Wade Nelson

I haven't bothered to read the entire thread, but... A lot of people don't understand the relationship between the ignition switch and the coil. On older vehicles coils get their power from tWO DIFFERENT SOURCES. When you are cranking it gets power DIRECTLY from the switch. In fact, you could run a wire from the starter solenoid DIRECTLY to the coil and you'd be fine. Once the engine is running, the coil receives power THROUGH a dropping resistor, known as a "ballast resistor" that drops it down from 13.8 or whatever the alternator is putting out down to 9.6V or so. Understand the reason why: While cranking, your battery voltage will drop considerably. To make a good spark you need every volt available. So the coil is connected directly but ONLY while cranking. When the engine is running the coil would produce TOO MUCH voltage. Over time it will eat away your points, even the electrodes on the plugs will get vaporized. So the ballast resistor drops the voltage down a bit. In terms of history, I got one of those aftermarket "blaster" coils and wired it direclty on an old Subaru. Less than 5000 miles later the electrodes on my plugs were completely gone!!! So in YOUR case, you can pretty much use ANY ignition switch that fits mechanically PROVIDED you wire the coil up in a suitable fashion. You don't have to run all over Japan looking for the OEM switch. HTH.

I spotted a 280 tearing it up in Huntsville, Alabama. Coming towards me at a fairly high rate of speed. Sure made me pine for my Z, in a garage back in Colorado.

Get some needle-nose vise grips and put rubber hose over the jaws.

Not as expensive as the incorrectly gapped spark plugs in my '92 4-Runner. (TPS, MAF, wires, fuel filter, ...)

I usually ask someone to show me the title to the car before I show or tell them how to cut ignition collar security bolts off.... in a private email that doesn't share that info with the whole world....

standard vc292 | eBay If I were gonna try and adapt one, I'd probably start with this...

>What kind of vacuum pods do you look for? Working ones. The last two I needed (and purchased) came from a guy parting out a ZX in the classified sections here. I got lucky. He removed them without damaging them and they worked. Without extensive, extensive fabrication, duct tape and bailing wire trying to retro-fit some other vacuum pod would be a nightmare. I bought ONE at a junkyard and found it was failed as well. Same one, fresh air door vent. Of course, Nissann no longer stock's 'em. On the ZX all three pods are different, mirror images in one fashion or another. So you can't swap one for another. It's a nightmare, couldn't they have designed the damn HVAC to use three of the same, identical pod! I really think the solution for SOME of us is lawnmower throttle cables hidden beneath the dash so you can have summer/winter modes.

Yeah, ok, I've been down this road. Start by going to O'Reilly Auto and buying twenty feet of their smallest vacuum line. It's like 7/64" or something like that. There's a DISC beneath the dash with six barbs (nipples) on it that control all the vacuum motors that move all the vent doors. Chances are you've got one or more vacuum lines either off their barbs, or with holes in them, and at least one or two failed vacuum motors. so SOMETHING is letting the vacuum "escape" and nothing else works. So start by re-plumbing FROM the vacuum source in the engine bay to the dash. Install a one-way check valve. Next, take a piece of hose, and attach it to one vacuum motor at a time, suck on it, and see if the motor works. Most motors have two barbs. one for partial pull, one for full pull. Post again in two weeks and let me know how it's coming. Plan a trip to the junkyard to obtain replacement vacuum motors. Oh, and go check out my OTHER thread on fixing these problems... http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/interior-280zx/46770-diagnosing-hvac-control-vacuum-leak-glovebox-removal-tip.html

* fake post intended only to get thread listed on home page again and hopefully spur some comments*

I"m only going to say this once before it devolves into a flame fest. ONE OF YOU IS WRONG!

Is it a "good" system? I'd say, provided it's all working correctly, it's "good enough." Good enough to produce excellent power and decent mpg's. Relatively easy to diagnose / repair. If you put a full modern / custom EFI on a Z, the # of hours you'd spend installing and tuning it (perhaps hundreds of hours) in NO WAY would be repaid by any additional performance you were able to squeeze out. Unless someone already DID all that work and all you had to do was duplicate it. If you really wanted to put a bigger cam in an engine, you could potentially switch to larger flow injectors, or "cheat" the system -- for example, using sensor transposition telling the ECM the engine was cold --- to artificially enrich the mixture. Another thing about the Z's efi is that it's an excellent EFI system to LEARN ABOUT EFI on. All the documents are here, and plenty of Z experts. You go with a Megasquirt or other aftermarket EFI you lose all of that "free" knowledge. I'd probably look at going with a complete engine swap before I would attempt an EFI swap on the Z, unless someone I knew personally had already done it before and had the programming, maps, everything. I'd get all the power I could from OTHER places -- headers, port & polish, compression boost, lighter flywheel, ... and leave the EFI alone. But I'm not you.

280ZX, and I confirmed spark during a crank no-start event. She immediately started upon application of starter fluid. But I should probably re-confirm spark NEXT time I catch it "not injecting" since the problem is so intermittent. Temperature-related is the clue....

Hey all, it's MY time to need some help! Before I bailed out of Colorado to take care of sick family members, I used a NOID light to diagnose my Z's hard starting in very cold weather. It simply came down to this. In sub-freezing weather I am sometimes NOT getting main injector pulses Let it warm up a few degrees outside, and everything operates fine. This was AFTER installing new injectors, a check valve, new cold start injector, diagnosing the thermotyme circuit, cleaning the AAR, and every OTHER possible source of hard starting problems. She starts instantly now -- except after a cold soak. One time I finally caught her "in the act." Cranking, but no injection pulses. A minute later she was fine. Then I caught her again a few days later. I need some ideas as to what could be causing this. Possibilities I've thought of include: Worn or corroded contacts on main injection relay (voltage drop 'em?) Temperature-sensitive Ignition module not sending signal to ECM so it's squirting (try hot air dryer?) Voltage drop in main ignition switch signal controlling main injection relay? What else should I look at as a possible cause of NO MAIN INJECTION during CRANK?

I concur. Before you buy ONE SINGLE PART put a fuel pressure gauge on it and see what's going on. Then you'll be in a position of knowledge to decide what step to take next. I might point out I waited until I had done 3-4 OTHER things before finally putting a FP gauge on mine, all of which wasted time and $, on a related problem.

YOu know the Honda CRZ has some of the MR-2 qualities, sporty, hi gas mileage, Hondacar reliability, and with the hybrid you'll be AVERAGING 40mpgs should fuel again head over $4 a gallon. It's not a true sports car by any sense but it sure looks good, and the price is right for a hybrid. Put it in sport mode and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

YOu can't work in a cold garage, grasping cold tools. No matter WHAT I had to sacrifice I'd put in radiant,in-floor heat. Hot water tubes running in the floor. Requires a boiler, and a bit more concrete work. With radiant heat the rest of the shop can stay cooler while the part your BODY is in contact with, the floor, fEELS warm. the sensation is just incredible. There are no drafts, no smells, just pure comfort. Ask anyone who's had in-floor heat intheir home or shop. They wouldn't trade it for a lift, for nothing.

Fast, there was an Volvo TSB on it. S80. You could install a brand new battery, start the engine, and in under 10 minutes the battery would be completely flat and the engine would die. Using a VAT-40 charging tester I measured 40+ amps coming out of the alternator at idle, except it was actually GOING INTO the alternator. Discharging the battery. The faster the alt spun the greater the drain. Some sort of failure of the diodes, such that the alternator was SUCKING current instead of generating it. You could also watch the battery, initially at 12.6 or so immediately head for points south when you started the motor, so CLEARLY, instead of charging, the alternator, was, at 40A+ discharging the battery. I had never paid attention to which way I put the clamp-on cable over the alternator cable as I had never, EVER seen an alternator sucking current. Initially I saw 40A and told myself "alternator is fine!" Ten minutes out customer calls, we have to drag the car back in. Damnedest thing I ever saw, and after 2-3 brand new batteries in less than an hour we figured it out, with the help of Alldata, which referred to a "massive alternator failure" problem on the S80's. That much current, you would THINK the alternator would be smoking! I tried to find the TSB for you but failed. It's out there, somewhere. S80 model. Clearly, Mailbud needs ONE and ONLY one voltage regulator attempting to control the alternator. What he really needs is to take it to a qualified auto electrician to straighten it out, but, I get reamed every time I suggest such a thing. So I'm gonna suggest he keep fiddling with it instead. He'll either earn a tech's degree in automotive electrical engineering in the process, develop great patience, or keep the hair regrowth products industry rolling in the green as he pulls all his out.

Ok, how about NOT rotating the engine, but simply blowing compressed air through each SPARK PLUG HOLE in turn (at least one of them has to have an intake valve open) with the air meter disconnected / snorkel off, throttle held wide open, and see if you can blow it BACKWARDS out the intake manifold. Or take the throttle body off completely. Chances are you can even SEE it then, and that's an easy do/undo. I'd give you at least a 70% chance you can get it to come out if you screw around long enough. And just for perspective, if this is the worst screw-up in your mechanic career, you got off pretty light, .

>I think this will stand as a lesson learned in that bench bleeding is mandatory with a system which has no fluid to begin with.... No, it will not. I have never bench bled anything in my life, and the few times I tried anyway, hell, half of the fluid leaked out during the trip from the bench to the vehicle and during mounting anyway. I'd guess I've been involved in bleeding clutches and brakes on well over 100 vehicles and I reckon I done seen damn near every prolbem out there than can make a vehicle difficult or impossible to bleed. Not once was the solution bench bleeding. (I think there was one SINGLE Ford Ranger that required bleeding from the bottom , manually shoving the slave cylinder to burp the master - the clutch line had an inverted U in it that would trap bubbles, which I read about on the Internet / Alldata. So here's how I"m going to convince you you do NOT have a bleeding problem...or how to confirm it if you actually DO. Ok, so here's the deal. You've got to get your car up on a rack or else on 4 jack stands so someone can be UNDER it while another is in the driver's seat. At the very end you may need the engine running, attempting to engage / disengage the clutch without driving it off the lift or running anyone over. First have that person depress the clutch pedal (engine doesn't need to be running) and see how far the rod coming out of the slave cylinder moves. Measure it, mark it, whatever at the furthest point of travel. Next pump the clutch repeatedly. If you have air bubbles, they will get compressed and you will get additional travel as it pumps up. You've just diagnosed a bleeding problem, if you have one. Measure the furthest travel you can obtain. Now, manually, using Channellocks or whatever tool seems appropriate, from beneath the car, MANUALLY move the clutch lever, same as the rod out of the slave would. See how much futher it willl move, and whether or not THAT gives you full disengagement, allowing you to shift gears without grinding synchros, etc. At this point it may be necessary to START the engine and disengage the clutch with yoru tools, and SEE if it will shifti nto gear without grinding. Try real hard not to drive off the lift or run your assistant over. Please. If it will, either slave cylinder bore too large, different mounting boss height, master cylinder bore too small, etc. The usual fix is to construct a longer, or adjustable rod. If moving it by hand, requires more than 1/2" additional travel, (like 3/4 or 1") you probably have mismatched clutch parts, something installed backwards, worn parts, incorrect parts, different bore cylinder, shallower throwout bearing, whatever. Something ain't right and just stabbing a longer rod is probalby NOT the right answer for you. That will be one six pack of beer, please.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/cr-z/2012 Shows the fuel mileage bell curve for the Honda CR-Z I just picked up. You can check any vehicle, any year, or use it to track your OWN mileage. I'm not sure if there's a corresponding smart-phone app or not...... I thought I was getting worse than average mileage in my 1992 4-Runner, esp since I live at altitude 6500', but it turns out...I was actually doing GOOD compared to SOME owners. No repairs / investigation needed. Tip: You got a car with over 100,000 miles? Replace the 02 sensor(s) for 1-3 added mpg's. They get tired, they still work and won't set a code, but they simply don't respond as quickly to rich or lean conditions. W

I think you're gonna enjoy it. Which motor does it have? I also picked up a new Z --- a Honda CRZ. I liked the styling, the mpg's, the use of regular gas, and the instrument panel, along with the Iphone ready entertainment system. A true "sports-hybrid" with pushbuttons for performance, normal, OR economy modes. They really make a difference! W

I"m gonna concur with Zed's diagnosis. You very likely have mismatched parts. Unless there's a loose fitting, clutch should be brain dead simple to bleed on this vehicle by any of a dozen different methods, hell, even just letting it drip. Do you have yoru old parts? Can you compare the new and old slave, master, mounting bosses, throw, etc. to see if the new one is IN EFFECT giving you 1/4" less throw or more? Man, it can be subtle...I've been bit plenty of times, had to machine a slightly longer rod to compensate, built adjustable rods, etc. If you got a slave that's slightly larger bore diameter then the original it will ALSO produce less throw, yet another way to get bit. Sometimes putting all the OLD hydraulic parts back on and testing it is the FASTEST way to determine if your problem is in the hydraulics, or in the collar, throwout brg, etc. Sometimes we replace all these parts thinking it's a nice, fresh start, and all it does is bite us in the bum....

If a fully charged battery goes dead (below 12.2 volts) in 10 minutes with the engine running its either not charging at all (fuel injected vehicle) or wired backwards (carbureted vehicle) so that the alternator is in fact DISCHARGING the battery while its spinning. I once saw a Volvo S80? S60 with an alternator failure....that caused it to discharge a brand new battery, boy did it have ME confused --- you don't normally expect an alternator to do that, so I wasn't mindful of the polarity when I saw 40 amps, i ASSUMED it wasCHARGING at 40 amps, but it was DISCHARGING at 40 amps... I suspect yo'uve got something incredibly simple wrong --- like the alternator leads reversed, ...so simple it's near impossible to see! Can I suggest it might be time to get some help from a nearby shop rather than beat your head against the wall?

I'd pay a professional mechanic to make sure your clutch is fully 100% disengaging before I'd replace a tranny for the symptoms you describe. You get any grinding when you go into reverse? That's a clear indication the clutch is NOT fully disengaging since there's no synchro on reverse.

First of all I'd need to know how you MEASURED that you only have 12 amps. An alternator is only going to put out as many amps as it NEEDS to in order to keep the voltage at the set point set by the regulator, say, 13.5 or 13.8 volts. Say you've got an alternator CAPABLE of putting out 60 amps, as confirmed when you took it off, down to Checker Auto / Pep boys and had them bench test it. It's only going to put out that 60 amps WHEN it needs to --- headlights on, fan blower on hi, every accessory on, wipers on, fuel pump running, etc. If you only have the headlights on and the battery is fully charged, it may only put out 5-10 amps --- just enough to run the headlights without the battery slowly discharging! You don't need to do ANYTHING unless you're continually having a battery go flat, dim headlights, or some other problem indicative of a charging shortfall. No point fixing ANYTHING that ain't broke is my creed. Ball's in your court. Convince me your charging system isn't working exactly as designed.