KDMatt

At 2500 rpm my voltmeter will still read full voltage even with a full load on it (lights, radio, windshield wipers, rear defogger). Alternator is a rebuilt one I got from Checker 3 years ago, VR is a "Niehoff" brand one I also got from Checker about a year later, so my charging system is pretty 'new,' all things considered... Also, I think the OEM VR can be adjusted IIRC. I don't think the behavior you've got is 'abnormal' by any means, but it's probably not as good as it could be...

Fixed er'!!! Leaky hose near the advance, sealed it up and runs fantastic again! Alright, again, thanks Blake for your help, I'm glad somebody responded to help me get my head together. I'd be so lost without this place. :stupid:

okay blakey, I figured it out, but now I don't know what to do... I tracked down a hissing sound in the engine bay and traced it to the vacuum advance on the distributor. The hose itself isn't leaking... if I push on it (i.e. pull toward the advance mechanism itself) I can get the idle to stabilize and increase the engine speed a bit, but the hissing won't cease... in fact I can't even tell exactly where the hiss itself is coming from ... Especially with the engine fan running... I left the car idling for a few minutes while I looked around for some tools and it actually died on its own... she is not a happy Z right now... So ... lack of vacuum in the advance explains low vacuum and fouled/wet plugs at the same time ... at least I think so...

Will barely idle now guys! I have the idle adjust screw turned all the way out and will barely maintain 550 rpm at closed throttle. Still coughs and sputters at partial throttle. Any leads or insights are really appreciated. Could it be the BCDD? Are there any other tests I can do?

Update: Took a timing light to the plug wires to see if spark was being delivered to all of the plugs, and this is the case, so I'm ruling out the ignition system. Advance also looks good as does ignition timing. Second, I did a vacuum check from the brake booster line directly off the manifold and my gauge read about 12 Inch Hg (which converts to about 6 psi) ... now IIRC proper manifold vacuum should be closer to 18 or 19 Inch Hg (which is closer to 9 or 10 psi)... So now I'm hunting for vacuum leaks, but haven't found anything obvious. ... Still looking for help if anyone's got anything... I'm getting so annoyed at my car right now

Hey now...

Recently did some freeway cruising and managed over 26 mpg the whole trip.

So... here I am again with another strange issue I can't pin down. The other week I was changing sparkplugs again (I usually just go with cheap Autolites, sort of NGK knockoffs, as a bit of oil dripping from the valve stems tends to clog them up fairly quickly) ... The auto parts store was out of my usual Autolite fix, so the clerk sold me some Champion platinums for the same prices (and I was dubious, since I hate Champions with a passion) ... I put them in and the car ran a bit more rough at idle, but at a consistent speed, so I figured as was well in the car kingdom. I took the car for a spin and I could really feel the different platinums make, I thought I was sold! ... Well sure enough half a week later the idle was still rough, but the speed had gone way down and was varying a LOT ... so much so that the chassis... the car itself was shuddering... I figured enough was enough, back to business and swapped in some new Autolites like I had before. I quickly gapped them, installed them, but the idle was still way off, slow and with varying speed. I've been contending with this for almost a week now and it's driving me CRAZY (literally)... I get a sputter (almost going to die) if I do a slow/normal take-off, and it certainly sounds as if it's not running on all cylinders ... At idle I can pull either the #1 or #2 spark plug cable and not hear much difference in the idle. I pulled the plugs to clean and re-gap, #1 had unburned fuel on it. Here's the list of relevant parts that have been replaced... Dizzy Cap and Rotor (Niehoff) about 9000 miles ago Plug Wires (NGK) also 9000 miles ago Ignition Coil (Accel Super Stock) approx 2500 miles ago Fuel Pressure Regulator (Niehoff) 2500 miles ago Fuel Injectors (Rebuilt, Ebay, Mr. Injector) 2500 miles ago Fuel Injector Connectors (Ebay) 2500 miles ago Fuel Filter (engine bay) 3000 miles ago Fuel Filter (additional, at the tank) 50 miles ago (over the weekend) Was running great a couple of weeks ago, quiet and smooth! Now sounds and runs terrible and I can smell the unburned fuel. Almost sounds like it's got a huge vacuum leak somewhere, it's just so rough and awful. I'm getting voltage at the injectors with the engine running, No vaccuum leaks I can spot, and no fuel leaks. My hunch is a spark issue (??) I'm at such a loss, please help me!

I approve... looks a bit too much like the old ones IMHO, but then again the Z has a timeless look to it, so I can see why a lot of it would be verbatim and still be passable.

Hey guys, thanks for all of your help and experience. I ended up taking the car to a shop a while ago, and they couldn't get the fill plug out because this link (?) is in the way, they told me that the plug would only thread out a turn or two before the link completely prevents it from being able to come out any further. I also have a maintenance record somewhere that, IIRC said something about the diff not being the stock diff... has anyone ever had this issue with swapped diffs? On that note though, I will try to see if what my shop told me was true or if its theoretically possible to get the fill plug out... or maybe I could loosen up that link without completely removing it? ... just enough to slide that fill plug out? We shall see... Also, yes, the fuel filter I added last year, lookin' a little on the clogged side! I can feel it when I drive too, so I want to get on that soon also, just gotta use up some gas, I guess I've got the 4th of July weekend coming up, though somehow I suspect a weekend of gasoline and fireworks aren't going to mix too favorably...

Hey guys, thanks for the help so far. My question isn't about how to get new oil in there, it's about how I'm supposed to thread the fill-plug OUT. This bar won't let me turn it out far enough to remove it!

...this thing is in my way. Yes it's a metal bar and it covers up the fill plug, how do I get to it? As you can see, my diff is need of a little TLC, so this is something I want to get figured out ASAP. Thanks!

I will voice the same conclusion... a lot of gremlins disappear with clean connections...

Hey guys... so I've been having a weird issue with my '76 ... A couple of weeks ago I was driving around and all of a sudden the little red 'chg' light on the far right of the voltmeter clicked on (and so did the brake light on the speedo).... it was night, I had my lights on, and my stereo, but nothing else. No big deal though, I limp home (it starts raining, I flip on the wipers which are HELLA slow at this point), car never dies, go back out the next day, start her up, still get the CHG light with no load whatsoever. At this point I'm a little suspiscious, so I pop the hood and start digging around... I clean up the connectors off the alternator, I clean up my groundposts and battery terminals, I start it up, same thing... but I'm late for an errand so I drive anway, car's fine. I park it for 15 minutes, get back in, start her up, CHG light goes away, and the voltmeter is pinned to the right side... (mine's a bit out of calibration, so probably really like 15.5 volts) ... and that's the way she stayed load, or no load, at speed she maintained around 15 volts of power, except for tonight. It's raining, I flip on my lights, I flip on the wipers, listening to the radio... after 10 minutes of city driving, the CHG light comes on and won't go away after a 20 minute freeway commute of sustained 3k rpm driving. Voltmeter reads a hair above 12 ... I exit, sit at a stop light, turn off the lights for a second, voltmeter flips up to about 13 ... still keeps the 'chg' light though ... I gun it as I start off again, bury the tach at 5k rpm ... chg light goes away, I shift through, leave it in third at 40 mph for a few extra seconds, then shift to 4th and voila, the voltmeter goes back and sticks it out at about 15 volts (with wipers at full speed and headlights on) for the last mile of my commute. What the hell is going on?? I've got some very serious gremlins here... alternator was replaced 3 years ago (lifetime warranty) ... voltage regulator was replaced about the same time ... battery was just replaced in the fall and my battery terminals are clean... Wtf?!! Is my 'new' regulator crapping out?

I'm assuming it's a 280z? ... or at least that you've got the sense to post about a Z car on the Z car forums ... therefore when talking about injectors, the 280z (L28) is probably the only car you could be talking about. Anyway, are your injector connectors a bit on the dirty side? If so this can make an enormous difference... furthermore, you really ought to check that fuel pressure with a meter. The Bosch system gets a bit fussy if you can't maintain 36 psi. In this general vein, get on top of checking all of your electricals ... one bad connection to a sensor can mean the difference between starting and stalling. I also happen to agree with you: no such thing as too much info.

Hey there, welcome to the CZC online community. 'Sorry to hear you're having some trouble, but we'll do our best to get this worked out with you (and our success rate is pretty good too!) Okay, to answer one question, there is only one idle screw, and it's the one I'm assuming you found (on the throttle body). There is also an auxiliary air valve that adds extra air into the manifold when the engine is cold, but this is not adjustable. Before we dig too deeply here, it'll help us to know what you've done so far with the car that way we have a point of reference, because a bad idle can be affected by so many things. First, I would examine the following things: Spark Plugs/Wires/Dizzy Cap/Rotor Vacuum Hoses Ignition Timing Electrical Connections (to fuel injectors, water temp sensor, Air-Flow Meter) Also ... fluids? ... I'm assuming you've changed everything (gas, oil, coolant, brake fluid/clutch) ... but I feel like I should ask, because you're obviously not going to get this thing running properly with bad gas or bad oil (or both). You may also want to look at your fuel lines, or the status of the pump and tank. Your gas-smell may also be an indication of a leak, and in the fuel injection system on these cars (or on any FI car really) maintaining adequate pressure is critical, so even a minor leak can make a big difference.

Ahh .. pure bliss... I took the Z out for a drive on Wednesday ... She's coming out to play for the rest of the year this weekend... the weather is finally nice enough.

MM sounds nice ... almost sounds too beefy to be an I-6

Dirty slides and contacts can act like resistors, so it's possible that the carb cleaner just got rid of some corrosion or wear, allowing good contact to happen, and for more current to flow.. and more current = more volume. However, I don't think I would recommend the 'spray carb cleaner and see what happens' method.

What about the coolant reservoir?

Hey, you're right, my bad!

I like the old-school mags on the 260 'parts car' myself He got lucky, having two cars that were both white with black racing stripes ...

'just means we get to keep the miles off 6 to 7 months out of the year... :cheeky:

Also found this one after poking around... http://www.beaterreview.com/?p=35

Well the mid/late 80's ZXs are quite a bit different than our Z's ... for one thing they share no common drive-train components. For the 3rd-gen Z Nissan fashioned a V6, though it was quite fast in its day ... I believe in '84 the 300zx was called the fastest import car of the year, hitting a top speed near 150 mph or something like that? Someone will have to correct me on this. If you can (and I realize you have few choices in the matter), avoid the digital gauges and automatic transmission ... those are just failings waiting to happen... in fact, the more you can avoid automatic/electrical things, the better. This site has some pretty decent info, worth looking at: http://www.beaterreview.com/?p=21