winstonsmith

Well I got a better look at it today and thankfully I don't need any new hoses at all. One of the clamps had a tab that had snapped off. I just put new clamps on the hoses and everything is peachy again. Been driving around all day in it. Glad I didn't have to replace any hoses or injectors.

I have replaced two injector hoses in the past right after I bought the car a couple of years ago. That was not fun. Now I have two more leaking hoses. Would it just be easier to buy all new injectors and put those on instead? Don't they come with the hoses already on them anyway? If so how hard is it to replace the injectors and exactly what is the process for doing it? I see two bolts holding the injector on. Do I just pull off the fuel rail and then unbolt the injector and put the new one on, tighten it down and put the fuel rail back on or is there some special procedure that I have to follow to change the injectors? Do they use some kind of gasket and sealant? Is there something I have to do to make sure I don't end up spraying gas everywhere?

Yeah, I just checked it out. I don't have any tail lights either but I do have brake lights. So hopefully it's just a fuse problem. Thanks!

So how exactly do I bypass the rheostat? What other things could the problem likely be? Is it possible that the headlight switch on the steering column is bad? It does turn the headlights on though so I don't know if the switch is the problem. Is there anyone else here who's had just dashlights go out?

I have a 78 280Z 2+2. I'm a little worried that something bad might have happened because they went out when the headlights did because my fusible link was old and crappy. Headlights are good now but no dashlights. You guys don't think something got damaged because of the worn out fusible link do you? I hope nothing real bad happened.

My instrument panel lights are all gone. Here's the story. I had a fusible link in the engine bay that had been bent around so much it had pretty much gone to crap. I found this out because one night when I turned on my headlights they went out and so did my dash lights. I eventually figured out the problem was the fusible link. When you give it a little wiggle the headlights and dash lights would come back on. Anyway recently I turned them on and they all went out again. I popped the hood and moved the fusible link and the headlights came back on. When I got in the car I noticed the dash lights were not on. They have never come back on again. I finally got some new fusible links from MSA and the headlights come on and stay on. No more trouble there but I still have no dash lights. Is there a particular fuse in the fuse box that goes to the dash lights. My shop manual doesn't seem to say. I checked all the fuses and they all look good. I replaced most of them anyway just to be sure and I still have no dash lights. I can't imagine every bulb would have burned out at the same time. I don't appear to have any other electrical problems. The radio, turn signals, hazards etc all still work great. I don't have dash lights anymore. Is there another fusible link somewhere that goes to the dash lights? Should I check the bulbs? I checked the rheostat wiring just to make sure the wires to that weren't hanging loose or something but everything looks good there. Could the rheostat just go bad? Plus I always had it set to full bright anyway so if it did go bad would the dash lights just stay at the setting they were on when it went bad or would they shut off? Or could the problem have something to do with the old fusible link? What should I look at?

Well I thought I'd post my resolution. I finally had a chance to go out and look it all over today and my left turn signal was lighting up and not blinking because the front left bulb was burned out. I didn't realize that one burned out bulb would stop that side of the car from blinking. I figured it would still blink but any burned out bulbs would obviously not work. Both sides of the hazzards were blinking inside but when I tried turn signals the left one did not blink, just lit up and did nothing. So anyway, easy fix to a silly question. If your turn signal lights up inside but doesn't blink then you have a burned out bulb somewhere. I did not know it would do that. I still don't have dash lights anymore but I think that's my crappy fusible link.

My turn signals have been working for quite awhile now but today the left turn signal no longer blinks. It lights up but doesn't blink. The right turn signal works perfect but not the left. Any idea what would cause that? When I turn on the left turn signal it lights up and I hear the blinking noise only once and then never again. The light itself never blinks. Which flasher unit is for the turn signals? I see two of them. A small one that hangs down a little and a bigger one further up in the dash. When I turn on my hazards they work and I hear a blinking noise coming from the small flasher unit that hangs down. When I use my turn signals i can hear a blinking noise coming from the bigger flasher unit that's further up. I always thought the hazards used the big flasher and the turn signals used the small one. Am I wrong?

I have a 78 280Z and the steering play is very excessive. I know the bushings have to be the problem as they look completely destroyed. Who here has replaced them without removing the rack to do it? How is it possible to do it that way? I have never done any kind of work on a steering rack before so how difficult a job would you say this is for a novice? I know the preferred method is removing the rack but that's seems like it would be more work and more difficult considering all the stuff I'd have to take off to do it and I may not know how to get it all back together. Like I said I've never done this kind of work before so I don't want to jump into something that might be over my head. Has anyone written up a tutorial of some kind that explains how to change them out without pulling the rack out? I may end up paying someone else to do it if this seems out of my league. Also how dangerous is it to drive around with bad steering rack bushings? Other than bad steering response obviously. Is something likely to break or mess up on me if I keep driving it this way?

Thanks for the tip. I climbed into the hatch and had a friend spray the car down with water. Water began gushing into the spare tire well from under the driver side tail light. I got out and pulled the rubber up from the body above the tail light and found a rust hole hiding under the rubber. I finished patching it today and hopefully that will seal out the water. Thanks again!

OK. That wire was the problem but more specifically the connector itself was the problem. The wiring is fine but when I pulled the connector apart that is under the passenger side dash anti-freeze poured out of the connector. The turn signals didn't work because the connector that they went to was full of anti-freeze! Why would my wiring under the passenger side have ani-freeze all over it? Something from the heater core is leaking? Does anyone have any good pictures of the heater core and what I should check for? My service manual is sort of worthless for this. There are no pictures in it for this problem. I'm guessing there are hoses for the heater core that run under the passenger side dash and one of them is leaking. By the way my heater doesn't work either if that pertains to this. Air conditioner works fine but no heat.

My spare tire well is filling up with water and rust is starting. How does it keep filling with water? I need to stop the water from getting in immediately. The car is kept outside since I don't have a garage but I don't drive it in the rain so the water is getting in there while it's parked. Where do you guys think the water is getting in? Is this a common problem?

Ok to bring back an old thread because I still haven't figured this one yet.... The flasher unit has been replaced. The turn signal lever has been taken apart and cleaned up and put back togther. The problem persisted. Sometimes I had turn signals and sometimes I didn't. I gave in and bought a brand new turn signal lever. First off this new one works like a champ. It clicks into place and clicks back when it's done. Even with the new lever the signals would work sometimes and sometimes not. So today I got down under the dash on the passenger side to look at the wiring under there. None of the wiring looks suspect. I turned the turn signal on and then proceeded to wiggle wires to see if anything happened. When I wiggled a certain group of wires with a black plug that was coming out behind the console (and going over to the fuse box it looked like) all of a sudden the turn signals came on. I think maybe I finally found the problem. Do turn signal wires go behind the console and over to the passenger side under the dash or is this some coincidence that they started working when I wiggled the wires. I say that because when I plugged in the new lever they worked first try and I thought that was the problem, then later that night they didn't work again. I'm paranoid that this is just another coincidence.

So if I got a socket wrench with a 1/2" drive that would work? Please forgive all my dumb questions. I'm still pretty new at working on cars, especially Z cars.

OK the fill plug came loose easy. No problems there. I give up on the drain plug. How do I get that out? I don't have any square tools.

Here's a picture of my differential. I can see the drain plug. It's at the bottom with the square indention. I'm not seeing where to refill it at unless it's that tube at the top? I need to jack the car up to get under it better but if not for refilling what is that tube for anyway?

I was wondering exactly how to change the differential oil on a 78 280Z. I can see a plug that appears to be how to drain it but how do I refill it? How much do I use and does anyone have a particular type they would reccomend?

Yeah, it's the shaft that goes into the throttle body that's the problem. I cleaned up everything else and it didn't help anything. The only thing that has worked so far is spraying WD-40 on the throttle body shaft but that obviously doesn't last long.

OK, I just decided to start taking the stuff off and see what happens. It wasn't nearly as intricate as I thought it might be. Anyway, I now see that the red piece sits in a small shaft that goes inside the throttle body. This red piece is connected to the shaft and the shaft is what is moving hence the shaft is what is gettint stuck NOT the red piece. Anyway, I completely cleaned off the springs and the red lever piece and put everything back together. I don't know how to get the shaft thing out of the thottle body to clean it up but that appears to be what is getting stuck. Maybe just cleaning all this stuff will have solved the problem though I hope. I'm going to go test it out soon and see what happens. If this doesn't fix it how do I get the shaft out of the throttle body? Is that possible? It doesn't look like it comes out.

I'm having a hard time explaining what it is exactly so I have shaded in the problem area in the picture. The part that is glowing red is the part that is getting stuck. The yellow part right above it is the bolt that holds it in. The yellow/grayish part below it is a spring the lever is using to pivot. The spring itself seems fine as do the other springs below that can't be seen in this picture. When you step on the gas pedal the linkage pushes this lever (red part) down. Unfortunately this lever gets stuck in the resting (idle) position and needs more force than normal applied to the gas pedal to get it to break free and start moving. When it does break free it is immediately easy to move which means at that particular point of breaking free all of a sudden the car is revving very high because I have then pushed the pedal too far. This makes it very difficult to shift smoothly as I have to keep feathering the gas pedal with the clutch pushed in until I'm sure it's unstuck and moving. I need to take this lever piece off and clean it up as well as whatever it is inside that it pivots on. The part it is connected to is called what? The throttle body? It looks pretty easy to take this piece off but I don't know what's inside there that might come out with it.

Just bumping this topic back. I still haven't fixed this yet as it's been too cold to bother but it's warming up so I want to get this taken care of. As you see in the picture above the part that I have circled is what is sticking.That little lever piece gets stuck in the resting position and requires more than normal force to get it to move. When enough force is applied to make it unstick and start moving it really moves and the RPMs go soaring. Sometimes while driving when I let off the gas pedal that lever doesn't drop back into the rest position, it just stays where it was and I have to tap the gas pedal to unstick and make it drop back down. The springs on this lever are fine. The problem has to do with whatever it is this lever pivots on. If I spray a little WD40 on it before I start it up then it will work fine all day but the next day it's all sticky again. Anyway, I obviously need to take this lever off and clean up whatever it is it pivots on but I don't know what will happen if I take it off. I can see the two springs and how they come off and that the lever is held in place by a bolt. If I take the bolt off does the lever just come right off? What else is in there? I don't want a surprise when I take this off. I have a service manual for this car but it doesn't have anything in it about taking apart or cleaning this particular part. Are better pictures needed to show what I'm talking about? I want to get this fixed soon but I don't want to do something that ends up leaving the car in the driveway for an extended period of time. I'm going to be stripping stuff out of my Pulsar and fixing all the things that are wrong with it and I need the Z to be my daily driver.

Well I just tried that and the engine didn't stumble. Nothing happened at all so I guess the EGR doesn't even work and that's why the guy blocked it off. I guess I'll just tighten that loose bolt back down so it doesn't rattle and fall out. Thanks for all the help though. I was wondering what that was. I was hoping something serious hadn't happened.

So the last owner removed the EGR tube and blocked it off? Is this loosened for a reason maybe or should I tighten it back down? I can hear it rattling when the engine is running. It's annoying.

What is this bolt for exactly? It's loose and rattling around.