NicholasKoenig

SHES ALIVE!! I want to thank everyone who replied and helped get my Z back under its own power. For any new onlookers with the same issue and as some closure to those you helped Ill go over what it ultimately took. 1) My red EFI wires were wrong (I mistook these both as positive when putting the engine bay back in order after it being apart for months) but managed to get them sorted. 2) As a result or coincidentally my combo EFI relay under the dash went bad. Had pry marks from PO and the casing was fairly loose. Replaced with a new combo relay. 3) Missing(?) and/or insufficient grounds. I say missing hesitantly because comparing my 76 280z to Captain Obvious' 77 280z, my engine bay lacks a handfull of grounds. Whether that was a design change or the process of many hands on the Z over the years. That said, despite me sanding and scuffing all my ground wires, it looks like the connection between the chassis harness and alternator wasnt clean enough. I had tested for ground on the block and it read ok, I had done the same on the chassis and it read ok as well but this reading wasnt accurate, I suppose the bolt I tested wasnt clean enough! With those clean it literally started right up. Now Im turning my attention to vacuum leaks to get it idling tip top. If I forgot anything, Im sure Captain Obvious will fill it in at some point as he was the man who woke my Z from its coma!

Went through the fuse box on the inside of the passenger foot well. Put new correct amp fuses in and cleaned the connection tabs. Wiggled the injector wires while someone looked at the volts (key one @8.5 or so), no change. So I don't think it's a loose or crimped wire in the injector harness. Temporarily put a smaller nut on the starter to secure the power wires and its tight. (New starter will be here tomorrow with proper and new connection). Battery is reading 11.59 volts from the posts while car is cranking. The fuel pump is reading about 4 or so when cranking. Applied power directly to the pump while cranking with a drill battery and she started right up and ran strong until power was removed So I guess the injectors aren't clogged haha

Yeah it was like a fraction of a second away before fully awakening from its slumber haha. Ill let it sit overnight like you mentioned but Im searching for a new starter. Not that I think the starter or solenoid is faulty at this moment but the connection bolt in which the battery cable and chassis harness connect is FUBAR. Cant get the bolt tight, threads are beat so I fear this loose incomplete connection is/or can lead to an issue now or in the near future. Also heres a screen cap of what I was following to test my injectors. According to the EFI bible my injector should read battery volts. But again, once I have the ignition "on", it drops to 8.5 and reads as such. Dunno how normal this is.

After a bit more cranking and praying something new happened. No new starter fluid introduced but when I was cranking, every so often it would almost "catch" like the sound it would make right before starting up. I looked at my starter connections again. Where the battery positive wire goes to the starter and the other chassis power wire go. The bolt connection these wires to the starter is wrong and complete ate the ever loving crap out of the solenoid thread. Looks like that connection isn't secure enough to make proper contact and I can't tighten it down any more. A starter from rockauto is like 30$ and a solenoid is 25$.

Bought the starter fluid today and tried it out. The car cranked and would only run briefly on the fluid. The rail is getting fluid I can see it from the rail gauge. I tested the injectors via the pins according to the efi bible. While testing each specific pin with key "on" I should be getting battey voltage. Which is over 12. But remember when I put the key "on" the voltage drops to 8 ish. And the injector pins via the in car harness read 8.55. So something is wrong there? Here's a photo of my dash gauge and you'll see the drop with just the key in the on position. EDIT: My fuel gauge doesn't work. It's not empty. I just put two more galons in today

I'll see if I can try that tomorrow. If they are clogged, could I soak them in like fuel injection cleaner or something?

Thanks to new found knowledge given by you I have the efi wired to what I believe is correct. I also checked the grounding again. (Battery terminal to block then chassis etc) and its grounded. I swapped in an old ECU and cranked it- nothing. Swapped the newer ECU in and we have fuel pressure at the rail again AND spark at the plugs. Pretty sure I also heard the injector clack too. But still didn't fire up. Its dark out now so I can't really do much. I want to go over the AFM again. Any other ideas now that things are improving? EDIT: lights still dim and horn is still dull and low.

I got some detailed photos of the battery terminal wiring from Captain Obvious (who has helped me out so much in the past on the forum and in person!!). Based on your info and his, I have found that the two red wires that control the EFI were installed incorrectly to the terminals on my battery. In the process of taking the car apart and fixing general issues, I attempted to clean up the previous owners wiring mess and months ago probably assumed since that both EFI wires were red that theyd go to the positive. Now I know that isnt the case!! That said, I see that one red wires goes to the positive post and one to the negative. I know that of the two smaller red EFI wires, one is considerably thicker. And judging by some other photos of 280Z battery terminals on google, it appears the thicker red EFI wires go to the negative post. Can you help confirm this or tell me how to test which wire is which via dmm? My new fuel relay (the combo one under the dash) arrived today and Im excited for that but want to connect the EFI wires correctly to the posts before putting that in. Im also going to check the fuse box in the passenger floor area again and go over each fuse.

I took my battery to Autozone today to get it checked. They put it on their machine and it read 12.7 Volts and it said "Good Battery". I asked if this checked its CCA and the guy told me "It does what it does" lol. So I took the battery back to the car and connected it. Cranked the car over and my dmm said the battery was at around 10.5. According to what I read, this is above its cranking amps for 80F weather. I also went over and scuffed/cleaned every ground I could find, cleaned and checked every visible bullet connection, checked the battery cables and what not again. Doing this made the starter crank over a little faster. Still no spark after the coil, horn still sounds dull and low, exterior lights dim. I put the volt meter to the positive and negative cables that are connected to the starter and they read battery voltage. So power is def getting to the starter. One thing I noticed, I got a little play in the wires that connection the smaller cylinder above the starter (solenoid?). At one particular wiggle of the wire I even heard a "click" from something probably under the dash maybe. Couldnt replicate it. But the nut is tight and the connections are cleaned. Can the starter crank yet the solenoid be faulty? Hope this helps. Thanks!!

I watched the video and realized Im already subscribed to your channel!! I did actually open my voltage regulator up and the alignment looked good at a glance but tbh I didnt know what I was looking at lol. Mine looks slightly different that the one you showed in the video but Im sure the same applies. I did hit it with some crc electrical connection cleaner but will try the 1000grit like you mentioned.

Current solutions aside, this doesnt sound like a voltage regulator issue? They are fairly cheap but would have to wait probably a week ish until it arrives so ideally Id order it now. But at the same time Id rather not "throw parts" at it.

I did clean the ones I could find but I will go back and check the grounds again. As for the battery, I put the key on and crank, the motor turns and turns (no fuel and no spark after the coil now) but will read 8volts and less when cranking. Maybe you are right and the CCA are diminished. I believe autozone will check batteries for free and that should determine if its a keeper or not. I wont be able to do much work on the Z for the next few days so Im trying to get the trouble shooting out of the way and jump right in. If you have any other advice please feel free, Im all ears.

Headlights (and fenders) are off the car at the moment. Fusible links are all brand new so I didnt think to check them today. Assuming the links connection is solid what would be the next step? Once Im back at the car I could plug in the headlight. Assuming its dim, what then? Thanks

The battery post was clean and the connection is brand new. I must have taken them on and off about four times today.

Z ran when parked Had it running in January after I chased down a misfire issue that came from a faulty ECU. She ran mint so I began my tear down, months later here we are and I thought Id have it running today but no luck. Heres what I got so far from trouble shooting. My battery is fully charged (tender says 100%), its less than a year old. My digital multimeter has it showing about 12.8 yet when I put the car on the "ON" position, my battery gauge in the dash reads about 8.5. I tested the ECU pins with a dmm and it will read 8 and change. Is this normal? Is this a fault in the voltage regulator? I tested the 6 pin connection that goes into the voltage regulator but didnt have much daylight to really spend time on it. About 3 of the connections read battery voltage, I think 2 read around 4.2 and 1 read really low, I forget the number. Fuel pump works when power is applied directly from an outside source (getting proper fuel pressure at my regular and fuel rail gauge when applied) but not from the car itself. The FPR reads 0 and you dont hear any fuel going to the rail. No leaks. Through testing the fuel relay from the ECU pins, I wasnt getting any reading so Im certain the relay is faulty. I bought that today and am just waiting for it. Could this potentially bad relay be causing all these gremlins? Spark is coming from the coil but no spark at the plugs. Something is up with the dist? I checked the AFM through the pins of the ECU harness and that looks perfect. Another small thing I noticed, when I hit my horn button, my tachometer will jump!! What is going on with my Z? Thanks!

Late on the reply but I've been wrenching on other parts of the Z lately. I decided to take a look at my trans tonight because I noticed my clutch pedal was way soft. Checked the reservoir and it was empty, looked under the car on jack stands and it seems as though the clutch slave clyinder leaked it all out. So I'll be replacing that! So my trans only has two switches I can see but I did some digging around and found helpful graphics on identification. Unfortunately it seems like my trans is the less desirable wide ratio. I'll post the graphics and my trans pic.

Is there a quick way to distinguish what transmission it is while its still in the car? Edit: To clarify, you removed the switch itself and just ran a straight vacuum to the distributor?

I have a 1976 280Z non calif, with a 5spd (one of the previous owners must have installed the trans as 1976 did not come with 5spd). I noticed the wires on my vacuum switching valve were completely toast and I cant find a replacement part anywhere. To my knowledge the vacuum switching valve adjusts timing for 4th gear. Yet since I have a 5spd, is this switch even necessary? Does the trans have a top gear switch that tells the vacuum switch to engage past 4th? I took it apart and can attempt to clean and resolder the connection if its still needed. The car has only idled in the driveway since I bought it in the fall so I have no idea how it behaves while running through the gears. Thanks

Those links helped a lot. I can say that my "fuzzy" seals are in bad shape. According to those posts that will bind the window, which its doing. Im assuming everything mechanical is in decent enough shape to operate as it rolls down smooth and with a little help pulling the glass, it will roll up. As for the door latching, Ill just keep up with the trial and error latch adjustments. Here is an option I found for the felt.

Yes the door cards were off. I kept dw40'ing all the moving parts I could see. Nothing looks blatantly broken, the parts seem to be there but I may be mistaken.

I bought my Z in October and have been wrenching on it since. From the start, both doors didnt latch properly which I suspect the previous owner is to blame. Rotating the cylinder locks it into place when you spin it by hand but when you close the door, it doesnt latch secure. Ive adjusted the striking latch on the body and lubricated all moving parts but had no luck. Could the door alignment be partially to blame? After comparing some photos of door / trim spacing, my door gap seems too large. Also the lock mechanism doesnt engage either (tested with door shut). Also the driver side window doesnt stay in the track. The front half of the window (closest to front) dips down and binds when coming up. When I pull the window straight back towards the rear of the car and crank it up, it usually pops out and binds elsewhere. The window rolls down easily enough. Ive adjusted the bolts securing the window mechanism but also with no luck. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks

Trouble shooting lead to the ECU, all fuel delivery systems work, all six injectors were functional, distributor/coil/wires/plugs all functional, even the wiring harness checked out ok. Captain Obvious checked the suspect transistor on my ECU and to my knowledge, they were functioning subpar. Enough to read something but not enough to fully function and fire the first bank.

Called MSA and I had their pricing wrong. Their ECU is 325$ with the 200$ deducted! Forget that mess. Checked autozone and they have a Cardon re manufactured unit. Their core charge is only $11, which is great because for that low of a core I'll keep my old one and get CO to tinker with new transistors! With the promo code "20deal10" for autozone, you get 20% off, free shipping to your home AND a 10$ gift card. Heck yes!

Thanks to the generosity of CO, we got the Z running on all six cylinders today. Swapping in his loaner ECU seemed to have solved the issue. As a secondary perk, I got to see his 280 and it's a beaut!!

Not sure if I did anything wrong, I'll explain my method. I placed the one probe on C and one on E and got 12.15V, both transistors read the same. Ok, I'll send you a PM now!