.) Might help the process to list all of the problems you were hoping to find causes for. The oil leak, high oil pressure, oily cylinders, etc. And, for your own future pondering, take a good look at the rear main seal area just to see how it's wide open to the crankcase. No oil pressure on the seal. And did you check all of the bearing orientations and locations before removing to make sure that there were no blockages? Don't forget to check the crankshaft passages themselves for blockage. Just living vicariously...

You just need reliable, not powerful. The cam and the transmission don't mean anything as far as the fuel pump goes. Get a stock pump, or try the Mazda pump (search around the internet for model). If your mechanic did all of that work just to find a weak fuel pump, you might still need a new mechanic. By now, using this forum and the internet, you should know more about your car than any of the mechanics you've used. And spark plugs don't get damaged from back-firing.

I circled it for him. That little Sorry game piece shouldn't have a hose attached. The other end of that hose either needs vacuum or supplies it to somewhere.

I broke a center bolt also when I finally took my head off. May be best to use the torque wrench for loosening also. If you can't get it loose at some set percentage (10%, 20%) above the desired torque setting, maybe leave it and try something else. Once you break one you're committed to removal. Better plan some down time just in case.

That's a good catch. So take the plug off, clean it up so it's an open circuit, then leave the plug off and try to start the engine. Much easier than shorting the relay. You've uncomplicated things. I've actually cut the FSM section out on that before but forgot about it.

What was it? A part came loose or there was a vacuum leak?

I forgot to ask what year car also. And if it was stock before you modified. If you browse a few threads you'll see that the more details you provide the faster things happen. Every year of car has subtle differences. When cold, the fuel/air mix is extra rich. After warmup it's leaner. If you have a vacuum leak from the disabled EGR or CSV port, you might be too lean to start. Let it cool and see if it starts. confirm that it's getting spark. Check everything that you worked on to make sure nothing came loose (that's the most likely cause, actually).

The BCDD system is designed to clean up the exhaust from excess HC (unburned fuel) under certain conditions. there's actually a little gizmo on the speedometer that measures road speed, and engine speed is involved too. Has anything else malfunctioned or have you modified some things?

How did it run before you "improved" it? What did you remove, exactly?

Maybe your firing order is off. I can't tell from the picture, but it doesn't look right. 1-5-3-6-2-4, counterclockwise. The engine will start and run with the plug wires backward, clockwise. These engines will also run on three cylinders, maybe even two. OR, maybe you have a vacuum leak that is letting air past the AFM vane. There's a switch in the AFM that opens, cutting power to the fuel pump relay, if air flow drops too low. You might have left a fitting on the intake manifold open. All air must pass through the AFM, except for a very tiny amount for the AFM idle bypass, and the charcoal canister.

Things are only going to move a tiny fraction of a millimeter so the other attached parts won't be affected. Interested to see if it works. I tried on mine, but it was too far gone. Good luck.

What year is the car? They changed a few things over the years. The post on the door jam is adjustable. Maybe yours is loose and has moved inward, or somebody moved it in the past. I re-adjusted mine and found that you can get a variety of closing actions depending on where that post is set.

FastWoman described the pressure switch and alternator pump control. Those are both bypassed during starting though, powering the pump directly. On my 76 when the AFM contact stopped working, the engine would start, run for about three seconds, then die. It would do that over and over. With a low battery the alternator powered relay may not be getting enough juice to keep the fuel pump operating. And a dry engine may not be generating pressure right away even with the switch intact. Collecting all of the facts, if it were mine, I would get a good, charged battery in there, pull the small vacuum line that feeds the AC control bottle (the tiny nipple on top of the intake manifold), and squirt some starting fluid in to the manifold. Ideally, you would have a friend either running the can of fluid or the key, and just keep the engine running long enough to get things moving. If that didn't work, I would probably short the fuel pump relay to keep the fuel pump on. Actually I would probably do that first, just to take the fuel pump control out of the picture. That's a little more involved though. This leaving and coming back to the problem really kills the flow, just on the internet. Must be way worse trying to do it on the car.

I think that his muffler shop created the abomination in the first post. Some of his other posts imply that he doesn't have many good shops to go to. He's in a tough spot.

Actually, I've done a lot of driveshaft (propeller shaft) Googling and not seen that. There is an early short propeller shaft, used with the forward mounted diff. Then the longer 240Z shaft, same length as the 280Z shaft, with replaceable u-joints. Then the 280Z shaft with staked in, non-replaceable u-joints. There is a problem with the side "drive shafts" (not the center propeller shaft) being too long on one side, if you convert to an R200 diff. That problem is described here and there. And the diffs themselves have an annoying growling noise, independent of u-joints or wheel bearings. Could be the bearings though, but they can be checked. How long have you had the car and what have you done to it? BUT, back to your direct question - if you have the forward mounted rear diff, then you have to use the short propeller shaft or remount the diff to the later rearward position to use the 280Z length shaft. Do you have the early diff position? You did not give the year of your car.

I've never heard this at all. Can you give a source for that information? Wheel bearings and u-joints don't really make the same noise when they fail. U-joints get clunky during gear shifts, and can cause a vibration. Wheel bearings, at least the rear ones with big ball bearings, tend to get loose before making lots of noise, allowing the wheel to move side-to-side and up and down and clunk a little bit, I believe. You can jack the back up and lift and tug on the wheel to test the wheel bearings. Crawl underneath and visually examine and pry on the u-joints. There should be zero play.

Disconnect the muffler entirely and see what happens. It will be loud but you should be able to tell if it's down on power.

After seeing some pictures of filter insides, there is a lot of room to pack the same filter media are in to a smaller volume. You'd have to cut one open and look though, to know if that's what WIX did. Seems like a good idea if they did it right.

MythBusters: Duct Tape Hour : Videos : Discovery Channel Funny though that, apparently, the right name is "duck tape". Duct tape is actually thick metal foil with, usually, a high temperature adhesive. Duct tape - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Duct tape - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At least there was a fuse.

Sounds like a banjo bolt. There should be a ring-shaped fitting on the end of the line. Fluid flows through the bolt, out of the hole, through the ring and in to the line. Study the fitting at the end of the line and it should make sense. Both sides of the ring fitting seal, one side on the bolt head and the other side on the transmission, or wherever the fluid is.

It has to sell to take the title.

Here's one that's cheaper - Relay Fuel Injection 75-77: Engine Z - Electrical & Tune Up - 15097-NEE - Z Specialties Online Store - If we don't have it in stock, we can get it! But they almost never go bad. It's usually something else. There's a procedure in the FSM, maybe the Fuel Injection Guide, for testing the relay with a meter. Much cheaper path to take.

Here's a good reference on the electrical switch - Ignition Switch 70-83 (Electrical): 280 ZX 79-83 #4 - Electrical 4 - Misc Electrical 4 - 20098-EPBE - Z Specialties Online Store - If we don't have it in stock, we can get it!